The vast majority of the material relates to Dent's research and clinical interests and falls into four main categories: correspondence files; files created around the publication of papers; lecture notes and symposium papers; and case/research notes. There are also smaller quantities dealing with other aspects of his career, such as the administration of UCH Metabolic Ward. The papers thus reflect most of Dent's scientific and clinical interests. This research is mainly represented by the abstracted documentation which he kept with drafts of his published papers (see section E.1) and also by correspondence about cases and clinical case notes (see section C.5). To a lesser degree they also illustrate the work at the laboratory bench which underpinned much of this research. For example, a file of unidentified paper chromatograms has been preserved (C.2/10) to illustrate one of Dent's methods of working, as described by his colleague, Heathcote, and quoted in the Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 1978: 'Paper chromatograms were not to be thrown away. They were filed and, since the colours faded, the outline of each spot was drawn in and the intensity of the colour was indicated by a number.' The way in which Dent compiled a large series of files around drafts of scientific papers also illustrates the importance of the published paper to him as a stage in the research process. An incomplete collection of reprints of Dent's published papers may be found in section E.2 of the collection.

Halford's papers, c.1767-1843, include notebooks containing medical extracts and observations, which include prescriptions, in the format of commonplace books, including prescription by Halford's father, James Vaughan, 1767, 1767-1801; Clinical reports, 1783-86, and lecture notes made whilst a student in Edinburgh, 1785-89; Case notes with prescriptions, from practicing in Leicester, 1787-91; Fee books, 1791-1808, annual cash-books with fees and receipts, 1796-1839 (incomplete, missing 1814, 1831), and cheque-book stubs, 1805-09; Prescription books, including one kept whilst practicing in Scarborough, 1792, 1802-03; Halford's copies of Jacobii Hollerii Stempani in Aphorismos Hippocratis commentarii septem... (printed, 1675) with annotations in his hand, and the Middlesex Hospital Pharmacopoeia, c.1790s; Monthly note-books containing daily appointments and total fees per month, 1802-43; Papers and speeches given at the College, including lectures on medical subjects, the Harveian Oration, 1800, and oration made at the opening of the new building, 1825, 1800-35. There is also a copy of Moore's Almanack for 1812, a postcard of hotel in Copenhagen, 18th century, and journal belonging to Jean Gaspard Lavater, 1787, found with Halford's papers.

Sir Henry Head's papers, 1891-1909, consist of his casebooks of patients with Herpes Zoster, with sketches and photographs, chiefly from Head's work at the London Hospital, 1891-1909, and his casebooks of patients with various diseases, with sketches and charts, from his work at the City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Heart and Lungs, Victoria Park, 1894.

Papers and war medals of Sir John Josias Conybeare, 1915-1972. Includes his First World War diary, 1915; Military medals and orders awarded to him during the First and the Second World Wars, including the Military Cross and KBE insignia, 1915-1945; Medical notebook, 1916-24; Lecture notes on the subject of Aviation Medicine, n.d., c.1939-45; and letters from William Neville Mann (1911-2001) to the College offering the medical notebook and lecture notes for the College's archives, 1970-72.

Sir Edward Henry Sieveking's papers, 1846-1960, include his medical notebooks, with case notes, 1846-1873; Notebooks recording visits to patients, 1854-1879; Author's copy of On Epilepsy and Epileptiform Seizures, interleaved with his annotations, 1858; Diaries detailing his attendance of the Prince and Princess of Wales, 1863-1873, with related correspondence, 1886 and 1935; Chapters on 'physical organisation of the human race' by Sieveking, printed, undated; Correspondence with colleagues and family, and correspondence relating to Sieveking, 1863-1904; Papers relating to his professional appointments, such as material relating to his honorary degree from the University of Edinburgh, 1884, copies of the laws of the British Balneological and Climatological Society, undated, and St Mary's Hospital annual report, 1902; Addresses and lectures given by Sieveking, 1876-1890; Obituaries and memorials to Sieveking, including an introduction by his son, Albert Forbes Sieveking, 1904; Correspondence relating to Sieveking's papers, 1959-1960; Summary of, and commentary on, his diaries by Neville M. Goodman, c.1960; List of Sieveking's papers donated to the College, 1960; There is also a medical notebook thought to be in the hand of Alfred Robert Sieveking, which was found amongst Sieveking's papers.

Papers of Sir Alfred Platt, 1968-1986, comprising typescript and photographs relating to The Story of the Manchester Surgical Society, 1970-1971; diaries of trips to the United States of America 1928 and 1946, 1978; typsescript of the lecture The romance of surgery: The Manchester Ship Canal and the birth of accident services, 1968; copy of a postcard to Leslie Turner (FRCS) concerning arrangements for the centenary celebration, 1986; and a presentational folder titled The Transatlantic Connection 1913-1986: A Tribute to Sir Harry Platt by Allan M McKelvie, 7 Oct 1986.

The correspondence, papers and diaries of Sir Charles Blagden. Blagden's papers are interesting on several levels, generally for his close contact with European men of learning, and his relationship with Sir Joseph Banks. Blagden's professional researches are represented by medical notes in the boxed sequence. These are grouped with papers on other subject interests, including linguistics, e.g. a draft Tahitian-English dictionary, compiled from conversations with Omai, whom Blagden inoculated after Omai's voyage to England with James Cook. Blagden's interest in antiquities and travel is documented by diary entries, as is his intercourse with fellow scientists, particularly those associated with the founding of the Royal Institution.

Papers of Charles Edouard Brown-Sequard and his family, 1787-1963. Includes family correspondence and papers, 1787-71, and correspondence and papers of Brown-Sequard's mother, Henrietta Perrine Charlotte Brown, 1838-41, including her marriage certificate, 1813; Correspondence and papers of Brown-Sequard, both personal and professional, spanning his life and career in Mauritius, France, America, and England, 1838-94, including correspondence with well known figures such as Thomas Huxley, Charles Darwin and Louis Pasteur, [1862]-1876, letters to his first wife Ellen, 1852-64, to his second wife Maria, and their marriage certificate, 1872-73, and correspondence with his third wife Elizabeth Emma, 1876-80, poems and literary notes of Brown-Sequard and Elizabeth Emma, 1837, 1883, correspondence regarding his French nationality, 1856-97, his will [1886]-94 and diary entries in his final days, 1894

Correspondence about his experimental work, 1868-1935, and his appointments and awards, 1849-89, with testimonials and letters of introduction, 1852-57; Notes of Brown-Sequard's lectures, mostly in his hand, 1855-93; DM Thesis, 1846; Articles by Brown-Sequard, including published versions of his lectures, 1856-90, articles and newspaper cuttings about his work, 1851-1945, and articles on medical subjects written by his contemporaries, 1844-1935; Case notes and prescriptions, c.1860-91; Photographs of, and relating to, Brown-Sequard, including the unveiling of his bust in Mauritius in 1928, mostly n.d., and cartoon of Brown-Sequard, 1889; Published material relating to Brown-Sequard, including obituaries, 1894 , biographic articles, 1894-1931, and newspaper cuttings, 1894-193

Correspondence and papers of his daughter, Charlotte Maria McCausland (nee Brown-Sequard), his son-in-law, Richard Bolton McCausland, and his grandson, Charles E. McCausland, 1894-1963, including correspondence about Brown-Sequard, 1894-1963, particularly on the subject of biographies and his bibliography, 1909-46, and a notebook and letterbook about Brown-Sequard, in his daughter's hand, c.1846-1926.

Papers of Frederick Cecil Chapman, 1937-[1970], notably comprising University of London extension lecture notes, covering psychology, welfare, accounting, secretarial and administration, commerce and society, [1937-1942]; notes, specimen papers, syllabus, County Hall courses and University of London Degree and Postgraduate courses on bookkeeping, commerce, vocational pedagogy and business economics, 1937-1942; notes and draft lectures on energy, government, aircraft production, post-war rehabilitation, hospitals and mental health, 1946-1947; notes used for teaching, commentaries on world events and quasi diary notes, 1947-1956; notebooks entitled 'Personal Copyright and Official Minutes including Provisional Legislation concerning the Royal Commission of Tribunal, Enquiries and Inquiries, 1958-1970', relating to the functioning of a variety of administrative and legislative authorities and boards; pamphlets by Chapman, entitled Random Papers and Reminiscences and Progress within the Empire.

Biographical material includes the draft of Mourant's autobiography, Blood and Stones published after his death in 1995, together with the correspondence and papers Mourant assembled while writing it. There is also documentation of Mourant's education at Victoria College Jersey and at Exeter College Oxford. The latter includes notes on lectures 1922 - ca 1926. Documentation of Mourant's career, honours and awards is patchy, although there is material relating to his search for employment in the early 1930s. There are pocket diaries spanning 1915-1982, with a fairly continuous sequence 1922-1961. Biographical material also includes extensive family and personal correspondence, much of which dates from or relates to the German occupation of Jersey or shortly thereafter. Mourant's other documented interests include his membership of the Methodist Church and his political affiliations, the League of Nations Union in particular.

There is a little material relating to Mourant's early career with the Geological Survey 1929-1931, miscellaneous material relating to Mourant's service with the MRC's Blood Group Reference Laboratory at the Lister Institute and the Nuffield (later Anthropological) Blood Group Centre at the Royal Anthropological Institute, London, and more extensive but uneven coverage of the Serological Population Genetics Laboratory. Although there is some documentation of the foundation of the Laboratory 1964-1965 and of its staff, the surviving material consists chiefly of correspondence and papers relating to Mourant's largely successful efforts to find continued funding for the Laboratory 1969-1977. Haematological research material, though not extensive, covers Mourant's work in a number of areas from research on blood serum in the mid-1940s to the mapping of blood groups in the 1960s and 1970s. There are early research notes, correspondence and papers relating to student and other expeditions undertaking blood group and physical anthropology research and some MRC material assembled by Mourant relating to projects in which he had an interest. The largest group of research papers, however, is maps and data produced during preparation of the second edition of The Distribution of the Human Blood Groups. There is a chronological sequence of drafts and correspondence relating to Mourant's publications, 1929-1991, with extensive material relating to editions of The Distribution of the Human Blood Groups and to The Genetics of the Jews (1978). There is also editorial correspondence relating to publishers and journals, chiefly invitations to review books or referee papers and an incomplete set of offprints. There is correspondence and papers relating to some of Mourant's lectures and broadcasts, most notably the lectures on blood groups given at the Collège de France, Toulouse, 1978-1979. Societies and organisations material is not extensive, and is confined to brief documentation of only a few of the societies and organisations with which Mourant was associated. It includes professional and geological bodies as well as haematological, biological and medical organisations. Visits and conferences material covers the period 1960-1987. It is not comprehensive, though there is also considerable documentation of Mourant's visits and conferences in the papers he assembled in the course of preparing his biography and with lectures material. Mourant's correspondence is extensive. Its complexity reflects Mourant's organisation of the material, the bulk of which was found in three main series: 'Foreign 1965-1977', 'Biological' and 'Geological', together with a fragment of a fourth series 'Home 1965-1977'. Principal correspondents include C.C. Blackwell, B. Bonné, O.J. Brendemoen, V.A. Clarke, L.L. Cavalli-Sforza, A. W. Eriksson, T.J. Greenwalt, J.K. Moor-Jankowski, T. Jenkins, W.S. Pollitzer, D.F. Roberts, J. Ruffié, D. Tills and J.S. Weiner.