With three early twentieth century exceptions, the Indian Tracts is a collection of nineteenth century pamphlets on a range of Indian subjects, such as local self-government, the Indian Civil Service, education, politics, economics, transport, the trade of opium, religion and war.

The collection consists of Herbert Loebl's business and personal records.

The business records contain group papers, sales and marketing files, finance files and general correspondence files for the following engineering and knowledge transfer enterprises with which Herbert Loebl was involved in his lifetime:

The collection also contains a number of annotated scrapbooks which trace the history of Loebl's engineering enterprises through photographs, newspaper cuttings and other ephemera.

Herbert Loebl's academic collection contains his early student notebooks from his degree studies in Electrical Engineering, and notes and source material for his subsequent doctoral thesis and Jewish history research. The collection also includes his certificates and various degree ceremony photographs.

Herbert Loebl received various awards during his lifetime and his personal collection includes photographs, newspaper clippings, scrapbooks, and letters of congratulations regarding his many honours.

The Nicholson Collection comprises periodicals (newspapers, magazines and magazine supplements) and a small number of letters, postcards, pamphlets and photographs, relating to Spain, Ethiopia, Britain, and Italy. These are political and religious publications, for the most part, but include national and local newspapers, roughly covering the period of the late 1930s to the mid 1960s. Also included are The Workers Chronicle from May 1926 (covering the General Strike) and two U.S. Information Service documents from 1946.

The papers of the distinguished public servant Lady Plowden (1910-2000) were generously gifted to Newcastle University Library in 2003 by the Plowden family.

Held in Special Collections, Lady Plowden's papers are an extensive and rich resource reflecting her many areas of concern. Lady Plowden held a number of high-profile public roles in the spheres of education reform and television broadcasting, most notably as Chairman of the Central Advisory Council for Education (England), 1963 – 1967, Vice-Chairman of the BBC Board of Governors, 1970 – 1975, and Chairman of the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA), 1975 – 1980. A large and varied number of public roles followed, many of which retained this focus on primary and pre-school education reform as well as the promotion of high-quality television broadcasting. Lady Plowden's interests were wide however and these papers also reflect Lady Plowden's roles within organisations related to Romany and Traveller education and rights, adult education, the care and resettlement of offenders, the role of voluntary work, young adult unemployment and training, and women and employment.

Lady Plowden (nee Richmond) was a niece of Gertrude Bell and a cousin of the Trevelyans of Wallington. An additional deposit of material made by the Plowden family comprise of a number of family photograph albums and correspondence files relating to the Richmond, Bell and Trevelyan families.

The papers of Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford (1870-1949), relate chiefly to his political career, but also include material concerning his personal and professional life. They cover his election campaigns and his political career, during the years 1894-1938, and in particular they cover the different political offices he held, as a Liberal M.P. and Cabinet Minister, and as a member of the Board of Education, 1908-11, and the Board of Trade, 1914-16 and 1931-37. There is also material relating to Runciman's attempt to solve the 1938 Sudeten crisis through his mission to Czechoslovakia.The collection also includes the diaries and some correspondence of Walter's wife, Hilda Runciman, herself briefly an M.P. Hilda's diaries have been found to be of particular value to researchers, providing as they do an insight into the world and circles in which she and her husband moved, sometimes revealing insider knowledge about the current talk in London Society, a classic example being Hilda's remarks in her 1936 diary about the abdication crisis and the King's intentions. In addition, there are 114 volumes of press cuttings, plus material relating to Walter Runciman's father, the 1st Baron Runciman, as well as documents relating to Sir Walter Leslie Runciman (1900-1989).

The Robert Spence Watson Collection is a collection of 500 volumes on the subject of English literature, consisting largely of the publications of literary societies such as the Shakespeare Society, the Spenser Society, the Ballad Society and the Chaucer Society, presented to the Library in 1908 by Robert Spence Watson, who was also one of the founders of the Durham College of Physical Science, and President of Armstrong College.

Consists mainly of letters to Robert Spence Watson. Topics include, but are not limited to, British politics and the Liberal party, contemporary Europe, Armstrong College (later Newcastle University), the Peace Society, lectures at the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne, and contemporary literary and scientific achievements. Other regular recipients of letters include Elizabeth Spence Watson, Frederick Weiss, and Charles Prestwich Scott.

The Spence Watson's wide-ranging public activism, make their correspondence a valuable source of opinions on the social and political matters of the day from a wide range of prominent persons.

The archive mainly comprises correspondence relating to Charles' activities as a Civil Servant and administrator. There are also publications relating to these activities and Charles' wider interests.

There is also personal content, including travel diaries, family correspondence and papers regarding inheritance of the Wallington estate in Northumberland.

This archive includes content accumulated and created by both Charles and Mary, and other family members. It reflects the family's personal activities from Charles' childhood in the 1870s to Mary's death in 1966, but also includes some content from Charles' professional life. It can support research into a broad variety of areas, including political history (particularly the Liberal and Labour parties, socialism and international relations), World War I (particularly dissent and the peace movement), childhood and education (from both a personal and political perspective), domesticity, class and landed estates.
This extensive personal archive is mostly comprised of correspondence. This includes: Correspondence to Charles in his role as MP Correspondence to and from Charles relating to the operation of the Union of Democratic Control Correspondence to and from Charles relating to his positions in government Correspondence relating to the management of the Wallington estate and the donation to the National Trust Correspondence between members of the Trevelyan and Bell families, much of which is domestic in tone Correspondence to and from Charles and Mary's children from their early childhood to adulthood Correspondence from visits abroad including North America, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, Russia and Germany The correspondents include family members such as Charles' brothers George Macaulay Trevelyan and Robert Calverley Trevelyan, Mary's sister and brother in law Elsa Richmond and Admiral Sir Herbert William Richmond. Other correspondents include Sir Winston Churchill, J Ramsay MacDonald, E D Morel, Arthur Ponsonby, Walter Runciman, Herbert Samuel, George Bernard Shaw and Jennie Lee.

Other documents include: Papers relating to Charles, Mary and their childrens' educations, including exam papers and school ephemera Personal Diaries, in particular a short run of Mary's personal diaries as a young woman Official political papers, including Cabinet Conclusions, draft bills[?] and copies of Hansard Pamphlets and leaflets written by and collected by Charles, many relating to socialism and the UDC Transcripts of speeches given by Charles and Mary in professional and personal capacities Personal notebooks with draft speeches and essays Family photograph albums and glass negatives, recording family events, daily life, and Charles' political career Press cuttings and scrapbooks relating to family events and Charles' career

Comprising most of family correspondence, with some content relating to estate and property and George Otto Trevelyan's political career. Also includes autographs and cuttings of notable figures.