These records consist of externally acquired deposits of papers, scripts, drawings and artefacts which relate to the work and history of the BBC and its staff. The papers have a different provenance from the working papers of the BBC, which were generated by internal departments and transferred to the archive, either directly from a department or through a registry system.
Many of the deposits have been donated by former BBC staff or their estates and contain both work related papers and non-BBC material. These include production notes and drafts of scripts (Geoffrey Perkins, writer and producer); engineering specifications (W A Roberts, Head of Personnel, English Regions); BBC set designs (Tony Thorpe, Designer); personal correspondence and diaries (Lord Reith, first Director-General). This section also contains research articles and theses which were written as a result of visits to the BBC archives and contribute to the history of broadcasting.
Particular themes represented in the collections include early technical development in radio and television (Cecil Madden, TV Programme Planner and Sydney Moseley, Broadcaster); pioneers in early broadcasting (Peter Eckersley, Chief Engineer); broadcasting during the Second World War (William Joyce, Broadcaster) and Overseas Broadcasting (David Graham, External Services).