A physician and naturalist, Oswald Hope Robertson worked at the Rockefeller Institute, the Peking Union Medical College, and at the medical school of University of Chicago (1927-1951). With a broad range of research interests, Robertson contributed important work on the transmission of pneumonia, the disinfection of air with glycol vapors, and later in his career, on the physiology and ecology of salmonid fishes. He is best remembered, however, as the creator of the first blood bank, established for use by British and American forces during the First World War. The Robertson Papers contain correspondence, notes, articles, and notebooks on many of Robertson's major research interests, including his work on blood. His early work on salmonid ecology is represented in a journal and eleven notebooks stemming from fieldwork in the lakes of the Wind River Range in northwestern Wyoming, 1942-1951. There is also interesting material on the Research Corporation (New York City) concerning patents on glycol vapors and air sterilizers, as well as notes and manuscripts of papers on morphine experiments, canine pneumococcus, bacteremia, and the effects of hydrocortisone.

Correspondence and reports relating principally to medical research (tuberculosis, cancer, lymphatic system, pernicious anemia), writings and publications. There is material of note on the following organizations: American Association of Anatomists, American Association of University Women, American Woman's Association, Henry Strong Denison Medical Foundation, John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (re. fellowships), Hall of Fame for Great Americans, Institute for Advanced Study, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Medical Aid to China, Medical Aid to Spain, Naples Table Association (this existed to promote laboratory research by women); National Academy of Sciences, National Tuberculosis Association, Peking Union Medical College, Rockefeller Institute, Ellen Richards Prize (awarded by the Association to Aid Scientific Research by Women), Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, University in Exile (i.e. New School for Social Research), White House Conference on Child Health and Protection, and the World Center for Women's Archives. There are abstracts and notes of unpublished scientific papers, and also materials for her biography of Franklin Paine Mall, 1934.