The papers are very extensive though there are some lacunae, probably attributable to Chain's many changes of workplace. The early biographical period is sparsely documented, there are sporadic gaps in the correspondence files, and there is no original documentation of the penicillin research at Oxford (although there are many historical accounts and much correspondence about the history of penicillin). The surviving biographical material provides documentation of the arrangements for Chain to live and work in Britain, later honours and awards and his musical interests, and family correspondence, photographs and press-cuttings. There are very substantial records of his later career at the Istituto Superiore di Sanità and Imperial College, London, including his continuing contributions to biochemical problems such as carbohydrate metabolism, ergot alkaloids, edible proteins and aeration studies. The Imperial College material also contains records of the creation, administration, finance and architectural design of the Biochemistry Department, and developments in the Department after Chain's statutory retirement in 1973. Additional information about Chain's research is available in the documentation of his very extensive consultancy agreements and collaborative work with industrial firms such as Astra, Beechams and Rank Hovis McDougall, and records relating to government, grant-giving and charitable bodies such as the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research Campaign and Medical Research Council which contributed to the funding of his research. There is much material on Chain's lectures, addresses and broadcasts, and on his extensive travel on visits and conferences, which includes a substantial number of unpublished talks.

An exceptional feature of the Chain papers is the documentation of the large number of Israel and Jewish organisations with which he was associated, especially the Weizmann Institute of Science, where he was a governor for many years and had at one time considered taking up an appointment.

Correspondence and papers relating to institutions, societies and bodies with some association with Imperial College, 1852-1994, comprising publications and histories, press cuttings, reports, minutes, and correspondence with Imperial College, for the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1860, 1937-1953 (ABM); Science Museum, 1909-1976, including correspondence concerning the provision of a site for the new Science Museums at South Kensington, 1912 (ABS); Science Museum Library, 1901, 1962-1970 (ABSL);
papers relating to the Select Committee on Education and Science, 1969-1981, including papers of the sub-committee on sea bed engineering and papers on College courses, 1973-1974 (AC); Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1956-1970, including correspondence relating to research grants, 1956-1958, and minutes of the National Hydrogen Bubble Chamber Management Committee, 1959-1963 (ACD); Royal Mint, 1907-1923, including drawing of the College coat of arms, 1908 (ACM); National Research Development Corporation, comprising minutes and correspondence, 1950-1967 (ACN); Science Research Council report on postgraduate training, 1971-1973 (ACR); Social Science Research Council, 1981 (ACS);
papers relating to the Royal Society of Arts, including correspondence, 1945-1956 (AD); Royal College of Music, 1911-1980, including correspondence, 1911-1994 (ADM);
papers relating to the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, including Commissioners reports, 1852-1951; minutes relating to the scheme for the new technological institution [Imperial College], 1907; negatives of the last of the Great Exhibition Elms in Hyde Park, 1988 (AE); Royal Albert Hall, 1866-1967, including charter, 1866 (AED);
papers relating to the Dyers Company, 1929-1935 (AFA); Clothworkers' Company, correspondence on grants, 1910-1976 (AFC); Goldsmiths Company, 1955-1998, including grants, 1955-1967; Empire Cotton Growing Corporation grants, 1921-1955 (AGC); Handley Page Limited, 1945 (AGH); Nuffield Foundation, 1930 (AGH);
papers relating to the Imperial Institute, 1887-1989, including correspondence concerning the demolition of the Institute, 1961-1965, pamphlets and articles (AI);
correspondence with the Colonial Office, 1911-1922; Safety in Mines Research Board, 1926-1933; National Coal Board, 1945-1953; Home Office, 1907-1962; Privy Council, 1907-1916 (AK); London County Council papers relating to grants, 1903-1930 (ALA); Westminster City Council correspondence, 1910-1934 (ALW); Royal Society of London papers, 1909-1989, including correspondence, 1909-1937, and tercentenary papers, 1958-1960 (AR);
papers relating to the Institution of Chemical Engineers comprising correspondence, 1925-1932 (ASCE); Physical Society papers, 1905-1974 (ASF); John Innes Horticultural Institution correspondence, 1935-1967 (ASJ); Rothamsted Experimental Station, 1926-1970, including correspondence relating to plant research, 1926-1954 (ASK); correspondence with the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, 1908-1922, 1950 (ASN); correspondence with the Academic Assistance Council, 1933-1939 (ASW);
papers relating to the Treasury and University Council Grants Committee, including correspondence, 1895-1934; Meston Committee correspondence, 1921-1923; Departmental expenditure schedules, 1921-1938; reports concerning university development, 1921; halls of residence, 1957; supperannuation of university teachers, 1960; visitations to Imperial College, 1929, 1934, 1985; correspondence concerning Departmental research interests, 1946-1947; relations with industry, 1953-1954; annual returns, 1934-1969; development of postgraduate teaching and research, 1949-1950 (AT); correspondence of the Committee of Vice Chancellors and Principals, 1966-1970 (AUA); correspondence with the Association of Scientific Workers, 1936-1965, and Association of Scientific Managerial and Technical Staff, 1968-1980 (AX).

Finance records of Imperial College, including College accounts, 1911-1960; regulations, 1986, 1992; correspondence of the College auditor, 1909-1926; Internal auditor's reports, 1977-1979, and information leaflet, 1992;
papers relating to college appeals, comprising Appeal Committee papers, 1919-1921; Botany Research Appeal papers, 1920; Centenary Appeal brochures and reports, 1945-1954; Roderic Hill Memorial leaflet and appeal correspondence, 1954-1957; 1969 Appeal correspondence, papers, press releases, and minutes, 1965-1972; Queen's Gate Trust minutes, 1969-1970;
papers relating to donations to the college, including correspondence, 1908-1967; ledger of donors, 1907-1938; correspondence relating to donations from Charles Hawksley, 1908-1914; Goldsmiths' Company, 1934; Bryson Mulberry bequest, 1949-1952; Gregory bequest, 1961-1979; Frank Merricks Associates fund, 1936-1952; Tanner fund, 1960-1966; Jackson fund, 1968-1974; Armstrong Memorial Trust, 1952-1968; correspondence and minutes relating to the Hilary Bauermann bequest, 1933-1978;
records relating to departmental finance, including finance office log book, 1945-1956; correspondence relating to equipment grants, 1968-1970; suspense accounts, 1968-1976; special pensions, notably the Judd fund, 1935-1944;
papers relating to research and development, including university and industry liason correspondence, 1966-1970; report on university research and its commercial exploitation, 1969-1970; conference proceedings, 1983;
papers relating to Imperial College companies, notably Impel annual reports, 1988-1990; Imperial Biotechnology minutes and reports, 1982-1989; Imperial College Consultants Limited, 1991;
correspondence relating to research grants, 1968-1971; outside income, 1977-1978; report of the working party on patents, 1979 (GP);
City and Guilds College ledgers, 1913-1953 (GQ).

Records of the Department of Geology of Imperial College, 1876-1996, including histories and notes on the department, [1851]-1996; papers relating to courses, 1878-1949, comprising notes, 1896-1942, including laboratory work, 1878-1883; courses for teachers, 1895-1908; lectures and addresses by Professor Herbert Harold Read, 1942-1949; Rectors' correspondence, 1955-1981, concerning grants, headship, transfer of the department, courses; newletters, 1969-1995; research report, 1988; papers of Professors' and Heads of Sections' Meetings, 1969-1988; papers of historical interest accumulated by the department, 1876-1964, including Professorial correspondence, 1876-1916; departmental reports, 1907-1930; financial papers, 1906-1936; war work, 1914-1919; papers of Professor Percy George Hamnall Boswell, 1932-1960; Professor Charles Gilbert Cullis, 1923-1937; Professor Herbert Harold Read, 1944-1964 (KG);
papers relating to Geochemistry, concerning the opening of new laboratories, 1956; Wolfson Foundation grant, 1978 (KGC); items from the Murchison Museum, [1773-1825] (KGM); papers relating to Geophysics, including correspondence with the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Royal Society concerning the foundation of a postgraduate school, 1929-1943; leaflet, 1956 (KGP3); papers relating to Oil Technology (KGO).

Records of the Cancer Research Campaign formerly the British Empire Cancer Campaign, covering all aspects of the Campaign's organization and activities. Sections A-C comprise committee minutes, agenda and papers, 1923-1976. The minutes of central headquarters committees are extensive, but there are serious gaps in the top level committees: Grand Council, the Executive Committee and the Scientific Advisory Committee. Efforts to locate the missing records have so far been unsuccessful. In addition, many minutes of sub-committees are either incomplete or unsigned copies. The collection contains very few records of regional branches; and information regarding either their existence or whereabouts is scant. The main body of the archive, Sections D-R, consists largely of files generated by Campaign headquarters, mainly the General Secretary's office. Files contain correspondence, reports, pamphlets, legal documents, press cuttings, articles, off-prints, posters, ephemera, etc. They cover the Campaign's history and organisation; senior members; relations with regional councils, branches, affiliatated bodies and other cancer organisations, both in the UK and overseas; cancer research and government provision; fund raising; research materials and equipment; cancer cures and causes; views and enquiries from the general public; cancer education and publications. There is also a series of press cuttings volumes, and three publicity films made in the 1950s.

Papers, c1914-1989, of Dame Kathleen Lonsdale.

Biographical material includes correspondence and papers relating to imprisonment in Holloway Prison, with Lonsdale's own accounts of her time there; diaries and personal notebooks, 1946-1969; letters of congratulation on election as Fellow of the Royal Society (1945); various photographs dating from school to her later years.

Papers relating to Lonsdale's teaching and administrative work at University College London include papers on teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses; significant documentation relating to laboratory personnel, research funding and general university administration; papers relating to the 'Round Table on Peace Studies', which proposed the establishment of a centre for research into international conflict at the University.

Research material, 1924-1970, consists of Royal Institution papers comprising notebooks, one dating from Lonsdale's first period there (1923-1927), correspondence with colleagues such as W H Bragg and J M Robertson, and Lonsdale's notes and drafts for various research topics; correspondence and papers from her University College years covering many different areas of research, including diffuse scattering of X-rays, thermal vibrations in crystals, methonium compounds and urinary calculi (the latter topic particularly well documented and including several case studies), and including a large group of photographs, mostly of X-ray diffraction patterns.

Papers on the preparation of volumes of the International Tables for crystal structure determination from Lonsdale's chairmanship of the Commission on Tables (1948) comprise drafts, notes and correspondence with colleagues and publishers.

Extensive papers relating to publications, lectures and broadcasts include drafts of articles, on subjects including peace and religious issues, also including obituaries and biographical articles on various individuals, books, book reviews, obituaries, and letters to newspapers and magazines, the latter principally on the issue of atomic weapons; general correspondence concerning publications; drafts of lectures, 1945-1970, including ethics and the role of science in society; a large series of lecture notes, 1933-1970; scripts for broadcasts, on topics ranging from crystallography to religion, 1945-1967.

Papers on foreign and domestic travel, 1943-1971, relating to conferences and lectures, on crystallography, science ethics, and work for the Society of Friends, including her visit to China (1955) and her world tour (1965).

Papers relating to organisations, notably the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) and the International Union of Crystallography (IUCr), including material relating to a number of International Congresses of Crystallography, also papers relating to participation in Pugwash Conferences on World Affairs, 1958-1970, and papers concerning prison reform and the running of Bullwood Hall Borstal, Essex.

Correspondence, 1927-1974, comprises two main sequences, one arranged alphabetically, the other chronologically; 'day files', principally carbons of outgoing correspondence, 1966-1969; a sequence of references and recommendations; also including correspondence relating to Lonsdale's period of imprisonment (1943). Correspondents include scientists such as Max Born, W H Bragg, W L Bragg, E G Cox, Dorothy Hodgkin, Judith Milledge, L C Pauling and A J C Wilson.

Records relating to Imperial College academic departments, 1857-1996, principally concerning courses, scholarships, awards and prizes, comprising Rector's reports on departments, and reports from departments, 1908-1909 (K1); undergraduate syllabuses, 1993-1996 (K2); papers concerning courses at the Royal School of Mines and Imperial College, including pamphlets, 1923-1987, Preliminary Science Course, minutes and correspondence, 1955-1961, undergraduate research directories, 1980-1990 (K3);
research reports of Imperial College, 1971-1980, Royal School of Mines, 1950-1972, Royal College of Science, 1950-1971, City and Guilds College, 1946-1973, Clothworkers' Company grant, 1932-1937; research reports and annual reviews for the Departments of Computing, 1984-1985, Biochemistry, 1991, Materials, 1985-1989, Chemical Engineering, 1981-1989, Aeronautics, 1981-1986, Physics, 1981-1985, Social and Economic Studies, 1981-1985, Civil Engineering, 1981-1985, Chemistry, 1981-1983, Humanities, 1981-1986, Electrical Engineering, 1985-1986, Geology, 1981-1983, Mineral Resources and Engineering, 1981-1983, Mathematics, 1981-1985, the Blackett Laboratory, 1985-1987 (K4);
papers relating to postgraduate courses, including information booklets, 1963-1994, special lecture courses, 1924-1960, correspondence, 1955-1966 (K5);
papers relating to undergraduate awards, including opportunities for women, 1956-1975, Royal School of Mines awards, [1980];
papers concerning scholarships and prizes awarded by Shell Oil technology, 1963-1968, Institute of Petroleum, 1923-1947, Charles Douglas Wheeler Prize, 1944-1951, British Overseas Mining Association, 1958-1969, Bennett Hooper Brough medal, 1909-1911, Glorney scholarship, 1917-1978, William Selkirk scholarships, 1945-1951, Judd prize and Watts medal, 1932, Bessemer prize, 1881-1927, Forbes Memorial medal, 1857-1954, Frank Hatton prize, 1885-1956, Tyndall prize, 1878-1962, Federated Malay States Chamber of Mines award, 1936-1960, Clement Le Neve Foster prize, 1912-1921, Illing prize, 1955-1962, Charles Salter prize, 1956-1963, Perry medal and prize, 1914-1960, Faber prize, 1943-1944, Baker prize for Analytical Chemistry, 1945-1956, Mary Datchelor School prize, 1949-1959, Finsbury medal, 1952-1961, David Spurr memorial medal, 1952-1961, Callendar prize in Physics, 1961-1963, H V A Briscoe prize in Inorganic Chemistry, 1964, Hinchley medal, 1942-1947, Cullis testimonial fund, 1937-1948, Kackson prize, 1952-1968, Murchison medal, 1871-1967, Marshall scholarship, 1882-1972, Warrington Smyth memorial fund, 1894-1971, Ure bursary, 1942, Vickers Group scholarship, 1969-1971, Mining scholarships, 1936-1971, Liversidge scholarship, 1928-1934, Iron and Steel Institute prize, 1966-1971, Sir Alexander McRobert memorial prize, 1945-1971, Texaco Scholarship, 1959-1963, Grace Madeline Beatty scholarships, 1959-1967, J W Siddorn prize, 1971, Unwin scholarship in Civil and Mechanical Engineering, 1935-1976, Harwood Prize, 1974-1976, Mitchell scholarship, 1975-1977, Pippard memorial medal, 1971-1972, Henry Ford II scholar award for Engineering, 1978-1981 (K6);
papers relating to postgraduate awards, comprising Dominion Science scholarships, 1923-1934, Acland essay competition, 1926-1960, Rees Jeffreys Road fund bursaries, 1962-1966, British Aircraft Corporation scholarships, 1961-1968, British Association exhibitions, 1967-1973, Rothschild Foundation fellowships, 1977-1980, Marks and Spencer fellowship, 1977-1978, proposed Usmani scholarship, 1986-1990 (K7); Royal School of Mines postgraduate awards, comprising Frecheville Research Fellowships, 1913-1922, Andre Dorfman Fellowship in Mining, 1962, Royal Dutch scholarship in Geophysics, 1966-1981, Amoco scholarship in petroleum reservoir engineering, 1970-1976, RTZ Educational Trust awards, 1960 -1967, Matthey Prize, 1897-1968, Arthur William Groves bursary, Shell Scholarship, 1991 (K8); Royal College of Science postgraduate awards, comprising Huxley memorial medal, 1899-1962, Sir John Wolfe Barry studentship on Entomology, 1912-1914, Harold John Cotes Fellowship in Protein Enzymology, 1948-1951, Applied Optics bursary, 1955-1972, Henry George Plimmer Fellowship, 1918-1966 (K9); City and Guilds College postgraduate awards, comprising Leverhulme studentship in Chemical Engineering, 1938-1957, ICI fellowships, 1945-1956, Concrete structures bursaries, 1959-1986, Wakefield Scholarship, 1935-1953, Acheson Scholarship, 1934-1939, Goldsmiths' Company bursaries, 1925-1941, Soil Mechanics Ltd, bursary, 1957-1967, John and Frances Jones scholarship, 1935-1973, bursaries in structural steelwork, 1956-1974, Ronal Stewart Jenkins prize, 1976, City and Guilds prizes, 1969-1971 (K10); Royal College of Science and Royal School of Mines inventories of apparatus, 1889-1907 (K12);
papers relating to the organisation and administration of departments, 1962-1988, including administrative appointments, 1968, Departmental Visitors Panel, 1980-1988 (K13); departmental computer facilities, 1966 (K14); laboratory equipment and furniture, 1946-1979 (K15); proposed new departments and courses, including Applied Psychology, 1950-1951, Instrument Technology, 1953-1954, social relations of science, 1934-1936, Welding Engineering, 1953, possible establishment of a Geodetic Institute, 1917, proposed educational research unit, 1968 (K16); papers relating to a questionnare on undergraduate instruction, 1960-1961 (K17); memorandum on postgraduate courses, 1955 (K18); papers concerning work shops, 1955, glass blowing facilities, 1975 (K20); report on subjects other than science and technology, 1976, papers of the Huddie study group, 1974-1976 (K21); papers relating to a regional computer centre, 1965-1966, computing charges, 1970, 1979 (K22); future of the Royal School of Mines, 1975 (K23); working party reports and minutes on Bio-engineering developments, 1968-1971 (K24); surface science and technology, 1982 (K25); correspondence relating to a proposed centre of excellence for electric surface transport research, 1973-1974 (K26); proposed centre in Theoretical Physics, 1967-1968 (K27); Blacket chair of technology, 1976-1977 (K29).

Records comprise papers of the Aeronautics Department of Imperial College, including notes on the department by Professor William Ernest Dalby, 1916, and Professor G Jackson, 1957; papers of the Aeronautics Committee and Advisory Committee on aeronautical education, 1909-1934; foundation of the Zaharoff Chair of Aviation, 1916-1923; correspondence of Professor Sir Richard Glazebrook, 1907-1923, Professor Sir Leonard Bairstow, 1920-1949, Professors Hall and Squire, 1945-1957; Rectors' correspondence, 1950-1981; research projects and reports, 1973- 1974; opening of the Donald Campbell Memorial laboratory, 1980-1981 (KA);
papers of the Meteorology Department, including a departmental history from 1920-1952, 1966; correspondence of Professor Sir Napier Shaw, 1920-1924; Professors Sir Gilbert Walker and Sir David Brunt, 1924-1935; the Rector Sir Patrick Linstead, 1955-1966; correspondence concerning the proposed Institute of Meteorology, 1937-1939, 1948; future of the department, 1968-1974 (KAM);
papers of the Physiological Flow Studies Unit, including reports, 1966; opening of the Charles Hayward Research Laboratory, 1976; papers relating to the Hayward foundation, 1973-1987; correspondence of the Rector concerning grants, 1966-1979; setting up and organisation of the unit, 1965-1979; association with the Aeronautics Department, 1967-1979; conferences (KAP);
press cuttings relating to the Centre for Biological and Medical Systems (KAPA).

Records of the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Imperial College, 1904-1982, including a departmental history from 1884-1966; lecture notes, 1921-1957, including hydraulics, 1904-1917;
departmental correspondence, 1908-1981, including of Professor William Ernest Dalby, 1908-1930; Professor Cecil Howard Lander; donation from International Combustion Ltd, 1959-1967; Rectors' correspondence, 1955-1981; reseach grants, 1969-1972, finance for postgraduate courses, 1966-1970; Heat Transfer Section report on engine combustion, 1979; proposal for joint venture company for a Modal Testing Unit [1982] (KEM); papers of the Assistant Director, [1964-1972] (KEMA);
papers relating to the Biomechanics Section, comprising correspondence concerning future funding, and with the Rector, 1966-1977 (KEMB);
papers relating to the Railway Engineering course, comprising correspondence, 1908-1911; course posters, 1908-1914; lecture notes, 1920-1938, including railway administration (KEMR);
papers relating to the Total Technology Course, 1974-1981, comprising leaflets, guide for students, dinner menus and invitations (KEMT).

Papers of Professor Dennis Gabor, 1911-1985, comprising biographical papers, 1961-1985, principally press cuttings, articles, obituaries;

early papers and family correspondence, 1911-1975, comprising diary, 1911; papers, including details of classes, examinations, and certificates relating to the Joseph Technical High School, Budapest, 1918-1922, the Berlin Technische Hochschule, Charlottenberg, 1921-1922; personal papers, notably permits, identity cards, certificates; papers relating to employment at British Thomson Houston Company, 1934-1948; correspondence with the Foreign Office, with Andre Gabor, 1945-1969; diplomas, 1943-1974; photographs and posters, 1904-1975, principally of the Gabor family, research apparatus, the 1971 Nobel prize winners;

research papers, 1933-1974, including correspondence, reports, drawings, comprising essays, 1936-1946; papers concerning plasma theory, 1933-1955; optical design, 1940-1963; electron microscope, 1943-1957; communication theory, electron optics, statistical physics, 1943-1954; stereoscopy, 1940-1961; diffraction microscopy, 1948-1952; interference microscopy, 1949-1974; information theory, 1951-1965; mathematical theory of freedom, 1951-1962; thermo-nuclear power project and plasma theory, 1958-1966; flat TV tube, 1938-1971; papers and correspondence relating to his books Inventing the Future and The Mature Society, 1959-1974; correspondence and papers relating to patents, 1933-1966;

papers relating to his work at Imperial College, 1948-1972, including National Research Development Corporation research grants, 1953-1972; appointment as Mullard Reader in electronics, 1948-1967; inaugural lecture, [1959], 1970-1979; correspondence with staff and students, 1949-1973, notably with Rectors, 1949-1973, Willis Jackson, Head of Electrical Engineering, 1960-1968; lecture notes, 1948-1962;

correspondence, photographs and papers relating to the Nobel Prize, 1971-1978; papers relating to Samuel Roslington Milner, including memoir, obituary, 1959, correspondence, 1944-1967, notably concerning the publication of Milner's book; papers relating to CBS Laboratories (a division of Columbia Broadcasting System), 1942-1975, comprising correspondence and papers relating to Gabor's consultancy, including correspondence with Peter Carl Goldmark, 1942-1972;

general correspondence, 1932-1975, principally concerning research interests, including with Max Born, 1942-1965; Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett, 1956-1970; Cecil Reginald Burch, 1952-1975; Sir Charles Galton Darwin, 1944-1952; Morris Leopold Ernst, 1960-1972; Michael Edward Haine, 1943-1968; John Anthony Hardinge Giffard, 1949-1971; Sir Harold Hartley, 1959-1966; Arthur Koestler, 1946-1973; Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls, 1945-1950; Michael Polanyi, 1953-1964; Sir Karl Raimund Popper, 1964-1972; John Boynton Priestley, 1957, 1964; Royal Society, 1958-1974; Sir Henry William Hugh Warren, 1943-1951; list of publications, printed articles and reviews, 1928-1974; tapes and slides, 1964-1972, comprising interviews, lectures, lecture slides.

Papers of Professor James Dwyer McGee, 1937-1979, comprising biographical information; lectures and correspondence, 1954-1979, notably with Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett, 1955-1972, concerning Imperial College Physics Department and Anglo-Australian Observatory; Bertram Vivian Bowden, 1955-1963, concerning research work and workers; Carnegie Institute of Washington, 1960-1977, concerning McGee's Associateship, research grant; Denis Gabor, 1956-1972; Merle Walker, concerning the installation of a Spectracon, 1962-1979; Imperial College Rectors, 1955-1971; papers relating to Imperial College Physics Department, 1954-1972; papers relating to the Institute of Electrical Engineers, 1954-1968; Institute of Physics, 1965-1976; observatories in Britain and abroad, 1962-1975, including the Royal Greenwich Observatory; Royal Society, 1956-1972, notably concerning grants.

Records of the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851, 1849-2002, comprising minutes of the Commission, 1850-1993; minutes of the Board of Management, 1872-2002; minutes of Science Scholarships Committee, 1890-2002; reports of the Commissioners to Parliament, 1850s-1960; annual reports of the Board of Management and committees, 1880s-2002;

correspondence, 1850-1855, relating to the Exhibition, including transport and reception of exhibits, site for the building, organisation of activities and visits for overseas visitors, medal design, music for the opening ceremony, appointment of jurors, negotiations with the contractors Fox & Henderson, award of gratuities, removal of the Crystal Palace to Sydenham, use and disposal of the surplus funds, purchase of the South Kensington Estate;

correspondence concerning the South Kensington estate, 1851-2002, including the establishment, building and subsequent development of institutions such as the Royal Albert Hall, Royal College of Music, Royal College of Art, Science Museum, Natural History Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Royal College of Organists, Imperial Institute (later Commonwealth Institute), Queen Alexandra's House, Royal Horticultural Society and Imperial College; correspondence concerning private properties on the estate, such as Queen's Gate; correspondence with the Royal Geographical Society, 1913-2001;

files relating to science research scholars, research fellows, overseas scholars, industrial fellows, industrial bursars, industrial design students and naval architecture scholars, including some research papers, 1891-2002;

maps, plans, drawings, photographs, including ground plans of the Exhibition, 1851; architectural drawings of the proposed estate, 1850s;

Windsor Archive concerning the 1851 exhibition, 1849-1886.

Papers of the Lister Institute of Preventive Medicine (LIPM), 1886-1986, comprising minutes, 1886-1982; annual reports, 1895-1986; records relating to the origins and establishment of LIPM, 1889-1898; records of LIPMs links and amalgamations with other bodies, 1886-1898; records relating to vivisection, 1889-1899; Lord Lister's correspondence, 1893-1912; J L Pattison's correspondence, 1898-1903 and 1914; records relating to LIPMs organisation and administration, 1896-1949; production and distribution records for serum and vaccine lymph, 1894-1950; records relating to research projects, 1891-c1940s; records relating to LIPMs relations with outside bodies and individuals, 1889-1975; records relating to properties of LIPM; historical material; biographical material; miscellaneous papers; pamphlets relating to LIPM and associated bodies; pamphlets relating to other institutions; photographs; photocopies of letters from Lord Lister to Dr G Dean; and an index of correspondents.

A small collection of papers of Sir Arthur George Tansley, mainly related to the formation of organisations, in the period 1918-1921, that aimed to promote pure and applied scientific research. The bulk of the collection consists of papers relating to Tansley's involvement in the Scientific Research Association. The Scientific Research Association's papers include rules, promotional leaflets and circulars, financial material and a relatively large amount of correspondence. A smaller amount of material survives for the National Union of Scientific Workers including rule booklets, membership lists, reports from meetings, agenda and promotional leaflets and circulars. Only a few items are preserved in this collection for the Federation of Technical and Scientific Associations and the Cambridge Research Group. The published articles and reports at AT/5 mainly concern issues related to the funding, support and the general state of scientific research. As a whole the collection reveals many problems faced by those who wished to organise research work after the first world war, such as the problem of rival organisations created to promote research whose aims overlapped, and disagreements over how and whether research could be organised. For example a letter from the Royal Society to the Scientific Research Association commented that 'lines of development' were 'discovered not by councils or committees but by the instinct of individuals, and the less this is trammelled by organization the better' (AT/2/6/1/42). The article 'Research and Organisation' at AT/2/3/15 was written in an attempt to answer such criticisms by arguing that research could be organised. Other issues also surface in the correspondence of the Scientific Research Association. For example one letter opposed support for any scheme founded on government funding as 'government endowment will, in the long run, corrupt Science...' (AT/2/6/2/17). There were also disagreements as to whether emphasis should be laid upon 'the promotion of scientific research' or 'the economic interest' of research workers which seems to have contributed to a division between the National Union of Scientific Workers and the Scientific Research Association (AT/2/4/3).

Records of the Department of Botany of Imperial College, 1894-1976, including press cuttings and reports, 1959-1972; correspondence relating to Agricultural Research Council grants, 1935-1940; correspondence of staff, including Professor Sir John Bretland Farmer, 1907-1932, Professor Vernon Herbert Blackman, 1912-1939, Professor Percy Groom, 1909-1924; correspondence concerning the Chair of Plant Physiology, 1910-1912; Plant Physiology building, 1911-1916; Biochemistry block, 1919-1923; Chair of Comparative Pathology, 1915; examination papers, 1894-1969; correspondence and papers of Sir John Bretland Farmer, 1916-1928, including rubber research, Departmental annual reports, 1921-1927, proposed field station; students' schedules for the Animal Biology Division, papers relating to mathematics for botany and biology students, 1933-1946; registers of students, 1900-1953, staff, 1945-1953; notes and logbooks relating to courses, lectures and laboratory work, 1896-1960; minutes of the Brownian Club, 1935-1939; minutes of the Imperial Botanical Conference Executive Committee, 1923-1926, 1934; papers relating to departmental appointments, including headship and chairs, 1966-1976; Rectors' correspondence with the department, 1955-1976 (KB);
papers relating to the Plant Physiology Research Institute, 1911-1964, including correspondence with the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, 1911-1918, Rothamsted Laboratory, 1935-1960 (KBA);
papers relating to the Division of Life Sciences, 1952-1987, including brochures and reports, 1969-1987; Department of Pure and Applied Biology research reports, annual reports, and course prospectuses, 1981-1987; Division of Life Sciences newsletter, prospectus, 1973-1978; papers of the Biology Working Party, 1966-1975; Professor Arthur Rutter, 1973-1982; Rector's papers relating to proposed division, 1979-1980; Advisory Panel on Life Sciences, 1978; Life Sciences Steering Group, 1978-1979; proposed merger of Botany and Zoology departments, 1966-1980 (KBB);
papers relating to the Department of Biochemistry, including press cuttings, 1960; research and annual reports, 1992-1999; correspondence relating to finance, 1965-1967; Rector's correspondence relating to the Rank benefaction, 1967-1978, with Professor Chain, 1969-1979, Rank chair of Biochemistry, 1973-1975 (KBC);
correspondence relating to the Centre for Biotechnology, 1980-1990 (KBT).

Records relating to the Department of Civil Engineering of Imperial College, 1928-1981, comprising correspondence relating to the establishment and organisation of a four year course in Engineering, 1977-1981 (KE); departmental history from 1884-1956; lists of students, 1929-1931; laboratory work, 1928-1943; correspondence, 1933-1981, including administration, 1933-1940, donation of records by Captain WN McClean, 1954-1968; Rector's correspondence, 1955-1981 (KEC);
papers relating to the Highway Engineering Department, 1928-1970, including correspondence relating to the Maybury Chair of Highway Engineering, 1929-1934; minutes of the Highway Engineering Advisory Committee, 1936-1944; departmental reports and correspondence, 1928-1943 (KECA); papers relating to the Building Science Course, 1929-1953, including correspondence concerning the establishment of a postgraduate course, 1929-1933; establishment of a Chair at the City and Guilds College, 1942-1947 (KECB); papers relating to Concrete Technology and Structures, 1944-1974, including minutes and reports of the Advisory Committee, 1944-1974; correspondence with the Cement Makers' Federation, 1949-1964 (KECC);
papers relating to the London Centre for Marine Structures and Materials, 1974-1978, including proposal for an offshore structure centre (KECM); leaflets on Engineering Hydrology courses, 1955, (KECH); papers relating to Public Health Engineering, 1947-1967, including correspondence concerning Rockefeller bursaries and Readership, 1947-1951; minutes of the Advisory Committee, 1949-1967 (KECP); leaflets on Soil Mechanics courses, 1967 (KECS).

Papers of Professor Stanley Gill, 1964-1971, created as Director of the Centre for Computing and Automation (Imperial College), comprising files notably relating to IBM, 1964-1969; Centre for Computing and Automation accommodation, 1966-1969, finance, 1966-1969, Computer Technology Group meetings, 1966-1969, computer systems, equipment, 1964-1969; Science Research Council correspondence and committee papers, 1964-1969; papers relating to the Computer Laboratory Systems Project (CLASP), 1964-1969; companies and Educational institutions, 1964-1969; Parliamentary Select Committee on Science and Technology, 1969-1971; Inter university committee on computing, 1964-1969.

Records of the Department of Electrical Engineering of Imperial College, 1891-1980, including a departmental history from 1884-1963, press cuttings; papers relating to postgraduate courses, 1953-1972; laboratory work, including instruction sheets, 1930-1959; notes by Professor Cecil Lewis Fortescue, 1923; reports by students, 1891-1927; students' lecture notes and files, 1958-1960; correspondence with the administration department, 1908-1941, 1958-1969; correspondence concerning a Readership in Electronics, 1948-1959; Readership and bursaries in Electric Traction, 1956-1967; papers relating to projects, 1968, 1978; course syllabus, 1964-1970; Lucas fund, 1962-1970; reports of working parties, 1979-1980; examination papers, 1953-1970; departmental correspondence of Professor Arnold Tustin, 1951-1961, including research projects, research grants; papers relating to Engineering in Medicine, comprising Leverhulme Trust Fund bursaries, 1962-1967.

The papers include laboratory notebooks dealing with Bawden's research on various plant viruses, and in particular his collaborative work with N.W. Pirie and with A.A.P. Kleczkowski. There is also a detailed exchange of correspondence with Pirie on research in progress, 1937-1940. (Pirie moved to Rothamsted as Virus Physiologist in 1940 when Bawden became Head of the Plant Physiology Department.) There is a wide range of correspondence, with individuals and institutions. It deals with scientific research and problems including viral nomenclature, lectures, conferences, publications, Bawden's reports on research projects, grant applications and appointments. The correspondence relating to Bawden's overseas visits as adviser or lecturer is mainly after 1958 and is sometimes accompanied by Bawden's reports.