This collection of correspondence and documents focuses on Roughton's prolific life's work on respiratory physiology. His specific work at Cambridge University from the 1920s to the 1960s, as well as interludes in the U. S. during World War II, are covered, as is the scientific milieu in which he worked. Some of the subjects or organizations for which there are documents, are: Bermuda and Naples Zoological Research Stations; British Glue and Gelatin Research Assoc.; Biochemical Journal; Cambridge Philosophical Society; Cambridge University Departments of Physiology (pre-1939) and Colloid Science (post-1940); Harvard Fatique Lab.; Medical research Council; Trinity College Cambridge.

The James V. Neel Papers document nearly every phase of the career of one of the founders of human population genetics in the United States. Neel was particularly thorough and organized, and retained virtually all of his significant scientific correspondence, committee reports, minutes of meetings, and drafts of manuscripts. The collection also includes data collected during Neel's work among the Xavante, Yanomanö and other indigenous populations. In a career that spanned the period from the late work of Thomas Hunt Morgan and Charles B. Davenport to the contemporary world of molecular genetics and nucleic acids, Neel knew, worked with, and corresponded with many of the most influential 20th century practitioners of genetics. The collection begins in earnest in 1943, after Neel had decided to focus on human genetics. Neel's work with Drosophila and none of his Drosophila manuscripts are found in the collection.