Comprising research files containing press cuttings, correspondence and notes regarding incest, illegitimacy, sexual literature, censorship, homosexuality, banned books, prison reform, the Royal Family, separation, witchcraft, sexual behaviour and venereal disease, possibly for use in his works Sex and Revolution (1934), The Banned Books of England (1937), Above All Liberties (1942) and other publications (1922-1942); typescripts for submission to the 'Encyclopedia of Sexual Behaviour' (n.d.); issues of nudist and health periodicals and offprints of articles by Alec Craig and others (1936-1953).

The items in this collection relate to accusations of witchcraft made by women in the early 19th century, naming the alleged witch. The papers originate in some part of the empire of New Spain, probably Mexico.

Papers of Alfons Barb, c 1924-1979, including working papers, collection of casts of gemstones, correspondence and offprints. Topics covered include: Magic, Folklore and Amulets; Medieval Magic; Gnosis; Gemstones; Mystery, Myth and Magic; Greco-Roman Numismatics and Archaeology and 'History of Popular Belief and Superstition from Ancient Times to the Present Day'.

Papers of August Closs and his family, comprising:
August Closs: Personal Papers
Correspondence with Hannah and Elizabeth Closs (later Closs-Traugott);
Diaries, 1915-1928;

General Correspondence: correspondents include Stefan Andres, 1960-1972; Anthony Blunt, 1976; Albert Einstein, 1930; T S Eliot, 1953; E M Forster, 1955; Sigmund Freud, 1930; John Galsworthy, 1928-1932; Bernt von Heiseler, 1953-1965; Arno and Anita Holz, 1922-1932; F R Leavis, 1948-1953; Thomas Mann, 1929; Christoph Meckl, 1962; J R R Tolkien, 1955;
Correspondence with UK/US based academics: correspondents include F W Bateson, 1956; Jethro Bithell, 1951-1957; Lord David Cecil, 1955; W E Collinson, 1944-1968; David Duckworth, 1972-1989; H G Fiedler, 1936-1944; Stanley Goodman, 1941-1942; G P Gooch, 1946-1963; Brian Keith-Smith, 1966-1982; Sir John Kingman, 1985-1988; Victor Lange, 1951-1973; Eudo C Mason, 1951-1963; Estelle Morgan, 1953-1987; Irene Morris, 1955-1957; Roy Pascal, 1948-1978; Ronald Peacock, 1945-1959; F P Pickering, 1937-1958; Siegbert and Helga Prawer, 1952-1987; Edna Purdie, 1953-1964; Hans S Reiss, 1964-1989; Hermann Salinger, 1963-1966; Paul and Vivian Salmon; David Scrase, 1964-1989; Ernst Stahl, 1963-1969; Ellisabeth and F J Stopp, 1946-1973; John Joseph Stoudt, 1945-1963; H M Waidson, 1960-1978; L A Willoughby, 1952-1977; Roy A Wisbey, 1980-1988; W E Yuill, 1967-1978; E H Zeydel, 1942-1961;
Correspondence with German/Austrian/Swiss based academics: correspondents include Ernst Alker, 1952-1972; Felix Braun, 1942-1948; Hans Egon Holthusen, 1950-1961; Heinz Kindermann, 1949-1974; Frans Koch, 1946-1957; Manfred Lurker, 1968-1972; Horst Oppel, 1946-1985; Arthur Pfeiffer, 1953-1957; Hans Pyritz, 1933-1956; Kurt Schäfer, 1982-1986;
Correspondence with other European based academics: correspondents include Jan Aler, 1946-1959 and Erik Lunding, 1953-1969;
Correspondence with individual academics, Hans Bähr, Roger Loomis, Eirwen and Idris Parry, Friedrich Heinz and the Humboldt Gesellschaft;
War diaries of Max Closs;
Correspondence with L P Hartley, 1955-1972, and letters between Closs and publishers on the publication of the correspondence;
Corrspondence, photos and papers on Theodor Däubler, 1930-1947 and undated;
Correspondence and articles relating to Herman Pongs, 1946-1978;
Notes, articles and reviews by Closs on German literature, 1915-1990;
Papers relating to Bristol University, including correspondence and papers on award of Honorary D.Litt, 1987;
Correspondence and papers on the Bristol/Hannover Link 1947-1987, particularly 40th anniversary celebrations, 1987;
Correspondence with publishers on royalty payments, 1949-1983;

Robert Preibsch papers, 1899-1934, including correspondence, notes on German literature and palaeography, correspondence about the Priebsch/Closs Collection;

Hannah Closs papers 1934-1952, including correspondence, reviews and articles, writings on art, reviews of her work, obituaries and tributes;

Elizabth Closs-Traugott papers, 1951-1988, including correspondence, notes for lectures, articles and reviews, and press cuttings;

Acquired Papers:
Medieval manuscripts: Das Leiden Christi, mss booklet describing a vision by a nun of the Passion of Christ [15th century], Pseudo-Clemens Romanus, early 9th century west German fragment; Heinrich Seuse: Buch der ewigen Weisheit six loose fragments [14th century], Predigten, by German wandering preacher, in Latin, c 1450; wooden cover with pressed calf leather, bearing arms of Pope Paul III Farinesi;
Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century material: Hexenprozesse three folio booklets - original records of witchcraft trials of Catharina Stroblin, 1617; Appolonia Nueberin, 1623, bill to cover costs of difficulties caused by and rewards offered for executed magical persons during the years 1617, 1628, 1629 by Hans Schölern; title deed to land and farm sold by Nette, servant of Graf Dietrich von Plesse to a nunnery, Low German, 1516;
Autograph letters and mss including poems Bittschrift by Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, [undated], and Friedrich von Bodenstadt [undated]; letters from Wilhelm von Humboldt [c 1799], Theodor Storm, 1867, Friedrich and Caroline de la Motte Fourque, 1814, 1927, Eduard Devrient, 1839, August Heinrich Hoffman von Fallersleben, 1864, Friedrich Schlegrl, [undated], Ludolf Wienbarg, 1839, Christina G Rosetti, 1865, James Martineau - letter to J S Mill on the University of London, 1841, Stefan Zweig, 1909, Henriette Hendel-Schütz, 1807, Friedrich Karl von Savigny, 1856.

Papers collated by Elizabeth Millicent Chilver, mainly relating to anthropological work in Cameroon, 1963-1989, notably papers by various authors on the anthropology of the Cameroon Grasslands, 1963 and 1989, covering subjects including matrilineal society, witchcraft, magic and divination, with notes on the authors by Chilver; working notes on the Kingdom of Bum in the north-west province of Cameroon, compiled by Chilver in 1993, including a volume of photographs; translations of German documents dated 1908-1913 relating to German policy in the Bamenda Division in the north-west province of Cameroon; photographs of Chilver and Audrey Isabel Richards in Uganda and Cameroon, with an explanatory postcard by Chilver; copy of a memoranda by Dr Mervyn David Waldegrave Jeffreys, Senior District Officer in charge of the Bamenda Division, and Mr F R Kay, District Officer, on land tenure in Nigeria and the South Cameroons, 1936; copies of press cuttings about womens' demonstrations in south-west Cameroon, 1994; and two letters to Chilver regarding conditions in Uganda, 1953-1957, from Lady Helen Cohen, wife of the Governor of Uganda, and Mrs Noni Crossfield.

Joint archive, largely dating from 1910-1945, of the International Missionary Council and Conference of British Missionary Societies, relating to co-operative missionary endeavours in Africa (chiefly British Africa, but also including areas under Belgian, Portuguese and French control).

General files on Africa include records on missionary work and related issues including land rights, colonial administration, diet, co-operative organizations, customs including polygamy, initiation, and witchcraft, medical work, and alcohol traffic; the IMC and its relation to African mission councils; International Institute of African Languages and Cultures; population and health in Africa; Africa Education Group, relating to educational policy, provision and finance, including women's education, training of educational missionaries, African marriage customs and their relation to Christian practice, adult education, and missionary work in rural areas; High Leigh (Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire) Conference (1924) on educational missionary work in Africa; Le Zoute Conference (1926) on missionary work in Africa; educational policy; Advisory Committee on Education in the Colonies, relating to Colonial Office policy (including British colonies outside Africa), the topics including women's education, use of the vernacular and bilingualism, teacher training, language teaching, social and economic development, finance, indigenous art, biology, superannuation, English examinations, and higher education teaching materials, with sections relating to particular African colonies.

Files on East Africa include general records on British colonial policy and administration, agriculture, and Swahili; and education in East Africa. Files on Kenya include records on the Kenya Missionary Council and Christian Council of Kenya; the political situation and land question; indigenous labour and slavery; Indian population; and educational policy, practice, finance, the conscience clause in religious education, women's education, and educational advisor; and correspondence on missionary work and related issues. Files on Tanganyika include records on the Tanganyika Missionary Council, relations between different missionary societies, indigenous life, colonial administration, German and other missions; Tanganyika Mission Property Trust; and education in Tanganyika. Files on Uganda include records on land tenure, education, including women's education, and Swahili; and missionary societies in Ruanda-Urundi. Files on Abyssinia comprise records on missionary work and religious freedom, including the Italian occupation.

Files on West Africa include general records on education, including the Phelps Stokes Commission. Files on the Gold Coast include records on education, colonial administration, the Basel Mission, the Bremen Mission and other missionary societies, the Christian Council of the Gold Coast, medical and educational missionary work. Files on Sierra Leone include records on education. Files on Nigeria include records on the Christian Council of Nigeria and other Christian and missionary organisations and on education. Files on the Cameroons include records on various missionary societies. Files on French Africa include records on education.

Files on French West & Equatorial Africa include records on missionary activity and education. Files on the Congo include records on the Congo Protestant Council, missionary activity and conferences, religious freedom and interdenominational relations including Roman Catholicism; Belgian government policy regarding missions and the Brussels Bureau representing Belgian missions; education; and missionary work of various nations.

Files on Portuguese Africa include records on missionary work, including medical work, and interdenominational relations; religious liberty, Portuguese government policy, and the Lisbon Centre for liaison. Files on Portuguese West Africa include records on the Angola Evangelical Alliance, Portuguese colonial administration, and various missionary societies. Files on Portuguese East Africa include records on the Portuguese East Africa Evangelical Missionary Association, work of various missionary societies, religious liberty and Portuguese government policy.

Files on Central Africa and Nyasaland include records on colonial administration, work of missionary societies, land tenure, indigenous labour and slavery, and on colonial educational policy in Nyasaland. Files on Northern Rhodesia include records on the General Missionary Conference of Northern Rhodesia, colonial administration, mining, and education; and on the United Missions in the Copperbelt, including its foundation, policy, annual reports, finance, miners' unrest, property, education policy, women's work, social welfare, literature and literacy, British Committee, correspondence with other societies, reorganisation, Team/Field Committee, and personnel. Files on Southern Rhodesia include records on the South Rhodesia Missionary Conference, indigenous affairs including land tenure, education, indigenous preachers, and colonial administration. Files on South Africa include records on the General Missionary Conference of South Africa and the Christian Council of South Africa, missionary work, indigenous affairs including land tenure, interethnic relations, and education. Files on South and South West Africa includes records on German missions and indigenous affairs. Files on the protectorates of Swaziland, Basutoland and Bechuanaland include records on education and the transfer of the protectorates to South Africa.

There are also files on the Egypt Mission Property Trust.