Papers of Sir Patrick Linstead, 1916-1968 (presented by Lady Linstead), comprising biographical papers, 1916-1968, including certificates of honours and awards, letters of congratulation, non-scientific writings, desk diaries whilst Rector of Imperial College, 1955-1966; notebooks and working papers, [1920]-1963, comprising notebooks of students days, early work at Imperial College, research at Harvard, research at Imperial College from 1949; drafts and manuscripts for lectures and publications, 1947-1966, (some of which are not listed in the official bibliography); papers relating to Linstead's work as consultant and service on committees, including his Chairmanship of the British Association Study Group on the education of the graduate scientist, 1938-1960; correspondence, 1948-[1966];

papers relating to his Rectorship of Imperial College, 1954-1967, comprising biographical and obituary notices, 1966-1967; appointment as Rector, 1954-1955; speeches, addresses and lectures, 1956-1966; papers and correspondence relating to the Committee on management and control of research and development, 1958-1962, Committee on Higher Education, 1961-1964; correspondence relating to the London School of Economics Court of Governors, 1960-1965, Science Masters' Association, 1961-1963, Association for Science Education, 1964-1965; papers relating to visits, 1955-1957, including to European universities and institutions; correspondence, 1954-1966, notably concerning the Consort Club, 1957-1962, academic salaries, 1959, with Harold Johann Thomas Ellingham, [1954-1965], John Frederick Wolfenden, [1954-1965], dinner in hall, 1955-1958, proposed International Institute of Science and Technology, 1961-1963; correspondence concerning Linstead Memorial, 1966-1968; papers concerning a visit to India, 1963-1964; Congress of the Universities of the Commonwealth visit to Imperial College, 1963; proposed International Institute of Science and Technology, 1961-1963.

Records of the Physiological Society, including all the minute books from the foundation of the Society in 1876, the proposal books for candidates from 1888, correspondence, histories and photographs. The bulk of the material dates from after 1939.

Papers of Selig Hecht, 1933, consist of two letters written by Selig Hecht, on a visit to Europe. The first, a letter to a colleague back home, outlines the problems facing Jewish academics in Nazi Germany, and introduces the second which is a much more detailed picture of the privations suffered by Jewish academics and also the indifference of the non-Jewish population, and the culmination of a latent antisemitism in the profession that had long pre-dated the Nazi seizure of power. The latter is addressed to Alfred Cohen. Others mentioned include Willstaetter, Fajans, and Alfred Wiener in his role as Syndikus or Director of the Organisation Centralverein deutscher Staatsbuerger Juedischen Glaubens.

Letter from Michael Faraday of the Royal Institution, [London] to R W Rothman [Registrar of the University of London], 9 Jun 1843. Relating to Unversity of London examinations in Chemistry.

Autograph, with signature.

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.

Papers of Henry T Flint, 1904-1972, comprising biographical material, 1925-1972, such as printed obituaries and tributes, educational certificates, trestimonials and job applications, and educational visits to East Africa; notebooks, 1904-1955, including school and university notebooks, notes on articles and books read, lecture notes on scientific subjects, and texts of wartime lectures on radio; manuscript lectures, addresses and working papers, [1922]-1962, on subjects relating to physics, such as radiology, electromagnetism, chemical elements, telegraphy and diathermy; papers relating to Flint's work on various committees, 1945-1968, including the British Medical Association Committee on Radioactive Substances, The Royal Society Committee on Symbols, and the University Grants Committee; manuscript and typescript drafts, proof copies and printed versions of publications by Flint, 1923-1967; material relating to examining, 1947-1969, including external examining at the University of the West Indies and University College, Ibadan, Nigeria; miscellaneous scientific correspondence, 1941-1950.

Papers and correspondence of J Z Young including papers from Marlborough College and Magdalen College, Oxford, 1920-1931; lectures drafts for students, medical professional societies and school sixth forms, 1945-1984; transcripts for public lectures, 1941-1977; papers relating to teaching at Magdalen College, Oxford and University College London; papers relating to Young's research both published and unpublished including on nerves and nervous systems, flying spot microscope, cephalopods, memory and learning, evolution, structures and functions of brains and philosophy; papers relating to field research in Naples Zoological Station, 1928-1981, and Duke University, North Carolina, 1970-1983; conference , seminar and symposia papers, 1952-1984; drafts of books by Young, 1950-1987; papers relating to reviews, other published articles, literary refereeing and editing; professional correspondence and papers relating to overseas visits including to the 'Gold Coast' and the USA and research, correspondence and drafts of Young's publication and lecturing activity undertaken during his retirement including research at the Wellcome Trust and the Wolfson Foundation, 1974-1997.

The papers are extensive, relating to almost every aspect of Blackett's career in science and public life. There is biographical and personal material including large numbers of letters of congratulation received on the occasion of the various scientific and public awards and honours with which Blackett's achievements were recognised. There are records of his work on particle disintegration, cosmic rays, astrophysics and magnetism in the form of laboratory notebooks, working papers, correspondence, lectures, publications and broadcasts. There is documentation of his activities on various defence projects and as a member of government committees before, during and after the Second World War. Blackett's political interests are represented by material relating to the Association of Scientific Workers, Labour Party discussion groups on science and technology policy and the Ministry of Technology instituted after the Party's 1964 electoral victory. There are records of a wide range of science-related interests such as the history of science and technology, science, education and government, and nuclear weapons and disarmament, and of his overseas activities including material relating specifically to India and that concerned with matters more generally affecting developing countries.

A few lacunae in the surviving material have been identified. There are no documents relative to Blackett's service with the National Research and Development Corporation or the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and, of his correspondence during the Second World War, only that for 1942 survives.

Extensive collection of personal and working papers reflecting many aspects of Joseph Lauwerys' varied career, including science education, educational broadcasting, international co-operation and understanding and comparative education. They include correspondence files, mostly dating from the late 1940s onwards; lecture notes, articles, conference papers and other published and unpublished writings; files relating to societies, associations and organisations; material about post-War reconstruction and the founding of UNESCO; files relating to specific overseas visits and tours; and collected papers on the educational conditions in many different countries.

Papers of Nathan Isaacs, 1913-1966, including lectures, unpublished writings and notes, publications and correspondence concerning his psychological and philosophical work.

Papers relating to the Royal Geographical Society Map Room, Library and Drawing Office, 1856-1973, including Map Room reports, 1856-1959; Map Room accounts, 1933-1967; Library reports, 1913-1958; memoranda; correspondence; proofs of maps, memorandum on photograph room and lantern slides catalogue, 1913-1914; catalogue of photograph collection, 1869-1920; and papers and correspondence relating to the committee on map storage, 1954.

Papers relating to the work of the Royal Geographical Society, cientific enquiries, instruments and instruction, 1830-1938, including rough minutes of the Scientific Committee, 1830; note on the potential effects of the projected magnetic expedition, 1842; draft letter to Sir Robert Peel, 1843; plan for correcting and extending knowledge of the Chinese Empire; suggestions for the captains of vessels proceeding to the Antarctic seas, 1892; notes on instruments including of the Instruments Committee, 1857-1860; memorandum on training travellers to make useful scientific observations, by Clements Markham, 1879; draft of proposed arrangement with Mr Coles for instruction, 1879; rough minutes of Scientific Purposes Committee, 1879; instruction and instrument report, 1881; list of instruments lent to travellers, 1877-1883; proposals for instruments, 1884; report on instruments, 1894; prospectus for a 'Course of Instruction in Practical Astronomy and Surveying…' as given by E A Reeves, 1922; 'Course of instruction in exploratory survey and field astronomy', by Col C F Close, 1931; minutes, notes and correspondence of the Committee of Supervision of Instruction, 1936-1938 and instruments catalogues, 1862-1941.

Papers relating to geographical education, 1881-1905, including papers relating to Royal Geographical Society school prizes, 1881-1882; papers relating to prizes for Training College students, 1887-1894; memoranda of schemes for substituting public school prizes and on promoting the study of geography, 1884-1896; reports on the geographic studies of Cambridge and Oxford, 1905.

Papers of Professor Charles Alfred Fisher, 1954-1980, including lecture notes on South East Asia including the overseas Chinese, the Mekong River and his visit to Burma in 1974; Foreign Office Research Department paper entitled 'UK Interests in SE Asia', 1964; and six personal letters on academic subjects, 1954-1980.

Papers of John Leonard Oliver, 1948-1960, including Oliver's MA thesis for University of London, 1948, 'An investigation into the efficacy of outdoor work in improving the attainment of Training College students in, and their attitude towards, the subject of geography'; photograph of Oliver with W.R. Mead and press cuttings of articles written by/about Oliver, 1954-1960.

Papers of The British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1865-1952, comprise committee Minute Book of Section E (Geography and Ethnology), 1865-1873; correspondence of the geodetic committee of Section A, 1917-1919; minutes and correspondence of a committee for the making of a popular map of the British Isles, 1921-1947; minutes, notes and correspondence of the geographical glossary committee, 1950-52; photocopies of papers resulting from the work of a committee appointed in 1947 to 'collect of the revival of Geography in the British Isles dating from the later years of the nineteenth century'. (The papers provide biographical details about academic geographers.)

Records of the Royal Polytechnic Institution (RPI), 1837-1881 and undated, comprising:

Leases of premises, 1838-1876, including no 5 Cavendish Square; prospectus, 1837; correspondence and papers concerning the foundation of the Institution, its provisional committee, shares, status and affairs, 1837-1839 and undated, including its charter, 1839, and papers on arbitration on a dispute between W M Nurse and the Institution; correspondence and papers relating to activities and affairs of the Institution, 1838-1842 and undated, including documents on the alleged infringement by the Institution of a patent for a diving dress, 1838, and an agreement with W H F Talbot permitting the use of his patented photographic process, 1841; photocopy of a letter from Robert Longbottom, RPI Secretary, to Samuel Morse, 1846; copy of charter, 1852; letter concerning a school visit to the RPI, 1858;

Catalogues of the Polytechnic Institution (copies), 1838-1840, and Royal Polytechnic Institution, 1844-1845; programmes for 1861, 1876, 1878 and 1881; bound volumes of RPI programmes, 1873-1878; reports, 1879-1880; particulars and conditions of sale of the RPI premises, 1881;

Books by authors associated with the RPI, including various publications by John Henry Pepper: The Boy's Playbook of Science, 2nd edition, 1860.; Popular Lectures for Young People and Half Hours with the Alchemists, 1st edition, 1855; The Playbook of Metals, 1st edition, 1869 and Cyclopaedic Science Simplified, 1st edition, 1869; The Book of The Lantern by T C Hepworth, 2nd edition, 1889; Memory by William Stokes, 2nd edition, 1888 and Rapid Writing by William Stokes, 4th edition, 1873; issues of various contemporary journals containing information on or advertisements for the Institution [1839]-1845, some with illustrations, among them scientific equipment, including four parts of the London Polytechnic Magazine, 1844, six parts of its continuation, The Polytechnic Review and Magazine, 1844, and five parts, 1845; advertising poster, 1840;

Book of press cuttings relating to the Institution from 1842, many lacking details of their source; five tokens bearing the name of the Institution, 1840; photogenic transfer made at the Institution, 1840; a ceramic plate fired at the RPI, 1866;

Illustrations and photographs of illustrations from 1840, some undated, including the great hall and other shots of the interior and exterior, 1843, and demonstrations, including the diving bell.