This collection is based around the personal diaries of Prof John Wight Duff, (1866-1944), at one time Professor of Classics at Armstrong College, and his wife Lizzie. This comprehensive run of diaries offers a fascinating insight into life in late 19th and early 20th Century Britain. The period covers both of the two World Wars and represents a period of social and political change within the UK. Within this collection there is also a small collection of associated correspondence, travel maps and documents, and family photographs.This collection is based around the personal diaries of Prof John Wight Duff, (1866-1944), at one time Professor of Classics at Armstrong College, and his wife Lizzie. This comprehensive run of diaries offers a fascinating insight into life in late 19th and early 20th Century Britain. The period covers both of the two World Wars and represents a period of social and political change within the UK. Within this collection there is also a small collection of associated correspondence, travel maps and documents, family photographs, and John Wight Duff's lecture notes on various classics subjects.

Consists of published and unpublished material covering Sir Liam's professional career and achievements as;

Regional Medical Officer, Regional General Manager and Regional Director of Public Health for the Northern Regional Health Authority (1986 - 1994);

Regional General Manager, Regional Director and Regional Director of Public Health for the Northern and Yorkshire Regional Health Authority and NHS Executive: Northern and Yorkshire (1994 -1998);

Chief Medical Officer for England, Department of Health (1998 - 2010).

The majority of material relates to his time as Chief Medical Officer, covering his major health and health care campaigns, including published reports and contextual material related to these reports.

Also includes photographs, papers, correspondence and other material relating to Sir Liam's personal life, awards and honours.

The papers of Jack Common (1900-1968) are a rich resource for those interested in the history of this talented Tyneside-born writer. They include published and unpublished typescripts and manuscripts of his work, including Kiddar's Luck, his fictionalised childhood autobiography, published in 1951. There are also Common's diaries, notebooks, research notes, news cuttings, correspondence and photographs.

The papers also include copies of articles and draft articles for his contribution to the socialist journals The Adelphi and New Britain. Correspondence to Jack Common includes letters from his friends George Orwell, E.M. Forster, Dorothy and Max Plowman, Richard and John Middleton Murry, Thomas McCullough and Connie Common, Jack's second wife. There is also correspondence from various publishers as well as from the BBC and Associated British Picture Corporation.

Papers relating to Sid Chaplin's writing career and other involvements throughout his life. Typescripts of published novels, short stories, poetry, plays and articles; typescripts of unpublished novels, short stories, poetry, plays and articles; working drafts of typescripts, published typeset copies; television and radio dramatisations; diaries 1930-1985, notebooks 1930-1984; newspaper cuttings; correspondence 1939-1990, in particular correspondence with David Higham Associates 1949-1989, BBC 1947-1987, various publishers: Phoenix House 1946-1962, Eyre and Spottiswoode 1959-1978, Pergamon Press and Ben Owen 1950-1984, Alan Plater 1963-1985, Alex Glasgow 1970-1982, Stan Barstow 1961-1984, Basil Bunting 1983-1984, Norman Nicholson 1950-[1982], John Bate 1944-1985, various Russian and French correspondence, particularly with Professor Valentina Ivashova 1964-1985; material relating to the English Speaking Union of America trip to USA, 1955 and subsequent correspondence with Dorothy Goodfellow 1960-1985.

Consists of fifteen diaries of William Brewis of Mitford, and two items of contemporary published material relating to the diaries.

There is one diary for every year between January 1833 and January 1850, aside from 1835, 1836 and 1844. These provide a first-hand account of rural life in the Morpeth and Ponteland districts, as Brewis describes visits to hiring fairs and markets, current sale prices for crops and animals, and farms available to rent. He also regularly observes weather conditions, which were unusually severe between 1837 and 1855 due to the advance of Icelandic glaciers, and their effect on the growing seasons and harvests. Brewis remarks on how his farm is affected by a ‘distemper’ amongst the livestock, similar in nature to an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, as well as his own illness during the outbreak of influenza in 1837.

Brewis documents dining with leading members of the community and gives an insight into the relationships between farmers, local landowners and businesses in the area. His diaries make note of events in the local community including the execution of Ralph Joyce, a 24 year old man charged with the murder of his own father who was hung in Morpeth gaol in 1846.

Like many other farmers of the time, Brewis took a keen interest in national and international news. In his diaries he notes and makes frequent comments on national political and societal events. These include the death of King William IV, whom Brewis was fond of, and the marriage of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, whom Brewis often criticised. There are also entries on Chartism and the Chartist rising in Newport led by John Frost, as well as notes on India and the war against the Sikhs in April 1846.

The Bosanquet Papers consist of archive material relating to Bernard Bosanquet, the idealist philosopher (1848-1923), and to his wife, Helen Bosanquet, née Dendy (1860-1926), a member of the 1909 Poor Law Commission. Material relating to Bernard Bosanquet comprises correspondence, research notes, drafts and manuscripts of publications, as well as offprints from journals and other publications by Bosanquet himself.Material relating to Helen Bosanquet includes notes and correspondence for her memoir of Bernard Bosanquet, offprints from publications, correspondence relating to Helen Bosanquet's family and relating to public work, journals of travel, drawings, literary notebooks, photographs, engagement diaries and some undated miscellaneous material. A particular highlight is Helen Bosanquet's notebook which contains diary notes on Poor Law Commission meetings attended by her in 1909.

Consists of: Correspondence of the Brown family during World War I. Photographs taken in France and England both during and after the war. Includes photographs of buildings damaged by bombing, memorials and graves, and reunion events after World War I. Maps covering areas of France, Germany and Austria, some of which show the position of trenches in World War I. Memorabilia relating to World War I including newspaper clippings, posters and documents. Publications including journals and comics published during World War I, as well as historical and creative works relating to, and published after, World War I.

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.