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).

Diaries, log books and other papers, 1913-1966, of Cdr Lawrence Antony Humphreys, comprising a photograph album including photographs of Dartmouth Royal Naval (RN) College, Devon, 1914-1916, and ships of the British and German fleets, 1917-1919, subsequently used as a scrapbook for newspaper and other cuttings to 1966; volume entitled 'Operations etc HMS TARANTULA', comprising log of messages received and sent, 11 Mar 1917-11 Mar 1918, while taking part in operations in Mesopotamia from the fall of Baghdad, later used as diary of voyage, Basra to Canton via Hong Kong, 29 Mar-3 Jul 1918, with reflections on anti British disturbances up to 2 Mar 1919; midshipman's journal, HMS BARHAM, 1 Jul 1919-14 May 1920, with latter part of volume used for documents relating to postings and promotions, 1917-1946; diaries (2 volumes), Mar-Jun 1922; syllabus and manuscript notes, Cambridge course for RN Officers, Michaelmas 1922-Lent 1923; volume containing souvenir programmes of the Special Service Sqn World cruise, 1923-1924 (South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii, Vancouver, Canada, San Francisco, USA, Peru, Chile); diaries of the world cruise, 25 Nov 1923-30 Sep 1924; sketch book containing notes on seamanship, HMS INDOMITABLE [1917-1919]; volume of notes on gunnery, HMS INDOMITABLE, HMS VENDETTA, HMS BARHAM, HMS TARANTULA and HMS DRAGON, 1917-1925; gunnery notes, RN College, Greenwich [1926]; gunnery orders, HMS HOOD; drill instructions, HMS DANAE [1930-1933]; term lists, RN College, Osborne, Sep 1914-Jan 1916, and RN College, Dartmouth, May 1916-May 1917; 'Osborne', RN College magazines, Dec 1914-Dec 1916; 'The Britannia Magazine', RN College, Dartmouth, Easter 1916-Midsummer 1917; 'Regulations for German observation groups', a manual for the Artillery Survey Section, translated extracts, Dec 1917; Gunnery Drill Book (Book I) (Admiralty, London, 1913); Rifle and field exercises for His Majesty's Fleet (Admiralty, London, 1913); The danger angle and off shore distance tables by Capt Squire Thornton Stratford Lecky, RN (1916); two editions of Gunnery Drill Book (Book II) (1918) (one revised in 1927); Silhouettes of effective British warships by E L King (Low, London, 1919); Warships at a glance, silhouettes of the world's fighting ships by Frederick Thomas Jane, RN College Osborne (Low, London, 1914); Boats' signal book (1920); Royal Naval handbook of field training (1920); Drill for 4 inch QF Mark XII gun on SI mounting (Submarines) (1928); The Fleet annual and Naval year book (1917); 'The Castillian', Fleet magazine, Jan-May 1925; 'Royal Naval Staff College Magazine', issues 4-6 (undated); humorous pamphlet 'The cruises of HMS Zinnia' (undated); Our Navy, handbook of the British Navy (undated); Lord Fisher on the Navy, articles reprinted from The Times , Sep 1919; Future of navies, articles reprinted from The Times , Nov 1920-Feb 1921; 'Naval athletics', compiled by Maxwell Cunningham (undated); The Battle of the Atlantic, the official account of the fight against U boats, 1939-1945 (HMSO, London); How the war will be won by Capt Bernard Acworth (1940); The Battle of Britain, Aug-Oct 1940 (Air Ministry); Destruction of an Army, 1st Libyan Campaign, Sept 1940-Feb 1941 ; Parliamentary White Paper by Sir Neville Henderson on the circumstances leading to the termination of his mission to Berlin, Germany, 20 Sep 1939.

Copies of papers relating to Col Sir (Charles) Geoffrey Vickers and of his brother 2nd Lt William Burnell Vickers, 184 Siege Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, killed in action, Western Front, 21 Jun 1917, including seven manuscript letters and four typescript copies of letters from William Burnell Vickers to his parents and to his brother, Jan 1916-Jun 1917, with two typescript copies of letters of sympathy from Regimental officers, Jun 1917; typescript extracts from William Burnell Vickers' diary relating to service on the Western Front, Nov 1915-Feb 1916 and Jul 1916. Three copies of photograph of (Charles) Geoffrey Vickers [1915]; sixty letters by Lt (Charles) Geoffrey Vickers, to his mother, father and brother, Western Front, Feb 1915-Feb 1917, including letters from hospital after being wounded in action, Battle of Loos, Oct 1915, and typescript copy of letter from Lt Col Arthur William Brewill, Commanding Officer, 1/7 (Robin Hood) Bn, The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regt), Territorial Force, informing Vickers' father that Vickers had been recommended for the VC, 24 Oct 1915; nine letters by Vickers to his parents, France, Apr 1918-Jan 1919. Typescript copy of narrative diary detailing Geoffrey Charles Vickers' service on the Western Front, Feb-Oct 1915. Copy of printed report entitled 'Report by Colonel C G Vickers, VC, on his Mission to the British communities in certain American countries and in Portugal', including information relating to Venezuela, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Cuba and Portugal, 16 Dec 1940.