The papers of Frederic Whyte (1867-1941) form a literary archive although it contains a large amount of correspondence. The letters date largely from the late-Nineteenth and early-Twentieth Centuries and include correspondence with publishers, editors and literary agents. Correspondence also includes letters from Arthur Conan Doyle, George Bernard Shaw and correspondence with H.G. Wells.There are articles, notes and draft translations (including a manuscript draft and copy of an article 'Portrait of Cecil Rhodes' and correspondence about M.G. Sarfatti's biography of Mussolini); material for Whyte's Life of W.T. Stead, miscellaneous photographs, cuttings (including a scrapbook of press cuttings on the Boer War), book reviews, manuscript diaries, some publications and material relating to Sweden.

Consists of editorial material relating to published works by Flambard Press. Also contains documents relating to the marketing of the company.

Although George Gibson (1800-1850) was a farm steward to Sir M.W. Ridley, Blagdon, Northumberland, the Gibson Papers are really a literary archive, with some material which may be considered pertinent to the history of education in Gibson's ciphering book (1804) - mathematical problems, solutions and rules; a poem; information about weights, measures and the value of money as well as his many doodles. There are many short poems, such as An address to a mouse that I turned up with the plough on 2nd January 1819, Reflections on hearing the clock strike five and Farewell address to my ink bottle as well as a long poem about the difficult slaughter of a sow which was too heavy to lift, some ecclesiastical poetry, a long, anti-Catholic poem on education in Ireland and some correspondence.

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 They include published and unpublished typescripts and manuscripts of his work, including Kiddar's Luck, his fictionalised childhood autobiography, published in 1951.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.

Consists of manuscript and typescript drafts of Sean O'Brien's published and unpublished work, as well as articles and press cuttings relating to his work. Also includes O'Brien's personal notebooks from 1970 onwards, correspondence from and to O'Brien in both a personal and professional context, and miscellenous material relating to his cultural roles and activities including jobs, residencies and fellowships.

Consists of digital copies of the personal diaries of the poet Rosemary Tonks, plus correspondence between Tonks and Joan Moat from the University of Exeter, and photocopies of Tonks' personal records including birth, death and marriage certificates.

Consists of an incomplete set of editions of the Makaris poetry broadsheet as published by Durham University Literary Society between 1965 and 1971.

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.

Contains the personal archive of poet Vincenza Holland including notebooks; diaries; published and unpublished material; and correspondence with poets local to the North East. Includes drafts of her poetry collection 'Mrs Turnbull's Tree' which was published by Bloodaxe Books in 1990.

Between 1966-73 Holland lived abroad with her family. First in newly independent Lesotho - a country surrounded by apartheid South Africa - but also for 18 months on Corfu. Holland was politically and socially engaged in what was happening around her, and her archive contains many collected documents, cuttings and ephemera relating to her travels.