The collection includes 147 transcripts of interviews, mostly uncut (questions are sometimes omitted), recorded in the making of a six part television documentary ' The Fifty Years War - Israel and the Arabs ' which examines the conflict and peace initiatives arising from Israel's relations with her Arab neighbours and the Palestinians, May 1948 -1998. It also contains video cassettes of the completed documentary, as well as files, video and audio cassettes, press cuttings, and published works gathered in the research and production of the documentary. Interviews were conducted with eyewitnesses from Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, USSR, USA and the former British Mandated Territory of Palestine, recount their memories and describe their involvement in events including the partition of Palestine (1947), Israel's declaration of independence (1948), the Suez crisis (1956), the Six Day War (1967), the Yom Kippur War (1973), the Camp David talks between Israel and Egypt (1978), the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon (1976, 1982), and the Oslo Agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) (1993-1995). Interviewees include political, military, diplomatic, academic and civilian persons, notably Miriam Eshkol, widow of Levi Eshkol, Israeli Prime Minister 1963-1969; Maj Gen Ehud Barak, Israeli Defence Force (IDF), Israeli Chief of General Staff 1991-1995, Minister for the Interior 1995, and Minister for Foreign Affairs 1995-1996; Yair Hirschfeld, Israeli academic at Haifa University; Shimon Peres, Israeli Prime Minister 1977, 1984-1986, 1995-1996, Foreign Minister 1986-1988, 1992-1995, and Minister of Defence 1974-1977; Maj Gen. Ariel Sharon (IDF), Israeli Minister of Defense 1981-1983, Industry and Trade1984-1990, and Construction 1990-1992; Gideon Rafael, Israeli diplomat and representative to the UN, and Foreign Ministry official 1958-1978; Maj Gen Ezer Weizman (IDF), Chief of Operations of the General Staff 1967, Deputy Chief of Staff 1967, and Minister of Defence 1977-1980; George Habash, founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP); Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala), economic assistant to Yasir Arafat and Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Minister of Finance; Hanan Ashwari, Palestinian academic and campaigner for Palestinian rights; Saeb Erekat, Palestinian negotiator; Faisal Husseini, Jerusalem PLO representative; Walid Moualem, Syrian Ambassador to the US 1990- ; Farouk Al-Shar'a, Syrian Foreign Minister 1984-; Gamal Abdel Nasser, Egyptian President 1954-1970; Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs 1978; Shams el-din Badran, Egyptian War Minister 1967; General Muhammed Fawzi, Egyptian Chief of Staff 1967 and Defence Minister 1968-1971; Mohammad Jafaar al Numeiri, President of The Sudan 1969-1971, 1971-1985; Jihan Sadat, widow of Anwar al Sadat, President of Egypt 1970-1981; Hussein, King of Jordan 1952-1999; Zeid Al Rifai, Jordan Prime Minister 1973-1976; Josef Abu Khalil, Maronite Phalange party, and adviser to Bashir Gemayel; Shafiq Al Wazzan, Lebanon Prime Minister and Minister for the Interior 1980-1984; Terje Rød Larsen, Norwegian Socialist; Intissar al-Wazir (Umm Jihad), widow of Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad), PLO official; James Addison Baker, US Secretary of State 1989-1992; James Earl (Jimmy) Carter, US President 1977-1981; Warren Christopher, US Secretary of State 1993-1997; Dennis Ross, Director of Policy Planning Staff, US Department of State 1989-1992, Special Middle East Coordinator, US State Department 1994-; and Anatoly Dobrynin, Soviet Ambassador to the US 1962-1986.

The Diaries of Dwight D Eisenhower, 1953-1961, consists of a varied body of microfilmed manuscripts that contain several categories of material, arranged chronologically by month and year. Diary entries and dictated correspondence are filed in folders entitled 'DDE Diary'; 'DDE Personal Diary'; or 'DDE Dictation'. The bulk of actual diary entries falls into the years 1953-1956. Another prominent category is memoranda of telephone conversations with the more detailed conversations dating prior to 1959. The largest body of material is the official White House staff memoranda, reports, correspondence, and summaries of congressional correspondence. These types of documents are found in folders labelled 'Miscellaneous', 'Goodpaster', 'Staff Memos', and after 1957, 'Staff Notes'. Herein are the memoranda of conversations, or 'memcons', prepared by Gen Andrew Jackson Goodpaster, Defense Liaison Officer and Staff Secretary to the President of the United States. From 1956 to the end of the administration, 'Toner Notes' were produced, so named for White House staff member Albert Toner, who with fellow White House Research Group member Christopher Russell, prepared daily intelligence briefings for the President. Material in the collection includes entries relating to Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy and the trial of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg; correspondence with Vice President Richard Milhous Nixon; Prisoners of War exchanges in Korea; rapprochement between Argentina and the US; military aid to Yugoslavia; Eisenhower's 'Atoms for Peace' speech 1953; the situation in Indochina, 1954; the use of psychological warfare in the Third World; relations between the US and the People's Republic of China; France and the European Defence Community; waning British and French colonial ties; the Baghdad Pact, 1955; the Suez Crisis, 1956; US Joint Chiefs of Staff strategic planning in Europe; the Soviet invasion of Hungary, 1956; plans for mutual security arrangements with favoured nations; the Military Assistance Program; the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; the African- American civil rights movement; military officer exchanges between Israel and the US; the American, British and Canadian Army Standardization Program; US Department of Defense budgetary matters; the 'Vanguard' satellite program, 1957; nuclear weapons, nuclear strategy and the US-Soviet 'missile gap'. Correspondents include HM King George V; Gen Juan Domingo Peron, president of Argentina; Senator Joseph Raymond McCarthy; Rt Hon Sir Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill; Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, Prime Minister of India; Dr Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany; Gen Douglas MacArthur; Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr; Special Assistant to the President Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller; Gen Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle, President of France; Rt Hon (Maurice) Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister of Great Britain; Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev, First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party and Chairman of the Soviet Council of Ministers; (David) Dean Rusk, President of the Rockefeller Foundation; John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State, 1953-1959; Herbert Hoover, Jr, Under Secretary of State, 1954-1957; Christian Archibald Herter, Under Secretary of State, 1957-1959.