This collection of slides records the travels of the British civil servant and diplomat John Ewart Marnham, and in particular his considerable interest in wildlife as well as in gardening.

The RCS originally received a collection of 3358 slides. Marnham appears in a few of them and some others may have been given to him, but he was the photographer of the vast majority of the collection. There are 1631 relating to the Commonwealth countries or those with Commonwealth connections. These begin with 68 on the West Indies taken in 1958, presumably on a holiday visit (A). There are four substantial collections from the early 1960s which appear to relate to official journeys, some possibly connected with his work at the Imperial Defence College. Though most depict scenery, there are a number showing officials whom he accompanied, or prominent local figures. From 1961 come 38 of Cyprus and 45 of Jordan, part of a much larger Middle East collection (see introduction to Marnham JJ). There are 136 of South America and the Falkland Islands from 1962 (Marnham B-C), 268 of the Pacific Islands including outward and return journeys in 1963 (Marnham D-M) and 66 of South Arabia in 1964 (Marnham N-P) with a 1966 slide of a visit of South Arabian ministers to Britain. He visited southern Africa, possibly on official business, towards the close of 1965 and 93 photographs form this period are to be found in Marnham Q-S and X. 569 photographs of various parts of southern Africa come from his time as Consul-General in Johannesburg and these include many wildlife scens (Marnham Q-Z). His appointment in the West Indies, 1970-1973 is represented by 329 photographs (Marnham AA-HH) and while in Tunisia he visited Malta in 1975 as shown in 17 photographs (Marnham II). Members of his family appear in some of these.

When received, the collection was housed in a series of boxes and small plastic containers. Some of it had become disordered and the whole collection has been sorted and checked. It is now housed in the order of the catalogue. The material has been divided into categories both by places and by subject, e.g. the wildlife photographs taken in South Africa have been separated from the more general scenes there. In most cases Marnham has written a short caption on the frame; sometimes he has also given a date and his own serial number. At other times there is only the date stamped at the time of printing and the serial number given by the processor. Some frames have no date or information on them at all. Marnham's captions, including the names of institutions, have been recorded as found and may include language which is offensive, inaccurate or inappropriate. They have been retained to reflect the context of the collection's creation. Marnham's abbreviations have been expanded in many cases. Descriptive information on uncaptioned slides and additional material, e.g. identifying individuals shown have been added in brackets. A question mark in brackets has been added where an inscription is illegible or obscure; question marks without brackets are those of Marnham's captions and indicate his own uncertainties. Ideally, the entire collection should be renumbered, but for practical reasons this has not been attempted and the material has been divided up following Marnham's general arrangement and utilising his numbering where it exists and that of the processor where it does not, even though this system results in some gaps. For convenience numbers given by Marnham are indicated by NM, those by the photographic processor as PN, and dates from the same source as PD. NPN and NPD indicate the absence of such information. Some of the boxes in which the slides were stored had numbered slots but the use of these would create further confusion if used and they have been ignored in the following list except for Marnham B, where the box contains a numerical list and the order has therefore been preserved. The RCS Collection comprises: A West Indies 1958 (68); B South America and Falkland Islands 1962(102); C Birds of the Falkland Islands 1962 (34); D Outward journey to Pacific 1963; E Fiji 1963; F Fiji 1963; G Fiji 1963; H Copra 1963; I Fiji and Tonga 1963; Gilbert Islands 1963; K Fiji: Navua River 1963; L New Caledonia; Homeward journey from Pacific 1963; N Abyan 1964; O Radfan 1964; Seiyun and Hadramaut 1964: South Arabian Ministers 1966; Q Swaziland; R Bechuanaland; S Basutoland/Lesotho; T Johannesburg; U Traansvaal; V Mine dancing, Johannesburg; W Orange Free State; X Cape Province; Y South African animals; Z South African birds and flowers; AA St Lucia; BB Ciceron, St Lucia; CC Flora and Fauna, St Lucia; DD Dominica; EE St Vincent; FF Grenada; GG Leeward Islands; HH Guyana; II Malta; JJ Cyprus; KK Jordan.