Correspondence, 1892-1943, between Benson and various academic colleagues, mainly on subjects relating to botany, and the reading and publication of papers by women to scientific societies, notably with Professor Francis Wall Oliver, Professor of Botany at University College London, Professor Sir Albert Charles Seward, Professor of Botany at Cambridge University, and Dukinfield Henry Scott, President of the Linnean Society. Papers, 1871, 1906 and [1936] relating to Benson's death, including her childhood exercise book, 1897, given to Professor Elizabeth Marianne Blackwell, Head of Botany at Royal Holloway College, various copies of the obituary notice written by Blackwell, [1936], and material relating to a bequest by Benson to the Botanical Laboratory at Royal Holloway College, [1936]. Photographs, [1893-1922] of staff and student life at Royal Holloway College, including boating scenes, costume tableaux in the College quad, formal portraits of Benson in academic dress, and laboratories in the College.

South-Western Polytechnic, Chelsea Polytechnic, Chelsea College of Science and Technology, and Chelsea College Photographs and Illustrations, 1891-1986. These comprise photographs of interiors of the Manresa Road buildings including chemistry and biology laboratories, library, gymnasium, cookery classroom and engineering workshops, [1895-1985]; exteriors of Chelsea buildings, 1891-[1985]; College events and student activities including outings, theatre productions, geology field trips, opening ceremonies, retirement drinks and sporting fixtures, [1920]-1986; portraits and group photographs of students and staff, notably departmental group photographs, photographs of successive Principals and other senior staff, sporting teams, 1900-[1985]; 12 boxes of 16mm film loops of electronics-related lecture material, [1970].

Collection of ephemera, 1857-1869 and undated {1850s-1860s}, largely printed, including playbills, programmes, song sheets, catalogues and guides, relating to events, including sport, music, fireworks, fountains and illuminations, at the Crystal Palace (Sydenham, Kent); to operas at the Royal English Opera and the Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden (Westminster); and to theatrical, musical and other recreational events, including comedies, ballets, tableaux, dioramas, exhibitions, and popular scientific events, at various premises including in Westminster, St Marylebone, Paddington, St Pancras, St Giles in the Fields, South Kensington, Kew, and Greenwich.

Programme of Ealing Theatre for performances by Mr. Herbert Sleath's Company of "What happened to Jones" by George H. Broadhurst, preceded by the Comedietta "A Morning Call", with note of forthcoming performances and many advertisements, 1900.

Cary Ellison was a talent spotter who worked for Spotlight. As part of his work from 1953-1980 he went on twice yearly tours around repertory performances across the UK to locate the up and coming performers, directors and plays. The Cary Ellison Theatre Programme Collection consists of the theatre programmes collected by Cary Ellison on these trips, complete with his added notes on the actors, plays and directors he saw. He commented on a number of well known actors in the early stages of their careers, as well as offering his view on several well known plays.

Letter from Oliver Elton of Woodstock Road, Oxford to G F Troup Horne, 11 Apr 1933. 'I quite see the difficulty of playing the Hind under the circumstances'.

Autograph, with signature.

Scrapbook relating to the Enfield Amateur Operatic and Dramatic Society, including theatrical programmes, playbills and newspaper cuttings of reviews for performances by both the Society and other operatic and theatrical societies.

25 letters, mainly written to Florence Farr/Emery, 1891-1911. Correspondents include: William Archer, J M Barrie, Annie Besant, Edward Carpenter, Arnold Dolmetsch, Richard Le Gallienne, John William Mackail, Edward Martyn, George Robert Stow Mead, Gilbert Aimé Murray, Sir W M Flinders Petrie, Sir Arthur Wing Pinero, the Princess Royal (HRH Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife), Charles Ricketts, Robert Baldwin Ross, Charles Haslewood Shannon, George Bernard Shaw, Arthur Symons, John Todhunter, Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, W B Yeats.

All letters are autograph, with signatures. Many of the letters relate to plays, theatrical performances and drama criticism; other topics covered include theosophy, Indian religion and Egyptology.

2 letters written to Florence Farr/Emery. (1) From Sir Arthur Wing Pinero, 2 Aug 1892. Requesting a photograph of Farr. (2) From [Elizabeth] Robins, 26 Oct [1890s]. Agreeing terms for a permformance by Farr's.

Both letters are autograph, with signatures.

The collection consists of minutes of management meetings, 1974 - 1994; membership lists; internal correspondence; external correspondence concerning the reactions of the public to the productions; correspondence regarding funding; copies of scripts written by members of the company and outside authors; audition notes and CVs; correspondence and accounts relating to tour arrangements; tour reports; posters and programmes for productions; photographs, video cassettes and loose film reel of productions; promotional material; newspaper cuttings relating to specific productions and Gay Sweatshop in general; theses based on Gay theatre.

Papers of Michael Glenny on Russia, 1919-1991, comprisng:
Published and unpublished émigré memoirs; sound cassettes and transcripts of interviews with Russian émigrés; catalogues and indexes of informant information; papers relating to Russian/Soviet emigration, prepared for book, The Other Russia, a collaboration between Michael Glenny and the historian Norman Stone. In preparation for this work on Russian émigrés from the Soviet Union, Glenny and researchers working under his direction recorded over 160 interviews of Russian émigrés as well as collecting a number of copies of unpublished manuscripts and memoirs that had been published in little known sources. Only around a third of the material was used in the published volume.

Literary manuscripts and translations by Glenny and related correspondence, notes and papers; periodicals, presscuttings, notes and theatre programmes relating to Russian literature and theatre; newspapers, periodicals and presscuttings containing articles re Soviet affairs; slides of Soviet art and obituaries of Glenny, 1957-1991

Records of the Greater London Council (GLC) Staff Dramatic Club. The collection comprises a complete series of minute books from 1903, financial accounts, scrapbooks of programmes, notices, reviews, a rehearsal register and correspondence.

The Grieve collection comprises: 655 original scene designs (and 3 folders of slides), including panoramas and perspective 'cut-outs' in watercolours and wash by members of the Grieve family, covering performances of various revival productions of Shakespeare plays, along with works by Isaac Pocock, M.R.Lacy, Thomas Otway, Michael Costa, Samuel Beazley, Douglas Jerrold, G.Meyerbeer, Charles A.Somerset, Edward Fitzball, Rossini and others, staged at the Theatre Royal (Drury Lane), the Theatre Royal (Covent Garden) and Her Majesty's Theatre, 1813-1857.

The David Heneker Archive contains the working papers of musical theatre composer David Heneker, who wrote or contributed to several well known musicals incluing 'Half a Sixpence' and 'Charlie Girl'. The Archive contains materials relating to each of the shows David Heneker worked on including drafts of songs and scripts, musicals scores, correspondence and publicity. There is also material relating to his work as a songwriter in the 1930s and 1940s (including the Second World War), and his work for films and advertising. There are also materials relating to shows and films that David Heneker worked on that never reached the final production stage.

Papers and books belonging to the theatre critic Sheridan Morley (1941-2007). Includes correspondence, records relating to his various productions, volumes of press coverings covering his reviews, research notes and transcripts of some of his publications, photographs, records relating to his father Robert Morley and Grandmother Gladys Cooper, records relating to Noel Coward, theatre memorabilia and ephemera and objects.

First editions of some of Iris Murdoch's novels, and other rare texts- 13 volumes in total. Consists of:

KUAS25/1 Limited edition playscript for The One Alone (Colophon Press, 1995)

KUAS25/2 Copy of A Year of Birds poems by Iris Murdoch, engravings by Reynolds Stone (Compton Press, 1978)

KUAS25/3 Unrevised proof copy of The Time of the Angels (Viking Press, 1966)

KUAS25/4 Copies of Sartre; Romantic Rationalist by Iris Murdoch (Bowes and Borwes, 1953)

KUAS25/5 Playscript of The Italian Girl: A Play,/i> by Iris Murdoch and James Saunders (Samuel French, 1968)

KUAS25/6 Unrevised proof copy of The Italin Girl the novel (Viking Press, 1964)

KUAS25/7 Reprint of Existentialists and Mystics by Iris Murdoch (Delos Press, 1993)

KUAS25/8 Programme for the play The Black Prince adapted by Iris Murdoch's from her novel The Black Prince (1973)

KUAS25/9 First edition of Iris Murdoch's first novel, Under the Net (London, Chatto and Windus 1954). With original dust jacket.

KUAS25/10 First edition of Iris Murdoch's novel, The Sandcastle (London, Chatto and Windus 1957). With original dust jacket.

KUAS25/11 First edition of Iris Murdoch's novel, The Good Apprentice (London, Chatto and Windus - The Hogarth Press 1985). With original dust jacket.

KUAS25/12 First edition of Iris Murdoch's novel, The Book and the Brotherhood, (London, Chatto and Windus 1987). With original dust jacket.

KUAS25/13 First edition of Iris Murdoch's novel, The Message to the Planet, (London, Chatto and Windus 1989). With original dust jacket.

Items related to musical theatre collected by scholar and musician Alan Poulton. Includes programmes, books, research and other items relating to the work of Stephen Sondheim, and other items relating more widely to the world of musical theatre including journals, books and recordings.

Papers of Reichsverband der Juedischen Kulturbuende in Deutschland, 1936, comprise a concert flyer advertising a performance in Berlin put on by the Reichsverband der Juedischen Kulturbuende in Deutschland.

The collection includes :

Scrapbooks: 1 very large and delicate scrapbook containing material relating to Assemblies given by Theresa Cornelys at Carlisle House, Soho Square, 1763-1780; Indexed scrapbook containing 19th century and early 20th Century press cuttings on dancers from The Illustrated London News and other sources, compiled by Mark E Perugini; Richardson's OBE Scrapbooks containing press cuttings and messages of congratulations following his appointment in 1951.

Notebooks: 6 notebooks containing a variety of press cuttings and articles related to Richardson's work 1921-1926; 1 notebook containing handwritten notes for four chapters of The Autobiography of a Dancer

Articles and Illustrations from various publications, 1919-1950

Papers and Correspondence: including notices of 19th Century Assemblies in Richmond and London, 1804-1822

Programmes including "The Star" Ball and Ballroom Championship programmes (1925-1966); Blackpool Annual Dance Festivals (1946-1975); Butlin's Annual Re-Union Programmes, including the Amateur Veleta Challenge Trophy Competition.

Theatre and opera programmes from Ekaterinburg and St Petersburg, Russia, 1912-1913; Trans-Siberian Railway dining car menu, 1915; International Sleeping Car and Express-Train Company leaflet of Far Eastern services, with map and timetables, 1919.

Leaflets, fliers and ephemera documenting an exhibition of the works of Charlotte Salomon, 1998-1999.

Assignment of a rent of two shillings each night of performance at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and free privilege for 21 years, between Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Thomas Linley and James Ford; and Anna Maria Ford.

Brian Smith's collection of theatre programmes, compiled over several decades of visiting a range of theatrical productions in London and the surrounding area. The programmes date from 1954 up until the 2000s and as well as covering productions at theatres all over London’s West End there are some from New York, Paris, Sydney and Cape Town. Brian enjoyed a wide range of theatre including plays, musicals and variety shows. There is also a large collection of opera, ballet and concert programmes.

The Stephen Sondheim Society Archive documents the life and work of musical theatre composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim. The core of the collection was collected by antiquarian bookseller and Sondheim enthusiast Peter Wood- his collection later passed to the Society. Additional material has been added since, filling in gaps in the Peter Wood collection and documenting productions and publications that have occurred since it was transferred to the Society.

Both parts of the Collection contain a range of material on Stephen Sondheim and his work- notably programmes, leaflets, posters and press cuttings. There are also journals, books, audio visual material and collectables. The Collection dates from Sondheim's earliest work to the present and will continue to be added to as his works continue to be performed. There are also documents relating to the work of the Society itself, notably the Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year awards (SSSSPOTY).

Manuscript copies of one-act plays written by William Poel, newspaper clippings relating to a production of Samson Agonistes and a copy of "Monthly Letters" on performing Shakespeare, collected and published.