Unpublished typescript memoirs, 1893-1969, including: accounts of life in the British colony in St Petersburg before World War One; work in the British Military Mission at the Russian War Office; events witnessed during the Russian Revolution and conditions for the Russian Army during the Revolution, 1917-1918; evacuation of British personnel from Russia, February 1918; negotiating with Finnish Red and White commanders while travelling through Finland during the Civil War; liaising with Admiral Aleksandr Vasiliyevich Kolchak and the White armies in Harbin, China, 1918; liaising with General Mikhail Konstantinovich Dieterichs, Czechoslovak Legions, and a special mission to Ataman Grigory Mikhaylovich Semyonov (or Semenov) in Chita, Transbaikalia, November 1918; activities as General Sir Harry Knox's liaison officer at the White Army Headquarters in Omsk, November 1918 - November 1919; the retreat from Omsk to Vladivostock following the success of the Bolshevik army, November 1919 - March 1920; stationing in Gibraltar and Egypt, 1921-1922; life and work in Simla, Waziristan and Kamptee, India, 1922-1928; work as an intelligence officer, Meshed, Persia (Iran), 1928-1931; life and work in Bombay, Ajmer, Jhansi, Alwar and Delhi, India, 1932-1935, including description of rioting under the Maharajah of Alwar; experiences working in India, China and Egypt during World War Two, including visit to Palestine; account of working in the post-war timber trade and as a consultant in the Russian Section of the London Chamber of Commerce. Also article 'Anglo-Russian Timber Trade: Personal Reminiscences and Reflections of Col L Steveni', The Timber Trades Journal , 11 March 1961, and article by Richard J Aldrich, University of Nottingham, from Modern Asian Studies 32, 1 (1998), pp. 179-217, entitled "Britain's Secret Intelligence Service in Asia during the Second World War" including analysis of Steveni's role as Director of British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) in Asia.

This collection consists of papers relating to Gen Sir Walter Mervyn St. George Kirke's military career after World War One as Deputy Director of Military Operations, as Colonel on the Staff, General Staff Aldershot, Director-General of the Territorial Army and as Commander-in-Chief of Home Forces and his work during and after World War Two as a public speaker and broadcaster. The collection includes papers relating to the debate over the role of the recently created RAF (1921), officer training at Aldershot (1922-1924), Kirke's leadership of the British Military Mission to Finland (1924-1925) and the work of the committee set up to study the lessons of World War One (1932). The majority the papers in the collection relating to Kirke's service as Director General of the Territorial Army are texts of Kirke's speeches, which are mostly concerned with promoting recruitment (1936-1939). There are also texts of Kirke's morale boosting radio broadcasts during World War Two on the progress of the war and also his speeches at public events particularly those connected with the National Savings Movement. The collection also includes personal correspondence, press cuttings, photographs and autobiographical notes made by Kirke.

Announcement, in Russian, by Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia and Poland, Great Prince of Finland (1894-1917), of Austria-Hungary's declaration of war upon Russia, as reported by the St Petersburg Telegraph Agency in the 'Astrakhan Leaflet', 21 Jul 1914 (3 Aug 1914). Translation into English included.