Alfred Wolmark was a painter whose range included figurative, landscape and graphic art. The papers and sketches in this collection reflect the various areas and influences in his life and work. The collection includes sketches, transcripts of his lectures, a diary, examples of posters and programmes designed by him, lists of his works, and correspondence with friends, associates and possible sitters.

Letters written by James Smetham, 1853-1877, mainly to William Davies, concerning his work, schemes to raise money and his religious beliefs. Smetham called his letters "ventilators" and they often took the form of handmade notebooks with their contents resembling diaries or commonplace books. Other correspondents include Rev Thomas Akroyd, Quintin Hogg (1845-1903), Charles Mansford, Charles Gabriel Dante Rossetti (1828-1882), John Ruskin (1819-1900) and Frederic James Shields (1833-1911). Also letters to Sarah Smetham, his widow, from William Davies, 1889-1895.

Papers of Sir Augustus Wall Callcott, 1786-1837, comprising travel journals and papers largely from Callcott's honeymoon in Europe in 1827-1828, notably including lists, descriptions and sketches of pictures from various art collections visited in Italy, Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia.

Papers of and relating to James Duffield Harding, 1819-1996, comprising annual diaries which include notes on the weather, art lessons given, photography, family birthdays and marriges, financial details, 1828-1861 (not all years are covered);
journals, some including a few sketches, recording journeys to the North of England, 1827, Llandough, Glamorgan 1828, France and Italy, 1830, the Continent, 1832, 1844, 1856; accounts, 1823-1863, including lists of pupils with accounts of fees paid, 1832-1837; lists of subscribers to Sketches at Home and Abroad, 1836; sales of pictures and income from lessons, 1845-1846; daily expenditure diary, 1856;
miscellaneous papers including manuscript entitled Remarks on Water Colouring, 1819; passport to France, 1845; letter offering Harding a teaching post, 1846; poem by Mrs Valentine Bartholomew, inspired by a picture by Harding, 1848; manuscript of the 'Use of the Brush etc', possibly printed (in part) in Lessons in Taste; undated notes on "Objects", their form and function, and art; undated extracts from various items including a paper on Coleridge; an Essay on Taste by Oliver Goldsmith; Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding; items (title page and vignettes) from Harding's book Sketches at Home and Abroad, 1836; lists of the collection, by the Reverend A A Duffield Harding [1953]; James Duffield Harding 1797-1863: A Centenary Memoir, by Charles Skilton, 1963.

Papers, 1914-1974, of Henrietta (Hettie) Withers, comprising correspondence and miscellaneous papers, 1936-1974 (mainly 1930s-1950s), including letters to her family, 1937-1941, letters from the China Inland Mission (CIM) London Council, 1947, and two booklets on the Emmanuel Home for the Homeless, Shanghai, 1939, 1945; diaries, 1915-1945 (some gaps), including typescript circular letters, 1927-1932, describing her work, activities and experiences in China, including references to the Sino-Japanese War and World War Two; notes, on talks given [post-1930], meetings addressed in Chefoo (Yantai), 1938-1939, and on Sisiang in Shensi province, undated; photographs and some watercolours, 1914-1965 and undated, the subjects including Chefoo, Miss Withers, other teachers, and children; passport, 1932, with endorsements for escorting children; typescript list of publications about CIM missionaries and readers' comments, 1960s-1970s.