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).

Records of the Department of Materials of Imperial College, formerly the Department of Metallurgy, 1887-1990, including a departmental history from 1851-1963; course information, [1940]-1984; leaflets relating to assay of bullion, 1895; lecture notes, 1887-1888; Professorial correspondence with the administration department, 1908-1939; papers relating to proposed course, 1931-1939; Committee on metallurgists' training, 1943-1944; post of Professor of Metallurgy, 1908, Chair of Metallurgy, 1913; transfer of the department during World War Two, 1939-1943; Rectors' correspondence, 1955-1981; British Steel Corporation Fellowship, 1970; Nuffield Foundation Fellowship, 1948-1970; future of the department, 1976-1977; change of name, 1985; annual reports, 1988-[1990] (KMET);
papers of the London Centre for Marine Technology, comprising research review, 1990-1992 (KMETM).

Library Manuscripts comprise manuscript items donated to the Royal Geographical Society. They are chiefly single files or a small number of items which are not large enough to warrant forming a special collection. The papers include, astronomical and meteorological observations, diaries, correspondence, notes, conference papers, reports, articles, photographs, sketches and maps covering all aspects of geography and exploration across the globe and date from 1691 to 1994. Highlights include:

Memorandum on a map of South America, by John Arrowsmith.

Papers of Maj R A Bagnold, 1929-1933, comprising positions, routes and heights in Egypt and letters from Bagnold.

Letters from Sir John Barrow to Lord Melville, 1935-1945 and letters to Barrow from Murzuq, 1822 and J D Dundas, 1818.

Papers of Dr Heinrich Barth, 1846-1952, letters and copy of a sketch map of Timbuktu.

Notes on heights of mountains in America by Capt F W Beechey, 1826.

Letters from the King of Siam to Sir John Bowring, 1855.

Letters relating to the British Arctic Air Route Expedition, 1928-1932.

Correspondence and reports of the British Ornithologists' Union Expedition to New Guinea, 1908-1911.

Papers of G Wyman Bury, 1913-1918.

Papers of Capt R F M Crozier, 1836-1906.

Account of a journey to Lhasa and central Tibet by Sarat Chandra Das, 1902.

Papers of Lt James Barker Emery, chiefly relating to Mombassa, 1822-1835.

Plan and elevation of the Screw Yacht FRAM as reconstructed in 1898.

'Narrative of a small party of HMS LEVEN under command of Lt C W Browns sent to explore the Zambesi by one of the survivors, a native of Angola', by Antonio Jozi, 1823.

Journal of Joseph Kaye's voyage from London to Genoa.

Papers and maps relating to William Kennish's exploration in South America for a canal route.

Papers relating to the Kufara expedition led by H W C J Penderel and P A Clayton to Gilf Kebir, 1933.

Papers relating to the Livingstone Award, 1875-1970.

H B Molesworth's diary of a journey to Mokalla (Mukalla), 1893.

Letters from Sir John Morrison to Henry Dundas and others concerning Persia and trade with Persia, 1783-1792.

Narrative of a shipwreck on the southern shores of Arabia by B A R Nicholson, 1836.
Correspondence of Walter Oudney, 1821-1823.

Papers of Adm Sir W E Parry, relating to the Arctic, 1819-1823.

Papers relating to the Pitcairn Islands, 1831-1885.

Annotated 'Code of Naval Signals' belonging to Adm Sir Home Popham, 1799.

Letter from Sultan Husain Sufrari, 1708.

Account of explorations on the coast of Patagonia by B Villarino, 1782.

Travel journals of J Washington, chiefly in South America, 1822-1829.

Letters to A F R Wollaston, 1896-1926.

Papers of William Sherriff relating principally to historical and survey work on plans for a Burma-China railway through the Shan States of Northern Burma, [1885-1900], including a survey by Sherriff on the feasibility of a Burma to China railway for Rangoon Chamber of Commerce, [1886-1899]; article by Sherriff in the Manchester Guardian, 'Railway communication with China - The Burmah-China Railway', 09 Mar 1900; correspondence, 1888-1890; blueprints for the Burma Railways Mandalay Kunlon railway, 1899; note by [A] R Colquhoun entitled 'Amongst the Shans', 1885; report by Capt A Bowers, 'Bhamo Expedition Report in the Practicability of reopening the trade route between Burma and Western China', 1869; memorandum on a possible railway route on to the Shan Plateau, 1889; reports on the Shan States, 1887-1889 and notes by Sherriff relating to Burma.

Newspapers, journals, pamphlets, speeches, press releases, policy declarations, reports, press excerpts and other miscellaneous materials, from 1955 onwards, issued by the Christian Workers Party (Malta), the Democratic Christian Party (Malta), the Democratic Nationalist Party (Malta), the General Workers' Union of Malta, the Malta Labour Party, the Maltese Labour Movement (U.K.), the Nationalist Party (Malta), and the Progressive Constitutional Party (Malta).

Letterbook, May-October 1888, of John Joseph Bithell concerning South American railway construction.

Bound typescript autobiography, 'The Record of a Busy Life', by William Adams, 1891, detailing his life in Chile, London, and the Midlands, including family history, family and associates, business, and other reminiscences, with a two-page printed biography from the Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers (vol cxxiv, Session 1895-1896, pt ii) inserted.

A book of memoirs of Sir Samuel Bentham, told in a series of letters from himself and others during his ten-year absence from England, 1779-1789. The notebook states it is 'the compilation of a friend', probably Jeremiah Bentham.

Estimates in John Urpeth Rastrick's and another hand, usually endorsed and corrected by Rastrick, Dec 1843-Jul 1844.

Papers of Professor Percy Groom, [1917-1930], comprising files of correspondence, reports and papers relating to timber technology, notably concerning machinery and apparatus, tests and test machines, 1918-1927; Royal Aircraft Establishment reports, 1918; supply of aeroplane timbers to Egypt, 1917; correspondence with Indian Munitions Board, Royal Air Force (India) concerning the use of timbers for aircraft construction, 1918-1919; types, properties and testing of timber, 1917-1920; use of plywood in aircraft construction, 1917; work for the Manilla Hemp Association, [1920]; dry rot, 1925-1926; wood pulp; seasoning and Powell process of seasoning, 1917; specific gravity of wood; water in wood, including warping tests; preservation of mine timbers, [1917]; analyses of infected imported timbers, 1920-1927; fireproofing, 1917-1927; home grown timbers, [1919].

Papers of Professor Alfred John Sutton Pippard, 1909-1970, comprising biographical papers, 1909-1969, including an unpublished autobiography written towards the end of his life, two scrapbooks covering his career, two scrapbooks relating to his Presidency of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1958-1959;
papers relating to scientific work, 1918-1969, largely concerned with research on aircraft structures, including committee papers and reports prepared for the Aeronautical Research Council in the interwar years; papers relating to the Thames Pollution Committee including Pippard's own account of its work;
papers relating to lectures, articles and broadcasting, [1920-1969], covering a variety of topics, including aircraft and aviation, engineering structures, education and training of engineers; BBC radio broadcasts, notably scripts for two series of talks to schools,1920s; correspondence, 1956-1967.

Letter from Robert Stephenson of 24 Great George Street, [London] to Edward Ackroyd, 28 Jun 1845. Concerning the importance of good gradients and the 'engineering of the West Yorkshire [railways]'.

Papers and drawings relating to the Nottingham and Lincoln Railway, c1842-1867, namely:

1. Lithograph of Nottingham contract specification for execution of the works, to be completed before 1st June, 1846, with a list of 12 drawings to which the specification refers. (These do not, in most cases, correspond with the 12 numbered drawings that now accompany this document). (47 leaves. 12½" x 8").
2. Three lists of equipment and materials, compiled for comparison of the total weights various types of lifting gear will bear, c 1845. (2 leaves. 13" x 8").
3. Printed testimonials of Charles Kinder, railway engineer, 1851-1867, who was trained in the Newcastle works of Robert Stephenson, under whom he prepared the contract plans for and superintended the works on the Nottingham and Lincoln railway. (2 leaves. 9¼" x 7½").
4. 12 engineering drawings, c 1842-1845, comprising a section and plan of the railway through Belper, 1842 (27½" x 51"); sections of cuttings and embankments, numbered 5a and 6a, incomplete (19½" x 23¼"); sections of cuttings and embankments, numbered 7a and 8a (19½" x 27½"); drawings and sections of a mile and ½-and ¼-mile posts (13" x 14¼"); elevations, plans and sections for a bridge for the Flood Road, numbered 10 (this corresponds with drawing No.10 listed in the contract, p.2.); tracing on linen (24" x 72"); elevations, plans and sections for a bridge over the branch of the River Trent near the 18th mile, numbered 8; tracing on linen (24" x 36"); elevations and sections of a bridge over the River Witham at Lincoln, numbered 9; tracing on linen (24" x 36"); plan, drawings and section for a lifting gear to the bridge for crossing the canal at 14.50 chains, numbered 9; tracing on linen (24" x 36"); plan and sections for a bridge for crossing the canal at 14.50 chains, numbered 9; tracing on linen (24" x 36"); elevation, plan and section of a bridge for the footway of Queens Road, numbered 8 (this corresponds with drawing No.8 listed in the contract, pp.1-2); tracing on linen (24" x 36"); printed plan and section, with manuscript additions, of the proposed railway line from Nottingham to Lincoln (this sheet, numbered 1, shows the town of Nottingham and 1 mile East - i.e. to the parish boundary), surveyed by J.G.Binns in 1844 (19½" x 27"); printed plan and section, with manuscript additions, of the proposed railway line from Nottingham to Lincoln (this sheet is unnumbered but is the final one of a set; it shows the city of Lincoln and 1 mile West), endorsed 'Nottingham and Lincoln Railway. The ends of the working plans and sections' (19½" x 26½").

The working drawings of John Smeaton, civil engineer. They illustrate his researches on waterwheels and applied mechanics, and the relative efficiency of overshot as opposed to undershot wheels. With supplementary engravings and manuscript notes.

Press cuttings, leaflets and reports of proceedings of the Parliamentary Committee on the proposed Cheltenham and Oxford Railway Company.