The collection consists of an album of pasted material (MS Add.10416/1-48), loose items taken from the album (catalogued consecutively as MS Add.10416/49-68), and other items from a related file of family papers marked ‘Personal’ (MS Add.10416/69-110). MS Add.10416/111 consists of a single large item (a family sketch) in a separate folder. Items pasted in the album have been numbered in the catalogue to correspond to the original handwritten pagination, taking into account several pages left unused. The original pages in the album from which loose items were taken have been recorded.

The collection is mainly comprised of ink sketches of a humorous nature and other papers relating to the Cornford family and their friends. Many of the sketches are by Sir William Rothenstein, with his own captions, of Frances Crofts Darwin, her father Francis Darwin, her future husband Francis Macdonald Cornford, and a circle of friends including Arthur Marshall, the Cambridge economist, and Max Beerbohm. Albert Rothenstein, Sir William’s brother, who later anglicised his name to Rutherston, also appears both as subject and artist. There are two items of correspondence from Albert Rothenstein to Frances Darwin at the time of the Cambridge production of Milton’s Comus in 1908, in which her future husband and Rupert Brooke performed. The collection contains some drawings for the stage design by Albert Rothenstein. There is also a sketch of Rupert Brooke by Frances Cornford, after her marriage in 1909. Amongst the loose items are assorted unidentified sketches and family papers, mainly relating to Frances and Francis Cornford in the early twentieth century. These include sonnets and drawings produced in composite form by several hands. There are also the rules of ‘The Madingley sonnet and head body and legs club,’ written by Sir William Rothenstein, with the signatures of the founding members.

There is a good deal of printed material including caricatures of famous people and cartoons by David Low, critical of the policy of Appeasement in the late 1930s, in contrast to the light and carefree material of the Edwardian period.