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.

The collection covers Pyman's career from 1937 until 1963 when he suffered a severe stroke which forced his retirement in 1964. The earliest papers date from Pyman's work with the Royal Tank Cadre in converting the 17/21 Lancers from a cavalry to an armoured regiment. There are also papers from Pyman's period as an instructor at the Staff College in Quetta, India, 1939-1941. Pyman was involved in the World War Two campaigns by the 8 Army in the Western Desert, in 1941 as General Staff Officer with 7 Armoured Div, 30 Corps and in 1942-1943 as Commander of the 3 Royal Tank Regiment, 10 Armoured Div, 30 Corps. The papers consist mostly of Pyman's assessments of lessons learned from the ongoing campaigns particularly with regard to tanks and armoured units. In 1944-1945 Pyman was Brigidier General Staff, 30 Corps, 2 Army in the Normandy landings and the invasion of Northern Europe, with particular responsibility for organisation and planning of the Rhine crossing and advance to the Baltic. This is reflected in the papers which largely consist of planning studies and reports for the operations involved, this section also contains maps used in the campaign. Pyman's next appointment was as Chief of General Staff, Allied Land Forces, South East Asia, 1945-1946 which is documented by a series of diaries which reflect the tasks faced by Pyman in this command including dealing with the build up of tension between newly liberated former colonies keen to assert their right for independence and the former colonial powers such as France and Netherlands. Pyman spent 1946-1949 as Chief of Staff, Middle East Land Forces and kept monthly diaries which form the bulk of this section of the collection. The diary entries and additional papers reflect the debate over policy in the Middle East in the British Government and Military command, they include detail on the British withdrawal from Greece, the problem of illegal Jewish immigrants and their internment in Cyprus, the end of the British mandate in Palestine and the the effect of this on relations between Britain with Egypt and the other Arab states and the subsequent Arab Israeli conflict. This section of the collection also contains correspondence between Pyman and Maj Gen Sir Miles Christopher Dempsey on personal matters and on the Middle East. There are also papers from Pyman's work at the Ministry of Supply as Director General of Fighting Vehicles, 1951-1953, Director of Weapons Development, War Office, 1955-1956 mostly brief diary entries and lecture texts. Pyman was also General Officer Commanding, British Army on the Rhine, 1953-1955 and General Officer Commanding, 1 British Corps, 1956-1958 and the papers relating to these commands consist mostly of lectures, reports and directives reflecting his interest in armoured divisions and training. There are some papers, mostly personal correspondence and press cuttings, from Pyman's final command as Commander-in-Chief Allied Forces Northern Europe in North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). The collection also contains correspondence relating to Pyman's role as Colonel Commandant of the Royal Tank Regiment and The Royal Armoured Corps and a series of letters covering the reorganisation of the Berks and Westminster Dragoons, of which he was Honorary Colonel. The rest of the collection consists of diaries, correspondence, speeches, writings including the draft copy and papers relating to his autobiography, some preparatory work on a history of the 2 Army and reference works. The collection also includes the Boer War diaries and other papers of Col James Redmond Patrick Gordon who commanded the 1 Cavalry Bde of the South African Field Force 1900-1901 which were given to Pyman by a friend.

Papers of Felix Langer, 1933-1941, comprise three volumes of diaries plus enclosures. The diaries contain mostly sparse notes often barely legible. A large part of the content relates to books.

Diaries of Wilhelm Hollitscher, a Jewish refugee in England, 13 Jun 1939-16 Oct 1943. Hollitscher begins his diaries by remembering his last days in Vienna, but soon turns to a discussion of the political news of the day. In this case a secret meeting between Hitler and Mussolini. Hollitscher is furious about Hitler's treachery, abandoning South Tyrol as a gift to Mussolini. From this time on Hollitscher chronicles the political, and later, military developments and the diaries become a history of the period seen through the eyes of a Jewish emigrant living in England. The tense months leading up to the war, the declaration of war and the war itself are described. Likewise is the landing of Rudolf Hess; the bombing of English towns and later of German ones; Stalingrad; and even events in the Pacific and China.

Comments on the political situation are regularly interspersed with notes on family and friends, most of whom, seem to have escaped Austria. Letters written and received and the more mundane events of daily life at Petts Wood are recorded faithfully.

Hollitzer is very conscious of the fate of the Jews in Germany, Austria and Poland and he notes any news he receives. On the fourth anniversary of his arrival in England he is grateful for four years of a 'blessed old age' and for the fact that his children and grandchildren are safe and healthy. In 1943 he mentions heart troubles, difficulties in sleeping and cramps. The diaries close rather abruptly on 6 October 1943.

The papers of Kathleen and Millicent Coleman comprise three classes of material: the private papers of the sisters and the Coleman family, 1842-1957; records relating to the National Children's Home, 1935-1981; and the Pestalozzi Village Trust, 1948-1989. Personal papers include a diary and pharmacopoeias, correspondence, examination certificates, photographs and printed books, 1842-1957, notably including a detailed manuscript medical diary describing life on board ship and a medical practice in Africa, 1842-1844, probably compiled by John Albert Sidney Coleman, grandfather of Kathleen and Millicent Coleman; pharmacopoeias containing remedies and prescriptions, with printed pharmacopoeias, compiled by Mark Coleman and others, reflecting the transition of the Coleman family business from patent remedies to modern pharmacy, 1851-1894; correspondence with Kathleen and Millicent Coleman, mainly descriptions of daily life in the National Children's Home and describing psychological testing of the children, 1927-1948; family correspondence and legal documents including letting agreements and deeds of partnership, the will of Mathew Coleman, the sisters' great uncle, and relating to their father and his career, letters containing family news and gossip, 1845-1928; examination certificates and prize lists relating to the education of Kathleen and Millicent Coleman, 1922-1933; photographs of the Coleman family during the 1890s, during World War One and of Kathleen and Millicent Coleman on holiday, [1928], of Lady Eleanor Holles School, 1921-1933, group photographs of students and staff in King's College London Department of History, 1929-1955, photographs of various National Children's Home establishments, 1934-1957; a small collection of printed books concerned with the history, customs and government of London and the Home Counties, [1945-1985] (Boxes 70-74, now on open access in the Archive reading room).

The records of the National Children's Home, 1935-1981, notably comprising Vocational Guidance Record Sheets, consisting of files on individual children that included intelligence test results, memory tests and individual comments, arranged in alphabetical order, 1938-1964 (Boxes 1-23); test results and evaluations of named children for tests organised by the National Institute of Industrial Psychology including the Porteus Maze Test and scoring sheets, 1957-1960 (Boxes 24-28); psychological evaluations of children at different branches of the children's home, notably in Cardiff, Harpenden, Nottingham and Glasgow, including individual test results and assessments with broad statistics and educational recommendations by visitors, 1942-1963 (Boxes 29-40); pupil record cards containing biographical information, aptitude tests and psychological test results for children at various homes, [1948-1960] (Boxes 41-42); material relating to the Brentwood College of Education including a working party on syllabuses, staff lists, the relationship with the University of London Institute of Education, manuscript notes and some psychological test results of children engaged in the so-called Gifted Child Study, 1971-1974 (Boxes 43-44); material relating to vocational aptitude and the placement of older children in trades and professions such as the armed forces and Civil Service, notably including psychologists' reports, 1935-1965 (Boxes 45-56); questionnaires of 18 year-old former residents conducted in 1954-1956 (Box 57); material relating to European refugees resident in the NCH including named children and correspondence with the Central Committee for Refugees, 1942-1949 (Boxes 58-59); general correspondence with Millicent Coleman relating to local authorities, staff and the emigration of children to Australia, 1951-1962; manuscript visitation report book assessing particular homes, 1946-1949; report on the incidence of enuresis (incontinence) in homes, 1946-1950; publicity material mainly created at the time of the centenary and on other children's charities, 1951-1981; careers and apprenticeship literature, 1938-1954; photographs and negatives of students and buildings, 1938-1939 (Boxes 60-62); psychological testing materials including test cards displaying words and pictures, [1958] (Boxes 63-69).

The records of the Pestalozzi Village Trust, 1948-1989, comprise typescript notes compiled by Millicent Coleman, who served on its governing Council. These consist mainly of Council minutes and supporting material, 1948-1989; Committee minutes including Finance and Management Committees, 1953-1985; Annual Reports and Accounts, 1961-1974; policy reports on the development and strategic direction of the Village, 1959-1973; correspondence with Millicent Coleman regarding Trust business and liaison with the National Children's Home, 1953-1985.