This collection of books was given to the Library by Gertrude Bell's brother Maurice (1871-1944), most of which previously belonged to Sir Hugh and Sir Lowthian Bell (respectively their father and grandfather) who were both industrialists. The collection consists of approximately 500 books and is strongest in economics and industry, particularly coal-mining, railways and chemistry but also including iron, steel, explosives and oyster fisheries.Included are Beckly, H. The bankers' panic: a letter to the Right Honourable Benjamin Disraeli, M.P., First Lord of the Treasury (1875), Hole, J. The homes of the working classes, with suggestions for their improvement (1866) and works by two prominent women - the writer on science, mathematics and astronomy, Mary Somerville's Physical geography (1858) and one of the leaders of the suffrage movement, Millicent Garrett Fawcett's Political economy for beginners (1876).

This is a collection of material brought together by, or relating to, local nineteenth century collectors John and Thomas Bell. There are four boxes relating to the local book trade, seven more relating to the Port of Tyne, and forty packets of cuttings, correspondence and other miscellaneous items which are useful for local history.

Books on Arabic and Persian languages, and on the history and antiquities of Arabia, Iraq and the Near East that formed part of Gertrude Bell's working library.

The papers and photographs of Gertrude Bell mainly consist of the letters Gertrude Bell sent home to her family whilst on her travels, of the diaries she kept when abroad, and the photographs taken whilst she was away.

The papers consists of sixteen thousand letters, sixteen diaries, seven notebooks and forty-four packets of miscellaneous material; whilst the photographic collection is about 7000 in number, and consists of photographs taken by her between c.1900-1918. Those of Middle Eastern archaeological sites are of great value because they record structures which have since been eroded or, in some cases, have disappeared altogether, while those of the desert tribes are of considerable anthropological and ethnographical interest.

Her competence as a field archaeologist and photographer means that the papers are indispensable for archaeological research of parts of the Middle East.

The items in the Bell Miscellaneous Papers contain material relating to Bell's work and travels, including contemporary articles, notes by Bell on various topics (archaeological sites, Arab tribes, etc.), letters concerning the publication of Bell's letters by Lady Richmond and letters to and from Gertrude Bell, maps and plans, literary manuscripts, lecture notes and copies of letters from Gertrude Bell held elsewhere. There is also a series of the letters known as the Doughty-Wylie letters, 1913-1915. These are the letters between Gertrude Bell and Charles Doughty-Wylie, an army officer with whom Bell was in love. The letters were returned to Gertrude Bell after his death at Gallipoli in 1915.

This collection comprises a large number of the musical manuscripts of the twentieth-century British composer David Barlow (1927-1975), formerly a lecturer in the Department of Music at Newcastle University, although it is not a complete collection of his works. The material comprises over 100 items which cover the musical genres of orchestral, opera, choral, songs, solo works, instrumental and chamber music, although some of the scores are incomplete. Barlow's musical influences included biblical and literary interests and the collection includes his church operas David and Bathsheba and Judas Iscariot as well as his children's opera The Selfish Giant. The collection also contains copies of many of Barlow's important works which are held at the British Music Information Centre, as well as some early manuscripts (mainly short works and sketches) and copies of recordings of Barlow's music and interviews, held on ten reel-to-reel tapes at present.

This collection represents the historical portion of the Library of Appleby Grammar School in Cumbria (formerly in the old county of Westmorland) and has been deposited on indefinite loan. The nucleus of the collection was the personal library of an early headmaster of the school, Reginald Bainbrigg [1545-1612?].Books in this collection range in publication date from the Fifteenth Century to the Twentieth Century. The collection can be searched on the library's catalogue and there is also a printed catalogue by the late Edgar Hinchcliffe, formerly a master at the school, available from the Special Collections reading room.The collection contains predominantly classical, theological, literary and historical works, as well as a number of early sixteenth-century English bindings. There are many sixteenth-century editions of works by classical authors, such as Cicero, while other highlights include several works by the English philosopher and enlightenment thinker John Locke and a 1561 Basel imprint of Martin Luther's Quaestionum Sacrarum.

Poetry books from local publishers which were collected by Arts Council England based in Newcastle.

Consists of notebooks of poetical drafts, manuscript drafts, annotated typescripts, research, and correspondence - both personal and professional - of Moniza Alvi.

Report of the Workhouse Committee upon the subject of the charges brought by Mr Carr, the Clerk of the Board, against Mr Johnson, the Master of the Workhouse, in regards to misappropriation of food intended for the inmates.

The examined evidence includes a vastly detailed record of the finances and the purchases of the workhouse over a six-month period, such as the weekly consumption of different commodities from bread and beef to split peas and soap, which could be of considerable interest to the social and economic historian. Other material includes the detail of Carr's charges, minutes of the meetings at which they were considered, witness statements and documents revealing the care with which Alnwick Workhouse was managed.

Brian Alderson (b. 1930) is a pioneer of children’s literature studies in Britain as a distinguished author, reviewer, and translator. He has also collected books for more than 60 years, beginning when he was an undergraduate with cheap editions of work by poets Ezra Pound and T.S.Eliot. His interest in children’s books came later but soon became a lifelong passion, resulting in the curation of a collection of over 20,000 books, dating from the 17th century to the present day. This collection, donated jointly to the University and Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children's Books, represents a vast and diverse distinctive resource.