The collection contains correspondence and papers of Sir William Ramsay and of Morris W Travers. The bound volumes contain letters to Ramsay, chronologically arranged by Travers, and copies of related printed papers. The remaining Ramsay papers are grouped according to their contents: laboratory notebooks, lecture notes, miscellaneous papers and published works. Professor Travers grouped Ramsay's published scientific papers into ten 'volumes'. Travers's own papers are divided into two main sections: firstly papers relating to his work on Ramsay, including various papers having some bearing on Ramsay's work and material concerning his arrangement of the Ramsay papers; and secondly papers relating to Travers' own career, including papers on awards and distrinctions, scrapbooks, and miscellaneous material.

Out letter book, 1848-1852, containing copy letters relating to applied chemistry, in particular to the role of Professor William Allen Miller as a consultant retained by the Western Gaslight Company, and charged with improving the efficiency of its manufacturing facility at Vauxhall, Surrey, and in a similar capacity to undertake the analysis of particulate residues and other by-products of incomplete combustion in an industrial setting; the experimental analysis of various phosphates and salts; commentary upon the telegraph and upon suggestions that the earth itself could act as a substitute electrical conductor over distances.
Chemistry teaching and research notes, c 1845

Some correspondence, papers, notebooks and publications of Sir James Hopwood Jeans. Early manuscripts in the series relate to Jean's education at Trinity College, Cambridge, in the form of early lecture notebooks, largely on mathematical topics. A collection of letters, 1901-1907, documents his treatment for tuberculosis at Ringwood Sanatorium, where he completed work on the theory of gases; correspondents included G H Hardy and Adam Sedgewick among others. Jean's engagements in popularizing science are represented by proofs and typescript of lectures and essays, especially those written for the BBC, 1934-1935, together with associated letters and press cuttings. The series contains collections of offprints, reprints, and extracts of published works by Jeans and others, notably from the Philosophical Transactions and the Philosophical Magazine.

The papers are not extensive and consist almost entirely of laboratory notebooks and working papers relating to his early work on molecular reactions and gas reactions, 1919-1938. There are also notes and reports of work on respirator design undertaken by Hinshelwood and his team for the Chemical Defence Board, Ministry of Supply, during the Second World War.

Papers of Sir Alfred Egerton, 1908-1958, comprising research papers, notes and reports largely relating to explosives, manufacture of ammonia and hydrogen, [1916-1925], laboratory work at Oxford, 1919-1926, work for the Admiralty, 1940-[1950], papers relating to patents, 1928-1958; research notebooks, 1908-1937, including some correspondence and notably concerning vapour pressure of metals, amides of metals, residual gases in discharge tubes; lecture notes concerning combustion; papers on optical pyrometry, 1933-1938; correspondence and papers relating to research on the properties of steam, steam tables, international conferences on steam, 1930-1946.

Papers of William Arthur Bone, 1890-1938, comprising analysis books, 1890-1920, containing record of work at Owen's College, Manchester, notes on experiments, records of trails, analyses of fuels; press cuttings and letters relating to Flame and Combustion in Gases, 1927-1938; papers relating to appointment at Imperial College, 1911-1913; obituary notice.

Two volumes of notes, on medical and chemical books, and on diseases and their treatment, c 1800-1823.

Notes on nitrogen and on explosives, c 1860-1870.

Papers of the Arden Philosopical Lectures, c 1775-1800, comprising a volume of manuscript lecture notes titled Philosophical Lectures delivered by Mr Arden at Dursley. The notes discuss topics such as electricity, including the work of Dr Benjamin Franklin with lightning rods. The notes also cover the subjects of air and gases, commenting on the work of Dr Joseph Priestley relating to 'fixed airs' (carbon dioxide), 'inflammable air' (hydrogen), the effects of 'phlogiston' on the air, and 'dephlogisticated air' (oxygen). The volume is undated; Priestley's paper on his experiments with airs and gases was published in 1775.