The collection comprises copies of printed material, 1907-1984, including history of Perry and Co, builders and contractors, with list of completed building projects, photographs of founders, and notes on the company's projects including St Thomas's Hospital, London, Tower Bridge and numerous Underground railway stations including Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus, [1907]; copy of article on the Perry & Co employee, Sir Herbert Henry Bartlett, by Sir Basil Bartlett, printed in David Jeremy ed., Dictionary of business biography (London, 1984); manuscript pedigree describing the relationship between the Robinson and Bartlett families, to whom the donor was related, [2000].

Copies of papers, 1914-1939, including account of service with York Troop, East Riding of Yorkshire Yeomanry, 1914, and 12 (Service) Bn (3 Hull), East Yorkshire Regiment, UK and Suez Canal, Egypt, 1914- 1916; narrative diary of voyage to India, 1939; diaries of Burch's father, Maj Frederick Burch, 1 Royal Dragoons, containing brief descriptive entries relating to service in the Second Boer War, South Africa, 1899-1902; letter from and notification of the death of Burch's brother, Lt Sydney Gaskin Burch, South Nottinghamshire Hussars, Territorial Force, attached to 16 (Service) Bn (Chatsworth Rifles), Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire) Regt, 117 Bde, 39 Div, killed in action in attack on St Pierre Divion, Battle of the Somme, 1916.

Copy of 'A soldier's story', a memoir of his life and career, 1905-1984, notably his service in India, 1935-1938, North West Europe, 1939-1940 and 1944-1945, including the arrest of the Grand Adm Karl Doenitz (Operation BLACKOUT) in May 1945, Palestine, 1947, Germany, 1948, and Egypt, 1954-1957, including the Suez Crisis, 1956, written in 1984. Photographs relating to the arrest of Doenitz, Germany, 1945.

Papers relating to his military career, 1922-1946, dated 1930, 1936 and [1946] principally comprising typescript log of railway survey work carried out by Herbert, Lt Charles Granville Barry Greaves and Capt Donald Maitland James Murray, Tanganyika, 1930, written by [Murray] in [1930]; The Royal Engineers Journal vol 50 Sep 1936, including 'Railway Survey in Tanganyika Territory' by Herbert; official 501 Inter-Service Mission 'Transportation report on the proposal for a base in East Africa', written by Herbert in 1946; copies of letters of appreciation concerning rehabilitation of Burma railway system carried out by Transportation Service, 1945; copy of Herbert's curriculum vitae, 1922-1946, written in 1946.

Photocopies of papers relating to his internment as a POW by the Japanese, 1943, comprising account of the treatment of H Force during their work on the Burma-Thailand railway, 1943, written [for the Malayan Government] in 1945; notebook containing financial accounts and a register of deaths for 5 Bn, H Force, 1943; account of the experiences of 1 Subsection, H Force, Sep-Nov 1943, written in 1943.

List of stations on the Tomsk, Sabaikal, Omsk and Chinese Eastern Lines compiled in connection with British Military Mission in Irkutsk, USSR, 1919, with annotations made by the Commanding Officer of the mission while retreating from the Bolsheviks, 1919-1920. Passed to Percival for use on a planned round-the-world flight.

Copy of dossier containing maps, plans and technical data on the port of Boulogne, produced by the Director of Ports and Inland Water Transport, War Office, for the use of port construction and repair companies engaged on the rehabilitation of ports damaged by enemy action, [1943-1944].

Armed Forces Oral Histories; World War II Combat Interviews is a themed microfiche collection of 375 typescript combat interviews, together with narrative accounts and official supplementary materials including field orders, periodic and operations reports, statistical data, sketch maps and overlays, 22 May 1944-10 May 1945. Documents include accounts relating to US 1 Infantry Div during Operation NEPTUNE, the amphibious assault on France, 6 Jun 1944, the landing at Omaha Beach, Normandy, France, 6 Jun 1944, the Battle of Aachen, Germany 8 Oct-22 Oct 1944, the defensive in the Ardennes Forest, 16 Dec-31 Dec 1944, the drive to the Rhine and subsequent bridgehead established at the Ludendorff bridge, Remagen, Germany, 17-31 Mar 1945; US 2 Infantry Div during the Brest Campaign, France, 25 Aug-18 Sep 1944, and the drive from the Rhine river to Leipzig, Germany, 21 Mar-20 Apr 1945; US 3 Infantry Div during the invasion of Southern France, Aug 1944-Feb 1945; US 4 Infantry Div and the liberation of Luxembourg, 16 Dec-24 Dec 1944; US 5 Infantry Div during operations at Fort Driant, Belgium, and Metz, France, 9 Nov-24 Nov 1944; 8 Infantry Div operations during the reduction of the Crozon peninsula, France, 1 Sep-19 Sep 1944; 9 Infantry Div and the US aerial bombing of US troops during the Normandy breakout, 24-29 Jul 1944; intensive fighting experienced by 28 Infantry Div in during the Battle of Hurtgen Forest, 2-16 Nov 1944; US 35 Infantry Div winter fighting in the Ardennes Forest, 26 Dec 1944-23 Jan 1945; 36 Infantry Div during Operation DRAGOON, the Allied landings in Southern France, Aug 1944; 42 Infantry Div during the battles in the Saverne Gap, Alsace, France, 4 Jan-26 Jan 1945; 65 Infantry Div drive to Struth, Austria, 7 Apr-8 May 1945; 69 Infantry Div contact between US and Soviet forces on the banks of the Elbe River, 25-26 Apr 1945; 71 Infantry Div and the surrender of German Army South, 18 Apr-8 May 1945; 80 Infantry Div during the Moselle River crossing and subsequent fighting during the Lorraine Campaign from the Seille River to the Saar River, 12 Sep-5 Dec 1944; the establishment of an Allied defensive base at Ste Mere Eglise by 82 Airborne Div and its subsequent fighting during Operation MARKET GARDEN, the large-scale Allied parachute drop to seize the Nijmegen- Grosbeek high ground in the Netherlands, 6 Jun-26 Sep 1944; the capture of Hannover, Germany, during the Rhine-Ruhr-Elbe Operation by 84 Infantry Div, 1 Apr- 9 May 1945; 94 Infantry Div co-operation with Free French forces on the St Nazaire- Lorient Front, 8 Sep-30 Oct 1944; 101 Airborne Div combat operations near Carentan, Cotentin Peninsula, France, and ensuing problems due to the scattered parachute drop pattern, 6-10 Jun 1944; French 2 Armoured Div during the advance to liberate Paris, France, and Strasbourg, France, 6 Jun-28 Nov 1944; US 7 Corps during operations from the break-out at Normandy, France, to the liberation of German concentration camp at Nordhausen, Germany, Jul 1944-Apr 1945; US 7 Army invasion of Southern France, detailing the importance of intelligence furnished by the Maquis French resistance movement, 15 Aug 1944.