The papers of Frederick Parkes Weber, 1886-1962, consist of case notes from his Harley Street and German Hospital practices, some very fine annotated clinical photographs, and (the bulk of the collection) a large number of volumes and bundles dealing with a vast array of diseases and medical conditions, usually accreted around an original paper by Parkes Weber himself. He described how these 'small collections and bundles around kernels of my earliest writings on the subject' evolved in a letter to the Librarian, Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, 27 Feb 1958: "I was in the habit of surrounding my own writings with manuscript and printed correspondence, and all kinds of cuttings and small articles bearing on the subject. Many interesting autograph letters and small essays have in this way become buried and practically altogether lost." These had become 'gradually very extensive, and many of them have become dislocated and unmanageable'. On examination they have been found to include reprints and cuttings of articles, case notes, notes and annotations, correspondence, and photographs. There is also material on more general philosophical questions, and relating to his book Aspects of Death and other publications, and a little personalia and correspondence. Diaries apparently received with the papers were returned to Parkes Weber late in 1958 to assist in the preparation of the notes published as Miscellaneous Notes (see PP/FPW/D.11) and seem never to have been returned to the Wellcome Library (Parkes Weber to Dr Poynter, Wellcome Historical Medical Library, 24 Dec 1958 and 11 Feb 1959). This is a collection of major importance for the medical historian.

Parkes Weber had a very active life during a period of unprecedented developments in medicine. He produced well over 1000 articles, and was particularly interested in rare diseases and conditions: conditions with which he is eponymously associated are Rendu-Osler-Weber disease (familial telangiectasis), Weber's diseases (localised epidermolysis bullosa), Weber-Klippel syndrome (haemangiectatic hypertrophy of limbs), Weber-Christian disease (relapsing febrile nodular non-suppurative panniculitis) and Sturge-Weber-Kalischer disease (angioma of brain revealed by radiography). His papers also include much on more common ailments and phenomena, on balneological and climatological treatment, healthy life-style and the promotion of longevity, social medicine, etc. His associates and colleagues included many of the great names in medicine of his day.

Papers of the Strangeways Research Laboratory, c 1901-1988, comprising papers of T S P Strangeways; annual reports including 1929-1950; minutes and correspondence of the Trustees, 1929-1971; account books and ledgers, 1929-1970; papers relating to funding from various bodies, 1929-1975; papers relating to Medical Research Council funding, c.1962-1969; papers relating to grants, c.1963-1970 and c.1967-1980; administrative records, 1931-1971; general correspondence, 1942-1947, 1954-1956, and 1965-1970; assorted files, 1930s-1960s; miscellaneous historical material including research by George Eric Howard Foxon; minutes of the Radium Commission, 1932-1943; and papers relating to C F Robinow, E M Brieger and Michael Abercrombie.

Lecture notes on comparative embryology, psychology and prehistory, Keble College, Oxford, early 1920s.

Testimonials, obituary notices, photographs, and some miscellaneous papers including a notebook.

Correspondence, 1887-1925, mainly between Dendy and fellow academics relating to the morphology and classification of sponges, notably with George Parker Bidder, President of the Marine Biological Association of the UK; Professor William John Dakin, Professor of Zoology, University of Liverpool; Francisco Ferrer Hernandez, Musea de Gencias Naturales, Madrid, Spain; Professor William A Haswell, Emeritus Professor of Biology, University of Sydney, Australia; Ernst Hentschel, Zoologisches Museum, Hamburg, Germany; William Abbott Herdman, University of Liverpool; Professor Sydney John Hickson, Emeritus Professor of Zoology, University of Liverpool; Randolph Kirkpartick, Natural History Museum, London; Professor James Herbert Orton, Emeritus Professor of Zoology, University of Liverpool; Joseph Pearson, Director of the Columbo Museum, Ceylon; and Edgar Thurston, Superintendent of the Government Museum, Madras, India. The correspondence also includes letters, 1919-1921, relating to the establishment of a research grant in memory of Harold Row, Dendy's assistant. Papers, 1886-1899, relating to sponge collections, particularly specimens in Australia and New Zealand, and including the dredging records for Port Phillip, Victoria, Australia, 1887-1890. Lecture notes written by Dendy, [1903-1925], including handwritten texts of lectures on 'Echinodermata', 'The development of starfish', 'Holothurioidea', 'Class Gastropoda', 'Mytilus', 'Anodarta cygnea', 'Helix', 'Mollusca', and 'Merozoa', and typescript texts of public lectures including 'The stream of life', given at a Citizens' Lecture in Edinburgh, 1921, and 'The evolution theory today', given at the Liverpool Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1923. Working notebooks, [1886]-1912, mainly containing scientific experiments and observations relating to sponges, notably the Challenger Amphipoda and the Grantia Compressa, and notes on the topographical distribution of, and biographical references to, sponge specimens. Two notebooks, 1917-1919, recording experiments and observations during Dendy's membership of the Royal Society's Committee for the Investigation of Grain Pests. Papers, 1892, relating to The Victorian land planarians [1894] by Dendy, comprising a volume of annotated and revised extracts from that work, and a letter to Dendy from Thomas Steel concerning flatworm species. Printed obituaries of Dendy, 1925-1926. Papers relating to the study of lizard-like reptiles commonly known as Tuatara (the scientific name being Sphenodon), [1897]-1910, including correspondence, 1908-1910, between Dendy and Edward Bles, Elliot Smith, Annie Howes and [William Thompson] Sedgwick, and catalogues, notes and photographs of Tuatara embryos.

Papers of Sir Gavin Rylands De Beer, the majority c1939-1972, consisting of: notes and drafts for publications and lectures on the history of science and literary topics; correspondence concerning literature and De Beer's scientific work; papers from De Beer's work during the First and Second World Wars; financial and legal papers; and some personal correspondence.

Papers of PROGRESS Campaign for Research into Human Reproduction, c1985-c1994, comprise minutes, subject files and correspondence relating to PROGRESS' campaign against the Powell Bill and for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.

Presidents' correspondence and copy papers, and final report of the RCOG working party on screening for neural tube defects, 1977-1981.

Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Abnormality in England, Scotland and Wales: report of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists working party, Jan 1996.

Papers of the Joint Medical Research Council and Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Voluntary Licensing Authority (VLA) for Human In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) and Embryology, 1985-1986, comprising: minutes and correspondence; completed applications from individual centres and research projects seeking licences (with supporting documentation); copies of reports of visits made by the Licensing Authority to IVF centres.

Papers of Dame Honor Bridget Fell including: A. Notebooks and Research [1 box, 1 outsize box, 2 oversize vols]; B. Royal Society, 1929-1970 [1? boxes]; C. Other Bodies and Activities, 1939-1970 [3 boxes]; C.1-19 United Kingdom; C.20-36 International (USA, Europe, Asia); D. Retirement from SRL and after, 1969-1986 [2 boxes, 1 oversize vol]; D.1-3 Presentation; D.4-11 Funding bodies, etc, UK; D.12-17 International; D.18-24 Miscellaneous correspondence; D.25-26 Historical correspondence; E. Reprints and Unpublished Writings [1? boxes, 1 larger box, 1 oversize vol]; F. Photographs and biographical miscellanea [1 box]; Index to correspondents.

Papers relating to her life and career, 1904-1948, including correspondence and notes, 1904-1906, mainly relating to experiments by Berridge on the fertilisation of Carpinus Betulus (European Hornbeam), and the publication of a paper on the subject by the Linnean Society, notably including correspondence with Professor Margaret Jane Benson, Head of the Botany Department at Royal Holloway College, and a copy of 'Contributions to the embryology of the Amentiferae part II: Carpinus Betulus' by Berridge, Benson and Elizabeth Sanday, [1905]; correspondence, 1912, between Berridge and Professor Margaret Jane Benson, on the collection of new flower samples and the prospective reading of their Amentiferae paper in Dundee; research notes by Berridge, 1910-1948, on a variety of botanical subjects including Carpinus and agglutination, mainly comprising notebooks, notes on articles and experiment notes; notebook, 1948, belonging to Professor Elizabeth Marianne Blackwell, Head of the Botany Department at Royal Holloway College, containing obituaries of Berridge from the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, 26 Nov 1948, and Nature vol 161, 17 Jan 1948, with a list of Berridge's papers.

Papers of the RCOG Sub-specialisation advisory group, including agenda, minutes, correspondence and other records of the advisory groups into fetal medicine, gynaecological oncology, and reproductive medicine, 1984; correspondence with senior British obstetricians and gynaecologists concerning further sub-specialisation within obstetrics and gynaecology, 1983; proposed curriculum and special requirements for sub-specialisation in gynaecological oncology, undated; curriculum for specialisation in fetal medicine and proposals for learning and training in maternal-fetal medicine, undated; training programme for gynaecological urology, undated; guide to learning in reproductive medicine, undated; papers of T L T Lewis, chairman, 1983-1984; correspondence of Professor Richard Beard, chairman, Scientific Advisory and Pathology Committee (SAPC), concerning the sub-specialisation advisory group, 1983-1984; draft copy of final report, with amendments, 1984; copies of the report of the working party on further specialisation within obstetrics and gynaecology; report of the manpower advisory sub-committee of the RCOG and RCOG Regulations for Accreditation of Completion of Higher Training of Members of the College, 1980-1983.

Papers of John George Adami on bacteriology and pathology including notes on the development of the embryo of a chick, c 1890; drafts of Principles of Pathology c 1905-1910; 'Myelins, and experiments with Ludwig Aschoff', 1906; record of Inspections of Canadian Hospitals in France, 1915; diary, 1916 and Presidential Address to the Section of Bacteriology, Brussels Congress, 1920. Drawings concerning 1918 influenza pandemic, 1925.

Papers of Sir Peter Brian Medawar, 1937-1991, relating to career, scientific research, and his writings on the philosophy of science; also biographical material collected by the late Dr Robert Reid.

Records of the Abortion Law Reform Association, its officers, and individuals connected with the attempt to reform the abortion laws, plus various associated materials. The administrative records of the ALRA c 1935-1978, include papers of Chairman Janet Chance, and, following the passing of 1967 Act making abortion legal, papers of the 'Lane' Committee on Working of the Aberdeen Act and Abortion Amendment Bills.

Papers of Richard wheeler Haines, 1961-c 1968, comprising original figures and illustrations from Handbook of Human Embryology by Haines and Ahmed Mohiuddin; copy of a supplement to the Journal of the Faculty of Medicine - Baghdad; editors draft of A Handbook of Human Embryology Part 1, 1961; print labelled 'figure 30', 1965; and 2 photographs of bones provided by the Medical Illustration Unit of the University of Lagos Medical School, where Haines was Professor of Anatomy.

One file of miscellaneous papers relating mainly to obstetrics, and comprising rough notes on embryology, the staining of blood, the condition of bones, and sketching the topography of the brain, 1899; a list of examination questions from the Royal College of Physicians of London and Royal College of Surgeons of England midwifery exam, 10 July 1902; King's College London Faculty of Medicine Tanner Prize examination question paper on obstetrics, 16 July, 1902; list of questions from the King's College London Faculty of Medicine Obstetric Medicine Prize Class Examination, 17 July, 1902; two examination appointment cards for Cheatle issued by the Royal College of Physicians of London and the Royal College of Surgeons for examinations leading to membership of the Colleges, taking place at the Exam Hall, Victoria Embankment, London, 14, 21 October 1903; programme sheet for a complimentary dinner in honour of Sir William Watson Cheyne at the Waldorf Hotel, London, 17 July 1908; circular from the Ministry of Health on orthopaedic services and on tetanus antitoxin,10 August 1946; an errata page from a printed formulary; typescript summaries of the symptoms and treatment of nasal catarrh and the means of avoiding accidental haemorrhage of the placenta [1945-1951]; photograph, probably late nineteenth century showing reclining clergyman in a walled garden, probably a cathedral or university cloister.

Papers relating to Percy Croad Brett, comprising notes on lectures Professor John Ernest Frazer on embryology, 1917, including sketches, [? taken at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington].

Papers of Sir Albert James Walton, 1904-1945, comprising a notebook on Botany and Zoology, early 20th century; notebook on Anatomy and Embryology, 1904-c1911; and an album of drawings of gall stones, bile ducts, and stomal ulcers, 1928-1945.

The papers of Professor Sir Gavin Rylands De Beer comprise notebooks, typescript lecture texts and photographs, [1917-1947]; notably including four manuscript notebooks containing summaries of lectures attended by De Beer when he was an undergraduate and fellow at Oxford, consisting of notes on rudimentary embryology and zoology with sketches and bibliographies, [1917-1938]; proofs and fair copies of the text of De Beer's anniversary lecture as President of the Linnean Society on animal posture and morphology with photographs and drawings, [1947]; transparencies used in a talk on evolution, [1947]; microscopy photographs of the embryonic development of monotremes and marsupials and, at the cellular level, of the salamander, [1945-1972]; photographs and plaster casts of the brain case and other parts of a fossilised specimen of the bird-like Archaeopteryx, [1950-1960]; photographs of cross sections through a mature tree showing growth rings, [1950-1960].

Copper plates showing various defects in new born babies, undated.