Records of the Institution of Geologists and its predecessors, 1973-1991, comprising:

Minutes, papers, sample questionnaires, correspondence and reports of the Working Party on Professional Recognition, 1973-1975;

Minutes, correspondence and papers of the Committee and sub committees of the Association for the Promotion of an Institution of Professional Geologists, 1975-1978; Membership lists of the APIPG [incomplete], 1974-1977; Documents relating to the incorporation of the APIPG as the Institution of Geologists, 1976-1977; Draft rules and regulations of the proposed Institution of Geologists, 1977;

Annual reports, agendas and other papers relating to the Annual General Meetings of the Institution of Geologists, 1978-1991; Minutes and papers of the IG Council, 1977-1991; Correspondence of the IG Council [incomplete], 1977-1984; Correspondence and minutes of committees, sub committees, working groups and regional groups of the IG, 1977-1991; Minutes, correspondence and papers of the joint Co-operation Committee, 1985-1991; Annual accounts, 1977-1991; Membership lists (incomplete), 1977-1986; Rules and regulations, 1979-1986; Correspondence, citations and speeches relating to the recipients of the Aberconway Medal, 1980-1989; Obituaries, 1982-1985.

Black and white, glass lantern slides by various photographers and geologists mostly of geological subjects but including a small number of ethnographic and botanical images relating to Ceylon [Sri Lanka], [1890-1905]. The majority of the images, c 200, are taken by Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy but the collection also includes small numbers of slides by others including: Skeen and Co, Ceylon; Arthur Sankey Reid; Geologists' Association; G P Abraham; H A Hinton; John George Goodchild; Newton and Co; Robert John Welch; William Whitehead Watts; Sommer and Son, Naples; and the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

An account of college life as a geology student evacuated to Bristol in 1943, entitled 'Fifty years ago', written as one of a series for the magazine of the Local United Reformed Church, Oct 1993; an accompanying letter dated 18 March 1994, from Wells to the Archivist at King's College London, describing the circumstances of the evacuation.

Papers of Henry Clark Barlow, comprising papers relating to his Dante studies, both published and unpublished work, including manuscripts and notes for unfinished essays and lectures, titled manuscript notebooks, titled manuscripts, notes from codices and other sources, printed matter, and papers relating to the festivals of Dante; papers relating to his other studies, including a few items on geology and theology, and many sketches relating to the history of art, to architecture and to topography; personal papers, including Barlow's diaries and journals in which he wrote his observations on the architecture, art, geology, history and people of the places he visited, travel notes, and correspondence devoted almost entirely to Dante matters; acquired papers, including photographs, pictures, books, maps, plans, printed matter and ephemera.

Papers of George Bellas Greenough, 1794-1855, falling into three broad sections: papers connected with his work, personal papers, and correspondence. They are hierarchically divided into nine series: published works; societies of which Greenough was president; travels; fields of interest; learned and scientific institutions and clubs with which he was associated; personal history; papers relating to his friends; acquired papers; and correspondence, relating mainly to geology or to some other aspect of Greenough's work. Greenough kept many series of notebooks and memorandum books into which he copied the notes he had jotted down in conversation or when reading. The 'Personal History' section contains little biographical or family data, although Greenough's early efforts in poetry, prose and translation from the Greek are well represented, and there are papers relating to his house, his garden and his investments. There are few letters to his friends.

Papers and correspondence, 1846-1974, of David Meredith Seares Watson and his family, largely comprising biographical material and family papers, scientific correspondence, and photographs, also including a few Exchequer receipts, 1568-1622.

Biographical material, 1886-1974, includes Watson's birth certificate, 1886; documentation, including certificates and correspondence, of Watson's career, honours and awards over a period of forty years, including election to the Fellowship of the Royal Society, 1922, the award of its Darwin medal, 1942, and the Wollaston Medal of the Geological Society, 1965; correspondence about the Directorship of the British Museum (Natural History), 1937; correspondence about the presentation album on his retirement from the Jodrell Chair, 1951; correspondence and papers relating to his final retirement from research, 1965; obituaries, 1973; F R Parrington and T S Westoll's memoir of Watson from Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1974; an account of Watson's early days and family background by his daughter Janet Vida; recollections by his research assistant Joyce Townsend; Watson's curriculum vita and bibliography.

Family papers include the birth certificate of Watson's father, David, 1846, correspondence with his wife Mary, 1888, and a letter of condolence to Mrs Watson on her husband's death, 1899; diaries of Mary Watson, 1881, 1885; birth certificate of their daughter Constance, 1888, letters from Constance to her brother David Meredith Seares Watson, 1905-1909 and undated; papers relating to Katharine Margarite Watson (née Parker), Watson's wife, including her birth certificate, 1891, marriage certificate, 1917, death certificate, 1969, and various correspondence; papers relating to Watson's daughter Katharine Mary, including letters of congratulation on her birth, 1918, and letters to her parents, 1950, 1955; material relating to Watson's mother's family, including letters of her father Samuel M Seares, 1871, 1879-1882; papers of Charles J B Hutchinson, 1879-1880, who emigrated to Australia after his engagement to Watson's mother was broken off but who remained in correspondence with her aunt, Fanny Rossiter; other Parker family papers, 1929-1972; miscellaneous other personal correspondence, 1896-1965.

Four Exchequer receipts dated 1568, 1580, 1616 and 1622 were found enclosed with a letter to Watson's wife.

Scientific correspondence of Watson, sometimes including photographs of fossil specimens, with leading palaeontologists in Africa, 1947-1953, America, 1915-1964, Australia, 1931-1962, China, 1926-1927, 1935-1964, England, 1913-1914, 1920, 1926-1960, France, 1930-1936, 1945-1956, Germany, Austria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, 1920-1962, Russia, 1920-1962, and Scandinavia, 1922-1964, and with the palaeontologist Robert Broom, 1911-1950, and Watson's research assistant Joyce Townshend, 1929-1973, also including a few letters from Watson's wife and scientific colleagues, and an obituary of Watson, 1974; correspondence and papers on bones found at Qau, Egypt, 1930-1957, 1972; miscellaneous other palaeontological correspondence, 1912-1967. There are few copies of Watson's outgoing letters before the end of the Second World War.

Photographic material comprises photographs documenting Watson's career, [1912]-1965 and undated, some including colleagues; photographs of scientific colleagues, 1911-1951 and undated, including Watson's predecessor as Professor at University College London, J P Hill, and Robert Broom; album of photographs and signatures presented to Watson, 1951; undated family photographs, including a photograph of Watson as a boy, photographs of members of the Seares and Parker families, and photographs of Watson's wife, Katharine Margarite, and daughter, Katharine Mary; photographs of unidentified fossil specimens.

Royal Society Darwin Medal Award given to Watson, 1942.

Manuscript notes, taken by G Hamilton, on a course of lectures on geology delivered by Thomas Webster in 1827, with two letters from Webster to University College London relating to his Professorship, 1841.

Scrapbook of letters and other material collected by Caleb Burrell Rose including an anonymous photogenic drawing of two plants, mounted on paper with the title 'An early attempt of photography from Norwich'.

Papers of Ethel Gertrude Woods, 1921-1985, including a typescript of 'Scenery, its nature and origin' (confused pagination, approx 350 pp), unpublished; 87 watercolour and black and white sketches and diagrams prepared by Miss K Chandler Thomson as illustrations; note on the author; covering letter from donor, William Skeat (nephew) and other correspondence concerning the MS with Dr Joby of the Open University, 1985.

Papers of Gertrude Caton-Thompson, 1935-1985, comprise artwork including preliminary drawings of maps, an offprint of an article 'Lake Moeris, re-investigations and some comments' by G Caton Thompson, E W Gardner and S A Huzayyin from Bulletin de l'Institut d'Egypte, T. XIX, 1936-1937 and photocopy of article 'Recent geological work in the Faiyun...' by O H Little from Bulletin de l'Institut d'Egypte, T. XVIII 1935-1936; aerial photo taken autumn 1938 by US pilot prospecting for oil, showing drainage pattern on edge of high plateau between Mukalla and Wadi Hadhramaut; Watercolour by Edith Hughes of the Fayum depression and preliminary drawing of map/sections of Wadi 'Amd at Hureidha, prepared for plate LXXII in the book Tombs and Moon Temple of Hureidha published in 1944.

Papers of Vero Louis Bosazza, 1942-1980, comprise papers relating to his work as a geoglogist and include 'The identification of Daka na Moio island in the Shire river', 1969; 'Notes on the journal of Thomas Baines... April 3rd to September 17th 1858', 1970; 'Dr Livingstone's geological description omitted from the published version of Livingstone's African Journals, 1853-1856' (annotated transcipt, prepared from the original held by the National Archives of Rhodesia, 1973); 'David Livingstone, pilot and navigator', 1972 (two vols, typescript, fully annotated, maps, diagrams, tables, photographs and bibliography); 'The magnetic variations along the east coast of Africa, 1822-1969', 1972; ' Discussion on David Livingstone: a Mid-Victorian scientist by Dr D J Siddle', 1974; 'The Pioneer surveys in the Zambesi and Shire valleys and the mapping of Malawi', 1974; 'David Livingstone and his modern critics', 1975 (illustrated with maps, diagrams and photographs); 'Thomas Baines on the Zambesi', 1975. (Illustrated with maps and photograpghs); edited transcripts of: Antonio Jozi's 'Narrative of the proceedings of a small party ... July 1823 ... to explore the course of the river Zambesi' (Archives Library MSS.); and a letter from Thomas Maclear to David Livingstone, 11 July 1865 (Archives Special Collections: David Livingstone), 1976. Papers relating to southern Africa including: 'The Rev Robert Moffat's sextant', 1978; 'The grave of Herbert Rhodes on the Shire river, Malawi'; 1978.

Papers, 1889-1977, concerning the life and work of Dr Reynolds, including letters relating to her publications; correspondence about the award of the Lyell Medal from the Geological Society, 1960; family papers, including birth, death and marriage certificates; personal correspondence, 1920-1960, notably from Dr Catherine Alice Raisin, Professor Leonard Hawkes (both Heads of the Geology Department, Bedford College), and Susan Thompson; typed and handwritten essay notes, on geological subjects; a collection of geographical publications, 1921-1969; photographs, [1917-1970], notably of geological field trips, students and professors at Bedford College, holidays in Northern Ireland and Sweden, and family groups; texts of lectures by Eugène Wegmann, Directeur de L'Institut de Géologie Université de Neuchâtel, Switzerland, 1961-1965; the Charles Lyell Medal, 1960. Correspondence and papers, 1919-1978 relating to Professor Arthur Holmes, Reynolds' husband, notably relating to his publications, his membership of various geological societies, the renaming of the Geological Society of Durham after him (the Arthur Holmes Society), his nomination as Regius Professor of Geology at Edinburgh University, and his receipt of the Makdougall-Brisbane and Vetlesen Prizes.