Scientific and other papers sent to the Royal Society, presented at meetings of Fellows, or commissioned by the Society. They form a complementary series to the Early Letters, both of which were superseded by the Letters and Papers. Many of these items, referred to as the 'Guard Books', are duplicated in the Register Book of the Society. The classification is a simplified form of the 'Philosophical Transactions' abridgment by John Lowthorp. This arrangement was completed in 1741 by Thomas Birch. The majority of the papers in these volumes are manuscript, but a few printed documents occur throughout the series. Some of the papers are earlier in date than the grant on 15 July 1662 of the First Charter to the Society. The Committee of Trades seems to have been associated with the earlier meetings of those philosophers who subsequently became Fellows, and produced a number of practical papers, some of which were written in 1639 and which are mostly found in Volume 3(i). There are still earlier documents, mostly in Volume 25, which may have been included in the gift, in 1667, of the Arundel Library.

Correspondence files of the joint meetings to discuss maternity care in the new National Health Service of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) Committee, including papers on the background to its establishment, from 1985-1992, including minutes of meetings and publications, particularly RCOG, RCGP & RCM, Maternity Care in the New NHS: A Joint Approach, July 1992.

Papers of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists' Stillbirth and neonatal death/management of perinatal deaths working party, comprising background papers and correspondence, 1983-1984; President's background papers and correspondence, 1978-1985; Committee chairman's correspondence and papers on publication of report, 1984-1986; background literature and chairman's papers, 1983-1984; Chairman's correspondence and papers, 1984-1985; Report of the RCOG Working Party on the Management of Perinatal Deaths, with circulation list, 1985; minute book of the working party, 1984.

Report of the Working Party on Minimum Standards of Care in Labour, June 1994.

Minutes, correspondence of Miss Mallon, College Secretary, background papers and reports of the RCOG Institutional versus Domiciliary Midwifery Committee, 1946-1957, including the committee's Report on the Obstetric Service under the National Health Service, July 1954 and 1956 revised edition.

Papers of the RCOG Antenatal and intrapartum care working party, 1979-1982, comprising Minute book, 1979-1982; Committee meetings' papers, 1979-1982; Agenda and minutes of all meetings, 1979-1982; Committee chairman's and secretary's correspondence, 1979-1982; Pamphlets, etc, of National Childbirth Trust, Health Education Council, and Scottish Health Education Unit, and related correspondence, 1980; Health authority, hospital, and other professional bodies' documents on antenatal and perinatal care, 1979-1980; Published report, 1982; Circulation of published report, 1982; Responses to published report, 1982.

Correspondence between Sir John Peel and senior obstetricians concerning the format of his questionnaire relating to caesarean sections; copies of his proposed questionnaire; statistical information supplied by hospital and university departments, and a copy of Peel's preliminary report on his survey.

Patent, no 781237, granted to A C King for an appliance for administering chloroform as an anaesthetic in childbirth, with photographs of the appliance, 1933.

Correspondence, prints and papers of Alexander Russell Simpson, 1816-1893, comprising letter from Matthews Duncan, 22 Oct 1881; letters from Professor Eriole F Fabri of Modena, Italy, 1882-1883; letter from Professor G Brown, 5 Feb 1883; letter from Professor Dr Litzmann of Kiel, Germany, with translation by Dr George Selby, 8 Feb 1883; letter from Professor Michel Fari of Padua, Italy, 10 Feb 1883; letter from Professor T Habbertfma of Utrecht, Holland, 12 Mar 1883; letter from Professor D Eugene Hubert of Louvain, Belgium, 15 Mar 1883; letter from Professor Zweifel of Erlangen, Germany with translation by Dr George Selby, 15 Mar 1883; copy of part of a petition to the Members of the Senatus Academicus of the University of Edinburgh by James Hamilton, 15 Jan 1816; print of a drawing of Abbotsford, the seat of Sir Walter Scott, by Thomas H Shepherd, undated; paper given by Ian Cope to the Australian Society for the History of Medicine, entitled "The Other Professor Simpson of Edinburgh, Professor Sir Alexander Russell Simpson, 1835-1916", undated; "Address to the Medical Graduates In The University of Edinburgh" by Simpson, 1 Aug 1878; papers by Simpson (unless stated otherwise) comprising "Head-Flexion In Labour", 26 Feb 1879; "Axis-Traction Forceps", 21 Jul 1880; "The Uterine Sound", 9 Nov 1881; "Hydramnios: and the Source of The Liquor Amni", 31 May 1882; "Again on Axis-Traction Forceps: and On the Basilyst", 11 Jul 1883; "Extra-Uterine Gestation" by William Alexander Freund , 27 Jun 1883; "Case of Caesarean Hystero-Oophorectomy or Porro's Operation", 12 Mar 1884;"Keller and Crede, Presidential Address Delivered Before the Edinburgh Obstetrical Society", 9 Nov 1892;"Prolapse of the Female Urethra", 10 May 1893.