The collection covers both Pettigrew's medical and antiquarian activities, which are intermingled in the material's arrangement. The medical items include correspondence with many medical figures, medical jurisprudence (an Anniversary Oration delivered to the Medical Society of London), corpulence, hydrophobia, medical observations by army officers in India, and an autobiographical memoir of the philanthropist and prison-reformer James Neild (1744-1814), transcribed by Pettigrew and incorporated into his life of John Coakley Lettsom M.D. The antiquarian items include material on Kett's Rebellion, Hindu deities, the library of the Duke of Sussex and correspondence with the Italian antiquary Giovanni Spano (1803-1878) and Gaetano Cara, as part of Pettigrew's role as Vice-President of the British Archaeological Society. Types of material held include notebooks, loose papers, correspondence and diplomas.

The majority of papers in this collection concern Trowell's work on fibre, carried out in close cooperation with Denis Burkitt, exploring its role in the prevention of obesity, diabetes and coronary heart disease. There are no primary sources from the period Trowell spent as Senior Physician at the Mulago Hospital, Uganda, 1930-1958, where he was one of the key researchers into the protein-calorie malnutrition disease kwashiorkor. However, publications can be found at C.1 and the work is discussed in transcripts of taped reminiscences (A.2), and in Trowell's biography (A.5).

Section D of this list consists of papers generated by Trowell's engagement in the debate on the interface of religion and medicine.

Papers of Donald Hunter, 1910-1977. There are two large, parallel series of case files and reference files (section C) relating to a wide range of conditions, most but not all connected with occupational hazards and many being dermatological or osteopathic, as well as factory visit notes, correspondence, both personal and professional, publications, writings, and audio-visual material.

Correspondence and literature of various charitable bodies with which Sir Richard Cave was associated, 1954-1973, including the British Obesity Association, 1967-1969; Disabled Christians' Fellowship, 1959; International Holiday Camp and Rally for the Disabled, 1958; Queen Elizabeth's Foundation for the Disabled , c 1970s; Scroth Centre for the Treatment of Rheumatic Disease by Natural Therapeutics, c 1950s-1970s; Society for the Relief of Distress and other bodies.