The Cold War television documentary archive consists of transcripts of 531 interviews concerning events of the Cold War - the political, ideological tension between the United States and the United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR), 1946-1989, following the end of World War Two, which while falling short of actual war between these two nations, was evident in their foreign and defence policies, and those of their allies.

Interviews were conducted with eyewitnesses from the US, USSR, Germany, Poland, Britain, Czechoslovakia, Italy, France, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Spain, Vietnam, Korea, China, Israel Egypt, South Africa, Angola, Cuba, Chile, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and including politicians, policy makers and advisors, diplomats, journalists, academics, members of armed forces, dissidents, peasants, factory workers and civilians.

Events described include the Berlin blockade, 1948-1949, the Berlin Crisis, 1961, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Oct 1962, the Vietnam War, 1965-1975, the Korean War, 1950-1953, the Hungarian uprising, 1956, the Prague Spring, 1968, the nuclear arms race, 1945-1991, and Chinese communism, 1949-1972.

The collections also contains transcripts of a series of seminars on the Cold War, Oct 1995, as well as an incomplete series of files relating to individual episodes of the documentary series including annotated extracts of interview transcripts and other production information. (Transcripts in this section of the collection are mainly duplicates, however there are a small number which are not found in the main transcript series).

Papers relating to aviation and transport, dated 1910-1928, principally comprising papers relating to Joint War Air Committee (Inter-Departmental Committee on the Air Service) chaired by Edward George Villiers Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby, 1916, Committee on the Administration and Command of the Royal Flying Corps, 1916, and Air Boards chaired by Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray, 1917, and George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Earl Curzon of Kedleston, [1916]; correspondence, 1915-1916, 1920, notably including correspondence with Herbert Henry Asquith, 1916, Curzon, 1916, Derby, 1916, the Imperial Defence Committee, 1916, the Parliamentary Aviation Committee, and George Sydenham Clarke, 1st Baron Sydenham of Combe, 1916; printed books, pamphlets, memoranda, notes and texts by Douglas-Scott-Montagu and others, 1910-1920, mainly relating to aviation technology, anti-aircraft defence and the organisation of the air services; memoranda, official reports, notes and texts relating to his work as Adviser on Mechanical Transport Services to the Government of India, 1915-1919; manuscript account of service of No 1 Armoured Motor Unit, North West Frontier, India, 1915-1916, by Capt A J Clifton, 68 Durham Light Infantry, 1915-1916, dated 1917, including photographs and preface by Montagu. Other papers relating to his life and career, 1914-1926, dated 1914-[1926], 1948, principally comprising letters relating to his service with 7 Hampshire Regt in Egypt, 1914, and India, 1915; photographs and photographic negatives, 1915-1922, mainly relating to his service in India, 1915-1919. Typescript draft of A strange war. Burma, India and Afghanistan, 1914-1919 (Sutton, Gloucester, 1988), an account of 2/5 Bn, Somerset Light Infantry and 2 Mechanical Transport Company by Chris P Mills, based on the recollections of Col B G L Rendall, the diary of Edward William Ewens and research into the Montagu papers, dated 1987.

Unpublished memoir of the life and military career of Maj Gen James Archibald Ferrier including: service with Royal Engineers, India, 1875-1878; Afghanistan, 1878-1880; Sudan (Nile) Expedition, 1884-1885; Sudan, 1885-1886; Tirah and North West Frontier Expedition, India, 1897-1898; Natal, 1904; Sierra Leone, 1911-1914; UK, 1915-1917. Includes epilogue and notes written by Ferrier's grandson, James Llay Ferrier, 1995.

Material relating to military career of Lt Col Col Reginald Horace Fielding-Mould, 1917-1945, comprising audio cassette recordings of his reminiscences about his service in France and Belgium, 1918, Turkey, 1922-1923, Hong Kong, 1930, India, 1935, 1942-1945, including 5th Afghan War, 1935, and France, 1940, including the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, May-Jun 1940, and his experiences in the Territorial Army, 1936-1940, ND; four photographs relating to Chanak Crisis, 1922; two manuscript obituaries of Fielding-Mould, written by Henry Thoresby, Fielding-Mould's nephew, for [regimental and school magazines], 1987.

Copies of papers relating to his service in the Indian Army, 1918-1947, dated [1957-1977], 1984, [1985], 1988, principally comprising typescript notes for a talk on the Pakistani-Afghan border, 1957; a typescript account of his service with the Gurkha Rifles, North West Frontier, India, 1921-1923, written in [1957-1977]; 'A Gurkha in Rajputana', a typescript account of his servicein the Indian Army, 1930-1935, written in [1977]; 'Last days of the Raj', a typescript account of his experiences in India in 1947, written in [1985]; 'Mutiny in the Himalaya', a typescript text concerning the attempted mutiny of the state army of Chamba, India in 1926, [1926].