Papers dated 1942-1943 relating to the campaign in the Western Desert during World War Two comprising the history and organisation of Field Maintenance Centres, later known as Field Maintenance Areas, and message from Gen Bernard L Montgomery commending troops of 8 Army following the German defeat at El Alamein and capture of Tripoli, Jan 1943.

Personal and military papers of Major General Sir Robert Edward Laycock, 1923-1968, chiefly relating to service with Special Service Brigade and as Chief of Combined Operations, 1940-1946. Includes papers on volunteering for Special Service Brigade, including completed application forms for volunteer Commando officers, 1940. Papers on Special Service Brigade training 1940-1941, including gas, bayonet and signalling training. Memoranda, reports, instructions and other papers, 1940-1942, relating to LAYFORCE (commanded by Laycock in the Middle East), including papers on the Folbot Section (later to become Special Boat Service). Papers on Special Service Brigade, [1941-1946], including memoranda, reports, minutes, papers on their reorganisation, disbandment and the future of Combined Operations, also including papers belonging to Lord George Jellicoe relating to Special Service Brigade in the Middle East; reports and other papers on Special Service Brigade operations, notably Operation TORCH, (the invasion of North West Africa, Nov 1942) and Operation HUSKY, (the invasion of Sicily, Jun 1943). Laycock's official and personal correspondence,1923-1968, chiefly relating to Special Service Brigade. Lectures and speeches to and on Special Service Brigade, chiefly by Laycock. Draft publications, scripts and press cuttings relating to Laycock and Special Service Brigade. Memoirs and accounts of Commando action, including parts of Robert Edward Laycock's memoirs and memoirs of members of 'G' Troop, 7 Commando. Papers on Laycock standing as Conservative parliamentary candidate for Bassetlaw in the 1945 general collection and on his refusal to stand for the 1947 bye-election. Papers relating to Laycock's time as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Malta. Poems by Laycock.

Papers relating to his life and career, 1917-1963, principally comprising official correspondence with Lt Gen M Brocas Burrows, British Military Mission, Moscow, 1944-1945, Gen Mark Wayne Clark, US Army, 1943-1944, 1951-1952, Maj Gen Richard Henry Dewing, UK Army and RAF Liaison Staff, Australia, 1943-1944, Maj Gen Gordon Edward Grimsdale, Military Attaché andhead of Military Mission to Chungking, China, 1942-1943, AF Sir Roger John Brownlow Keyes, Bt, Director of Combined Operations, War Office, 1940-1942, Lt Gen Sir Henry Pownall, South East Asia Command HQ, 1944-1945, Lt Gen Sir Harold Redman, British Joint Staff Mission, Washington DC, 1943-1944, AF Sir James Somerville, Commander-in-Chief Eastern Fleet, 1943-1947, and Maj Gen Sir Edward Spears, Minister to the Lebanon, 1940-1944, and Lt Gen Albert C Wedemeyer, US Army, Deputy Chief of Staff; South East Asia Command, 1944; personal correspondence with and about FM Lord Alanbrooke, 1946-1947, 1957-1963, FM Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, 1941-1961, and FM Archibald Percival Wavell, Viscount Wavell of Cyrenaica and of Winchester, 1943-1946; official andpersonal correspondence with Dwight David Eisenhower, 1942-1965, and AF Louis (Francis Albert Victor Nicholas) Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, 1943-1954, 1960-1964; correspondence with publishers and colleagues, including Gen Sir Richard Nugent O'Connor; papers relating to India, 1947-1951, including his correspondence as Chief of Staff to Mountbatten, 1947, notes on interviews with Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahomed Ali Jinnah, 1947, letters describing the political situation in India, 1947-1948, and correspondence concerning compensation for Indian Government servants, 1948-1951; correspondence concerning the proposed defence reorganisation, 1955-1963; papers relating to his service as Secretary General, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), 1952-1957, including his official progress reports, 1952-1956; newspaper cuttings, statements to the press and texts of speeches and broadcasts, 1952-1957; papers relating to his memoirs, [1940-1960] including correspondence with publishers, 1960-1961, and colleagues, 1957-1960, notebooks, 1940-1960, and drafts and proofs, [1960]. newspaper cuttings, 1943, 1948, 1951-1952, 1957; texts of speeches, 1943-1958; correspondence relating to operations in Somaliland, 1917-1920; notes and papers relating to his studies at Staff College, Quetta and RAF Staff College, 1922-1924. Papers relating to Rt Hon Sir Winston (Leonard Spencer) Churchill, 1940-1965, including personal correspondence with Churchill, 1940, 1943-1945, 1947-1964; correspondence relating to Churchill's memoir The Second World War (Cassell, London, 1948-1954), 1946-1956, including correspondence relating to Dieppe Raid, Aug 1942, dated 1950, and galley proofs, [1948-1954]. Printed material, 1941-1945, 1947, 1951, notably including copies of telegrams sent by Winston Churchill as Prime Minister, 1941-1942; minutes of Chiefs of Staff meetings, 1943-1944; minutes of Combined Chiefs of Staff meetings, 1943, 1945.

Papers of Sir Geoffrey Warren Furlonge relating to the Middle East, [1932-1983] including typescript memorandum by Furlonge entitled 'Memorandum on slavery in Saudi Arabia' [1932]; typescript account by Furlonge entitled 'The mission to Taif', Hejaz, Arabia, with eleven photographs, Jul 1934. Four letters home from Furlonge to his mother relating to Syria and the Lebanon, 1941-1944. Typescript articles by Furlonge, 1959-1977, including 'Mount Kenya', 1959; 'Anglo-Jordanian relations today', 1966; 'Palestinian diaspora', 1969; 'Algeria ten years after', 1972; 'Mauritania', 1974; 'Traditional Islamic society' [1974]; 'Notes on visit to the West Bank and Jordan', 1975; 'The future of the Spanish Sahara', 1975; 'Algeria: the next step forward' [1977]; 'The Arabia that was', 1977. Papers relating to an English Speaking Union lecture tour of North America by Furlonge, Sep-Nov 1964, including bound typescript volume listing speaking engagements, Sep-Nov 1964; typescript account entitled 'North American tour, 1964', written by Furlong, Dec 1964. Printed text of lecture by Furlonge entitled 'Jordan today', given to the Royal Central Asian Society, 8 Jun 1966, and published in the Royal Central Asian Journal , Oct 1966. Typescript draft chapters from an unpublished book on the Middle East, including chapters entitled 'Morocco', 'Spanish Sahara', 'The Nile valley', 'An antique land [Libya]', 'The Maghrib' and 'Algeria' [1965]. Four typescript draft chapters and typescript notes on the French mandated territories of Syria and the Lebanon, for an unpublished book entitled 'The liberation of the Levant', 1971. Correspondence 1971-1974, including with Sir Alec Seath Kirkbride, 1971-1972; the British Embassy, Rabat, Saudi Arabia, 1974; The Times , 1974. Typescript draft obituaries by Furlonge relating to individuals connected to the Middle East [1976-1983], including Maj Gen Seyyid Mudar Badran, Prime Minister of Jordan, 1976-1979; Sir Alec Seath Kirkbride, Diplomat, 1922-1954; Muhammad Anwar Sadat, President of Egypt, 1970-1981; Khalid ibn Abd al-Aziz, King of Saudi Arabia, 1975-1982; Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini, Islamic leader of Iran, 1979-1989; Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, Shah of Iran, 1941-1979, with related correspondence with the Obituary Department, The Times , 1981.

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.

Minutes and Documents of the Cabinet Meetings of President Eisenhower, 1953-1961 is a themed microfilm collection which includes copies of the minutes, memoranda, and supporting documents of the Cabinet meetings during the Presidential administration of Dwight David Eisenhower, 12 Dec 1952-13 Jan 1961. The meetings included discussions relating to all aspects of the domestic and foreign policy affairs of the United States. Meeting minutes relate to the addition to the Cabinet of the post of US Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1953; the armistice talks which ended the Korean War, 1953; the US Supreme Court decision declaring racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional, 1954; US military and financial commitment to Indo-China, 1954; American entry into the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), 1954; Eisenhower's re-election strategy, campaign, and victory, 1956; the Suez Crisis, 1956; the adoption of the 'Eisenhower Doctrine', which stated that the United States would provide military and economic aid to any nation in the Middle East threatened by communism, 1957-1959; the launch of US satellites in response to the Soviet launch of the 'Sputnik' satellite, 1958; American intervention into Lebanon, 1958; the adoption of Alaska and Hawaii as US states, 1959; and the election of John Fitzgerald Kennedy as President of the United States, 1960.