Experimental notes, working papers, correspondence and lecture summaries compiled by Charles Wheatstone, 1836-1875, and photographs collected by him in that period. Notably including papers relating to the development and testing of the telegraph, [1836-1960]; descriptions of experiments and test results concerning the measurement of electromotive forces and electrical potential, [1840-1875]; experimental observations on the nature of magnetism, electricity and thermodynamics, including electromagnet design, batteries and dynamos, [1834-1855]; working papers relating to optics including experiments into refraction, colouration of compounds and polarisation, [1850-1875]; drafts of lectures on sound and musical instruments prepared by Wheatstone, [1832-1837]; material relating to the management of the Wheatstone collection of scientific instruments and library, 1890-1992; biographical material relating to the life of Wheatstone, the invention of the telegraph and Wheatstone's musical instrument manufacturing business, with unrelated newspapers, 1757-1975; stereoscopic photographs and glass negatives taken by Roger Fenton, Samuel Buckle, Jules Duboscq and others, featuring landscapes, still lifes, panoramic scenes of cities including Paris and Moscow and the interior and exterior of the Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, Sydenham, 1851, and especially the Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1855, [1850-1901]; artefacts from Department of Physics, King's College London, including demonstration equipment, telegraph apparatus, a nail fiddle and other prototype musical instruments, [1834-1875]; exhibition of scientific and musical instruments, [1834-1875].

The records of the Principal's Office, King's College London, comprise minutes, correspondence and memoranda, 1863-1997. These notably include minutes of the Delegacy of King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry, 1989-1990, and various committee minutes including those of the Health and Welfare Committee, Joint Medical Advisory Committee and the Committee for the London Institutes for Advanced Study, 1974-1990; a run of general correspondence relating to College business including staff salaries, property, events, scholarships and relations with other universities, 1944-1979; but also more specifically, personal correspondence with Principal Richard William Jelf, 1863-1864; correspondence and papers on quinquennia and outlining the strategic direction of the College and constituent academic departments, including merger negotiations and the College Charter, 1933-1992; Principal's files relating to named departments, faculties and schools, including the United Medical and Dental Schools Merger, 1988-1997; correspondence on students including named individuals, the Student's Union and some pass lists, 1946-1979; correspondence concerning staff appointments, including professorial and other senior vacancies such as Secretaryship and Principalship, individual Chairs, salary scales, sabbaticals and staff-student relations, 1920-1997, correspondence concerning scholarships and awards, 1988-1997; papers relating to College property including proposals for the redevelopment of the College in Bloomsbury, expansion into Somerset House, Strand, and student residences, 1920-1985; minutes and correspondence concerning College libraries including the Ronald Burrows Memorial Library, 1931- 1977; correspondence and papers on the management of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, including with donors, 1977-1994; correspondence concerning hospitality and entertainment including Fellows' dinners and graduations, public and inaugural lectures, orations, royal visits and student events, 1946-1997; correspondence and papers charting the relationship of King's with the federal University of London, including Heads of Schools and reports on teaching, post-war reconstruction and the future of Goldsmith's College, 1943-1987; assorted memoranda, 1896-1978.