Scientific and antiquarian manuscript and printed papers of Mervyn Herbert Nevil Story-Maskelyne, chiefly relating to his unpublished work on historic diamonds and other gemstones. Includes: Historical notes on the Koh-i-noor diamond and other historic gemstones; Notes on the Koh-i-noor and other historic diamonds; On the Koh-i-noor diamond: manuscript draft; Diamonds and antiquities: notes and newscuttings; 'Notes on jewels etc', with extracts from Theophrastus, Dioscorides and Pliny; 'Lectures on the mineralogy of antiquity'; includes much on historic diamonds; 'The filling of fissures', notes for a lecture on the formation of ore minerals; Newscuttings relating to the British Museum, one of them a letter of John Ruskin, 1866-1873; 'On diamonds', the text of a lecture given at the Royal Institution, reprinted from 'The Chemical News', 1860; 'The metals and minerals of the Bible' (printed), [1888]; 'Physical properties of minerals - I. optical': notes for a lecture, illustrated with diagrams; 'Visitors to Prof Maskelyne's lecture on crystallography, Nov 23, 1874', with notes on crystal structure from the works of Groth, Fedorov and others, and circular polarisation of crystals, 1874-1901; Translations of ancient texts; Viktor von Lang: crystallographic measurements and drawings from specimens in the Museum collection, 1863 and Royal Institution: Syllabus of lectures on the allied phaenomena of the chemical and electrical forces by Michael Faraday (printed), 1848. Many of the papers are accompanied by notes made by Walter Campbell Smith at the time of transfer.

Papers of Alfons Barb, c 1924-1979, including working papers, collection of casts of gemstones, correspondence and offprints. Topics covered include: Magic, Folklore and Amulets; Medieval Magic; Gnosis; Gemstones; Mystery, Myth and Magic; Greco-Roman Numismatics and Archaeology and 'History of Popular Belief and Superstition from Ancient Times to the Present Day'.

Papers of Samuel Tolansky, 1926-1974, comprising biographical and personal materials, 1928-1974, including printed obituaries and memoirs, notes on his educational and research record, photographs of colleagues and collaborators, personal and family correspondence and domestic papers; material relating to Tolansky's work in the Department of Physics, Royal Holloway College, 1946-1970, including general correspondence on equipment and supplies, research grants, and examinations, correspondence with the College regarding the Physics laboratories, and correspondence on visits to and by Tolansky; notebooks and working papers, 1940-1969, including laboratory notebooks, on subjects including nuclear spin, diamonds, lunar dust and interferometry; manuscripts of publications, 1926-1973, including scientific reports and articles, abstracts and book reviews, broadcasts and books, on subjects including interferometry, crystallography, diamond physics and jewish music; material relating to committee and advisory work, 1949-1973, for bodies including the University of London, Birkbeck College, the Kingston College of Art, the National Gallery, the Science Research Council, the Royal Society of Arts and the Institute of Physics; papers relating to external examination, 1947-1973, at the Universities of Bradford, Durham, Leicester, and Nottingham, the Royal University of Malta, the Gemmological Association of Great Britain and the Civil Service Commission; material concerning conferences, demonstrations and exhibitions, 1946-1972; scientific correspondence, 1932-1973, mainly relating to Tolansky's work on diamonds, with correspondents including officials of the Royal Society, the Royal Institution, the NASA Lunar Sample Research Programme, and numerous scientists, such as Charles Joseph Singer, Dame Kathleen Lonsdale, James Frederic Danielli, Sir Gordon Sutherland, Otto Robert Frisch and Patrick Moore; correspondence relating to publications, 1942-1973; correspondence and texts relating to lectures, broadcasts and television appearances, 1947-1973.

Scrapbook of cuttings collected and notes made by Dr John Percy between 1864 and 1888, including transciptions of a series of twelve lectures given at the Royal School of Mines in December 1863 and January 1864, as published in 'Chemical News' between January and August 1864. The lectures, entitled 'Chemical Geology', are annotated and cover subjects such as silicon, alumina, sulphur and diamond.

These cuttings from 'Chemical News' are interspersed with those from several other publications, primarily the 'Engineering and Mining Journal', 'Mining Journal', and 'The Times' newspaper, as well as handwritten notes by Percy. Content mostly involves diamonds, diamond mining, and other mining activities.