Consisting of photocopies of letters written by the geneticists Erwin Baur and Leonard Doncaster to their British colleague William Bateson (1861-1926), the Bateson Collection contains important material relating to the early history of Mendelian genetics in Britain and particularly to Bateson's opposition to the chromosomal theory of inheritance. The originals are held in the William Bateson Papers in the Archives of the John Innes Horticultural Institute.

Selected by William Coleman, this collection contains correspondence from William Bateson to his wife, Catharine, and to his colleagues, such as Francis Galton, E. Roy Lankester, Alfred Newton, and Charles Scott Sherrington; lectures given between 1897-1904; and some genealogical and miscellaneous material. This note is currently under review for revision.

This miscellaneous collection relates to numerous topics in genetics: cattle breeding (especially the American Jersey Cattle Club), longevity, radiation, International Congress of Genetics (the 10th, 11th, and 13th), Gregor Mendel, aid for refugee scientists, and the records of the Genetics Society of America (1947-1974). The photographs series accession # 1968 433pr, was added to the finding aid in 2016.