Prominent subjects include Bell’s social life, interests and personal affairs; the purchase of a plot of land at Cannes and the construction of a villa; the completion of his book ‘Foreign Colonial Administration in the Far East’; the writing of his memoirs; attendance at the Union Coloniale Française on behalf of the government; the publication of letters in the press concerning the treatment of captive orang-utans and the education of Africans; and European travels (circa 80 sheets).