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and antiquarian manuscript and printed papers of Mervyn Herbert Nevil Story-Maskelyne, chiefly relating to his unpublished work on historic diamonds and other gemstones.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'.

Watercolour drawing of a quartz crystal with asbestos inclusions, by Charlotte Caroline Sowerby, [1854].

Caption reads: 'Mineralogical phenomenon

Rock crystal with an hexahedral pyramid in the centre formed of Asbestos. This Crystal is supposed to be unique, Mr Sowerby never having seen a similar one, so extraordinarily curious and beautiful. Charlotte C Sowerby.'

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.

Records of the Museum of the Geological Society of London, 1808-1911, comprising:

Letters, lists and notes relating to the contents of the Geological Society's Museum, 1808-1897; Annotated mineralogy and palaeontology publications for use in the Museum, 1837-1855; Museum visitors' register, 1899-1911; Records relating to the disposal of the Museum collections, 1896-1911.

Papers of Samuel Holland, 1740, comprising four volumes of manuscript notes from Charles Alston's lectures on 'Materia Medica'. The first volume is titled Dr Alston's Lectures, 1740. The other volumes are: Volume 1 containing notes on minerals, lead, silver, copper, iron, tin, alumen, borax and vitriolum, 1740; Volume 3 containing notes on vegetables, roots, bark, leaves and flowers, 1740; Volume 4 containing notes on fruits, seeds, juices, and animals, 1740.

Letter from P Hubbersty of Milnes and Newbold solicitors of Matlock, [Derbyshire] to [William] Wyatt of Eyam, Bakewell, [Derbyshire], 27 Sep 1851. Covering note to a printed circular letter convening a meeting of miners, landowners and other interested parties on 6 Oct 1851.

Written and signed on behalf of the firm by P Hubbersty. The note is written on the blank inner pages of the circular letter Mineral laws and customs of the wapentake of Wirksworth.

Copy of article by Morris Greenberg, 1982, concerning evidence given by Dr Hubert Montague Murray, MD, FRCP (1855-1907), to the Departmental Committee on Compensation for Industrial Diseases, which contained the first described case of asbestosis; framed asbestosis swabs, 1899, with extracts from correspondence, 1954 and 1966.

Papers of Sir Richard Doll arranged as follows: Section A. Correspondence and papers from Doll's period as Regius Professor of Medicine in the University of Oxford (1969-1979). Includes the administration papers of medical departments. During Doll's professorship, most of the planning and development of the John Radcliffe Hospital complex was undertaken, and many of the papers relate to this project, including building specifications and architect's plans as well as numerous reports prepared for committees on which Doll served, including those concerned with the re-organization of Oxford hospital services.

Section B. Papers deriving from the conduct of trials and other epidemiological research. The collection contains material from a range of clinical trials in the field of gastroenterology, conducted initially under Francis Avery Jones at Central Middlesex Hospital. The trials investigated a variety of treatments of ulcers: from an investigation of the influence of smoking, to the role of blood group distribution and family history, from the efficacy of liquorice treatment to the efficacy of intragastric milk drips in uncomplicated gastric ulcer, and from comparative trials to determine rates of healing, to investigating cortisone in ulcerative colitis. Occupational epidemiology is well-represented, including material on both vinyl chloride and asbestos. The latter incremental research into the link between asbestos exposure and lung cancer (at the Turner and Newall factory in Rochdale) includes related correspondence, draft papers and original data, beginning with Doll's landmark paper of 1955. Other research-based material includes papers relating to a Medical Research Council trial of mild hypertension (completed in 1985), for which Doll acted as Chair of the Ethical Committee. Papers on smoking and lung cancer are less well-represented: spanning the period 1956-1972, they do not, unfortunately, include papers from formative research conducted with Bradford Hill. Correspondence relating to ISIS-3: Third International Study of Infarct Survival (for which, Doll acted as Chair of the Data Monitoring Committee) can be found at D/3/82, amongst the lecture papers where it was originally filed.

Section C. Doll's international reputation prompted a number of requests for his professional assistance, from both private and public sectors. In addition to formal consultancy conducted in America and Europe, Doll's international lecturing itinerary sometimes incorporated local consultancy - see, for example, D/3/41 (Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Study), D/3/42 (correspondence with Shell Oil, Houston, concerning peer-review of a case-control study of fourteen leukaemia deaths at an oil-refinery), or D/3/54 (a new Centre for population health studies in Tasmania). More extensive consultancy is represented by papers concerning the Spanish Toxic Oil Syndrome: the WHO invited Doll to weigh evidence gathered to determine the cause of the epidemic and prepare an expert report.

Section D. Lecture texts and papers, published and unpublished from 1968 to 1991. Many files contain germane correspondence, notes and background material. For instance, D/1/20 ("Osler's English School") contains brief correspondence with the Dept of Pathology, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford on Osler's post-mortem record; D/1/32 ("Pott and the path to prevention") contains photocopied medical notes of James Chard, chimney sweep (St Batholomew's Hospital, 1848); D/2/28 ("Avoidable cancer: attribution of risk") contains clinical correspondence on beta-carotene; and D/3/24 ("Medical effects of smoking: problems and perspectives") includes correspondence with Austin Bradford Hill on the origins of the prospective study of doctors and their smoking habits. Some additional papers, prior to 1968, can be found in Section B, where they are filed together with contemporaneous research materials.

Section E. Audio and video tapes amongst Doll's papers. A small collection of materials drawn from 1981-1984, including an interview on Japanese television.

'Geological researches round London', comprising five volumes of manuscript copies, by a number of hands, of notes made by James Mitchell principally on the geology and botany of London and the Thames Valley during his residence in the City, [1832-1840]. Also includes some cuttings of Mitchell's published articles. An index to the papers appears at the front of each volume and the titles or subjects listed are:

VOLUME 1

Loampit Hill; Cavern on the side of Blackheath; Pit in the old Charlton Parish; Shooters Hill; Pit at New Charlton near Woolwich; Sundridge Park near Bromley; Erith; Crayford; Bexley Heath; Dartford; Road from London to Gravesend; Greenhithe Park; Northfleet (including fossils and plants); Shorne; Holly Hill; Gadshill; Pits at Chatham; Gravesend to Wrotham; Town Malling; Quarry near Maidstone; Kits Cotty; Isle of Sheppey; Cliff at Reculver; Margate Sands; Chatham to Canterbury; Key Street; Sittingbourne; Canterbury to Margate; Isle of Thanet; Sandwich; Richborough Castle; Channel Flints; Dover to Folkstone; Hayes Common; Pratts Bottom; Knockholt Beeches; Knockholt to Tunbridge; Tunbridge to Maidstone; London Clay in Kent; Sand found in the Thames; Brickmaking; Useful applications of Chalk; Limeburning; Great Lime; Lias Lime; Cement Stone; Heights in Kent; Manufacturing of Whitening.

VOLUME 2

Heights of various places in Middlesex, Surrey and Sussex above the low water according to the Trigonometrical Survey; London Clay; Remains of quadrupeds; Of gravel; Animal remains in flint found in the Clay; Kensington; Hampstead; Highgate; Tottenham Marshes; From London to Edgeware; Stanmore Common; Harrow on the Hill; London to Uxbridge; Amersham; Watford; Hatfield Herfordshire; Well at Beaumont Green; Ware; Hertford; Ware to Cambridge; London to Romford and Brentford; Brook Street; Warley Common; London to Chigwell and Ongar; Ongar; London to Cambridge by Epping; Saffron Walden; Alluvial soil on the banks of the Thames; Purfleet; Artesian Well in the Marsh near Purfleet; Button's Breach; Gray's Thurrock commonly called Grays; London to Woodbridge; Chiselhurst; Gravesend; Dartford Marshes; Orpington; Wandsworth; Knightshill; Kingston upon Thames; Croydon; Head of the Wandle; Carshalton; Beddington Surrey; Mitcham Common; Wells at Mitcham; Ashtead Surrey; Ewell Surrey; Carshalton Downs; Croydon to Merstham; London to Merstham; Merstham; Well below the Church at Merstham; Gatton Park; London to Reigate by Sutton; Reigate; London to Godstone; Godstone; The Bourne; Tilburstow; Bletchingly; Fuller's Earth Pits; London to Dorking; Dorking to Limepits; Dorking to Leith Hill; Leatherhead to Guildford; Guildford; Chelsworth House; Langdon Hills Essex.

VOLUME 3

New River Company's well at the end of Tottenham Court Road; Upper Clapton; List of minerals and fossils in the pits at Muswell Hill by Frederick Purdey; Brentford; Hounslow Heath; Hanwell; Wells at Hanwell; Harefield; Enfield; Northan; Cheshunt Street; Watford; Wades Mill; Puckeridge; Much Haddam; Royston; Tring; Strata of Essex; Waltham Abbey; Sewardstone; Epping Forest; Stratford; Dagenham; Ilford; Romford; Upminster; Peckham Rye; Counter Hill; Norwood; Epsom; Sutton; Cheam; Road from Croydon to Limpsfield; Merstham; Bletchingly; Nutfield and Fuller's Earth Pits; Barnes; Chertsey; Plumstead; Sydenham; Dartford Heath; Chiselhurst; Westerham; Farningham; Maidstone; Wrotham; Upnor; Cliff, Cooling and All Hallows; Cuxton; Halling; Isle of Sheppey; Sittingbourne; Windsor; North side of Bagshot Heath; Bagshot Heath; On the Blackheath formation; Druid Sandstone; On the changes produced on chalk flints.

VOLUME 4

Section of the London and Croydon Railway; Of the London Basin; Of the London Clay; Age of the London Clay; Fossil wood in London Clay; Septaria or Cement Stone; Wells in London; Bognor Shells; Woolwich Shells; Mineralogical substances in Middlesex and Essex (Cement Stone, Pyrites, Selenite, Wood, Sulphate of Magnesium); Quartz; Gravel. Series of papers on the construction and description of water wells, including: Foul air - wells; Wells at Sanderstead, Norbury, Epsom Downs, Kent; Air pump used in well digging and well boring; Expense of well digging and well boring; Direction of underground currents; Foul air in Wells in Essex and Middlesex; Beds of sand in the blue clay beneath it; Wells rot each other; Wells at Sheerness and in Sheppey; As to whether digging or boring be preferable; Muswell Hill; Barnet; Hemel Hempstead; Tring; Buntingford; Royston; Hare Street; Danbury; Rochford and Rayleigh; Wallisea Island; Wigborough; Coast near Malden; Braintree; Croydon and the neighbouring Country; Brixton; Forest Hill; Well at Balham Hill; Well at Mortlake; St George's Hill; Kingston to Guildford; Weybridge; Well at Cobham; Godstone; Well at Merstham; Waltham on the Hill; Headley; Reigate; Red Hill Reigate; Dorking; Wells at Normanry and Ash; Wells in the Weald of Sussex; Reading; Newbury; Bexley Heath; Chelsfield and Well Hill; Wells at Margate; Great Baddon; Wells in various places.

VOLUME 5

Superficial strata of the county of Middlesex; Wells in Middlesex; Well at St Mary Woolnoth; Church Fenchurch Street; The Thames Tunnel; Mud and sand carried out by the Thames; Hampstead Heath; Watery action on the surface in Essex; On wells formed by digging and boring in Essex; Stratford in Essex; Chigwell and Chigwell Row; Kelvedon; Copford; Great Wakering; Wakering Marsh; Foulness Island; Walton on the Naze; On the watery action on the surface of the county of Surrey; On the sections at New Cross; on the strata of the of the Jolly Sailor Station of the Croydon Railway; Shirley sand pits; Addington Hills; Croham Hurst; Croydon; Woking Common; Leatherhead; Nettley Heath; Heights above the level of the Thames of places in and about London; On the foul air in the chalk and in the strata above the chalk in the country near London.

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.