Bad trip to Edgewood consists of, interview transcripts, research files and videos for a television documentary on US Army testing of chemical and biological warfare agents on human 'guinea pigs' between 1955 - 1975, and includes files of mainly photocopied documents, reports, scientific articles, letters and newspapers articles, with some printed brochures, as well as videotapes.There is also a video copy of Bad trip to Edgewood which was produced by Michael Bilton, Yorkshire Television, and broadcast as a First Tuesday film in March 1993.

The files focus on secret projects carried out by the US Army Chemical Corps at the Aberdeen Proving Ground, Edgewood, Maryland USA, between 1955-1975, in which US Army volunteers were used to test the effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), benzilates such as BZ (3-quinuclidinyl benzilate, also known a QNB) and glycolates. The testing programs were suspended in 1975 when information about them became public. A number of volunteers claimed to have suffered long term mental health effects from the tests. They also claim they were not informed at the time of immediate or long term effects of the agents tested.

In 1977 US Army notified 686 volunteers who has been tested with LSD and conducted a follow up study of their health. The LSD follow-up study report released in 1980 found 'the majority of subjects evaluated did not appear to have sustained any significant damage from their participation in the LSD experiments'. There are notes and transcripts of interviews conducted with former US Army personnel who were volunteers in the research programmes, individuals involved in the running testing programs, medical experts and lawyers.

Several files relate to particular law suits including that of Sgt James B Stanley, US Army, volunteer at Edgewood during 1958. In 1977 he was informed by the army that he had been given LSD as part of the testing program. In 1987 a controversial judgement by the US Supreme Court found against Stanley, effectually granting immunity from liability for money damages for all federal officials who intentionally violate the constitutional rights of those serving in the military. Other notable cases frequently mentioned in the files include that of Frank Olson and Harold Blauer. Dr Frank R Olson, US Army scientist at Fort Detrick, apparently suicided, on 28 November 1953. In 1975 the Commission on CIA Activities within the United States (the Rockefeller Commission) revealed Olson had been given LSD without his knowledge while attending a meeting of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) personnel eight days before his death. A civilian, Harold R Blauer died on 8 Jan 1953 after being given a lethal injection of Experimental Agent 1298 supplied by the US Army Chemical Corps to the New York State Psychiatric Institute where he was a patient. A 1975 Senate investigation revealed the facts of his death. Files also contain material on bacteriological testing by the Army and the CIA carried out in Washington DC, Florida, San Francisco, and New York. Particular reference is made to the case of Edward Nevin, a civilian, who died on 1 Nov 1950 in San Francisco as a result of a rare bacterial infection Serratia Marcescens, which coincided with a significant and unexplained outbreak of this infection between Oct 1950 and Feb 1951. In 1976 it was revealed that the US Army had conducted bacteriological warfare experiments with Serratia Marcescens over San Francisco Bay during September 1950. There is a small amount of material relating to the role of American Citizens for Honesty in Government, a Church of Scientology sponsored organisation who campaigned during 1979 for a full investigation of the testing and storage of BZ and compensation for volunteers suffering long term effects from testing of the substance, and to chemical testing carried out in the UK at Porton Down, Wiltshire, UK and production of chemical agents at Nancekuke Base, Cornwall, and Anglo American cooperation in this area.

Papers relating to Soldier true, the life and times of FM Sir William Robertson, 1860-1933 (Frederick Muller, London, 1963), dated [1960-1963], principally comprising Bonham Carter's corrected proof of the book, together with his typescript and notes. Papers relating to BBC television series The Great War , broadcast in [1964], dated [1963-1964], principally comprising programme summaries, Bonham Carter's notes, his drafts of the script and a joint script with Antony Jay.

The collection includes transcripts of interviews recorded with 62 individuals in the making of Iran and the West from the USA, Iran, the UK, France, Germany and other countries. The interviews examine relations between Iran and countries of the West, 1979-2009. The collection also contains footage on DVD of the recorded interviews, as well as documentaries, press cuttings, and published works gathered in the research and production of the documentary.Subjects covered by the interviews include: the Iranian Revolution, 1979; the fall of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, 1979; the holding of US Embassy staff as hostages, 1979-1981; the Iran-Iraq War, 1980-1988; the Lebanon hostage crisis, 1982-1992; the Gulf War, 1990-1991; the assassination of Afghan military leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, 9 Sep 2001; the terrorist attacks in the USA, 11 Sep 2001; Iranian involvement in Afghanistan; the labelling of Iran as part of an 'axis of evil', 29 Jan 2002 and the Iran nuclear programme.Individuals interviewed include Javier Perez de Cuellar, Secretary-General of the United Nations, 1982-1991; Roland Dumas, Minister of Foreign Affairs, France 1984-1986 and 1988-1993; Joseph Martin 'Joschka' Fischer, German Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister, 1998-2005; Ambassador Amir Aslan Afshar, Chief of Protocol at the Imperial Court of Iran, 1979; Ali Afshari, member of the Office to Foster Unity, National Islamic Student Association in Iran, 1999-2004 (coordinator of Khatami's student political campaign, 1996-97, student leader of demonstrations, Jul 1999); Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, President of Iran, 1980-81; Queen Farah Pahlavi, Queen of Iran, 1959-1979; Adm Kamal Habibollahi, Commander of the Imperial Iranian Navy, 1975-1979; Abbas Jadidi, Iranian wrestler; Grand Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, Iranian cleric and former adviser to Ayatollah Ruhollah Mousavi Khomeini, 1985-89; Gen Mohsen Rafiqdoust, Commander, Minister for Revolutionary Guard, 1982-89; Gen Mohsen Rezaee (also Mohsen Rezai), Commander in Chief of the Revolutionary Guard, 1981-1997; Mohsen Sazegara, Khomeini's press officer in Paris, October 1978-February 1979; Sadeq Tabatabai, negotiator with the USA for Khomeini 1978-1979, Government Spokesman 1979; Ebrahim Yazdi, Foreign Minister of Iran 1979; Ardeshir Zahedi, Iranian ambassador to the USA, 1959-1962 and 1973-1979, Iranian ambassador to Britain, 1962-1966, Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1966-1973; Ambassador Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iranian Permanent Representative to the United Nations, 2003-2007; Sir Geoffrey Adams, British Ambassador to Iran, 2006-2009; Margaret Beckett, British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 2006-2007; John Sawers, British Ambassador to Egypt, 2001-2003, Special Representative for Iraq, 2003; Political director of British Foreign and Commonwealth office, 2003-2007; British Ambassador to the United Nations 2007-2009; Jack Straw, British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, 2001-2006; Michael Williams, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Special Advisor on the Middle East, 2006-2007; Madeleine Albright, US Secretary of State 1997-2001; Ambassador John Bolton, US Under Secretary of State, Arms Control and International Security, 2001-2005, US Permanent Representative to UN, 2005-2006; Zbigniew (Kasimierz) Brzezinski, US National Security Advisor, 1977-1981; James Earl 'Jimmy' Carter, US President, 1977-1981; Warren Christopher, Deputy US Secretary of State 1977-81; US negotiator for the release of the US embassy hostages held in Iran, 1980-81; US Secretary of State, 1993-1997; Ambassador Richard Haass, Special Assistant to United States President and National Security Council Senior Director for Near East and South Asian Affairs, 1989-1993; Director of Policy Planning, US Department of State 2001-2003; Martin Indyk, US Ambassador to Israel 1995-1997 and 2000-2001; Assistant Secretary of State, Near East, State Department 1997-99; Walter Mondale, USA Vice-President, 1977-1981; Adm John Poindexter, US National Security Advisor 1983-1986; Brent Scowcroft, National Security Advisor to US Presidents 1974-1977 and 1989-1993; George Shultz, US Secretary of State 1982-1989; Commander Gary Sick, Principal Adviser on Middle East Affairs, US National Security Council, 1977-81; Yusuf Allawai Bin Abdullah, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Oman; Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, President of Russia, 2000-2008, Prime Minister of Russia 1999 and 2008- ; Javier Solana, European Union Secretary-General and High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, 1999-; Sheikh Subhi al-Tufayli, follower of Iranian Ruhollah Mousavi Khomeini, first Secretary-General of Hezbollah, 1989-1991.

Papers, 1939-1997, of the Rt Hon Christopher Paget Mayhew, Baron Mayhew of Wimbledon in Greater London, relating to his life and career. The collection includes wartime letters from Mayhew to his family and other letters to Mayhew, 1939-1945; appointment and desk diaries, 1949-1995; files giving details of individuals and organisations relating to his work as an MP; a file on his introduction to the House of Lords, 1981; address books; notebooks, papers and correspondence relating to his work as a politician and peer, 1945-1997. The papers reflect his interests in domestic issues and foreign affairs, with material on broadcasting, commercial and public service television, including the minute book, 1953-1954, of the National Television Council, a pro-public service broadcasting body; relations with the Soviet Union from the late 1940s to the 1960s; international affairs, defence issues and the armed forces up to the 1990s, including press cuttings on his resignation in 1966; Palestine and Israel, the Middle East, and Arab-British relations, especially in the 1980s and 1990s. Much of the collection comprises printed material, reports, typescripts and press cuttings, some - for instance, broadcasts and interviews - by Mayhew himself, but much by other authors.