A collection of photographs (various dates, sizes and photographers) and slides with a few leaflets, a file of correspondence, and some title cards as described below. The collection appears to have been assembled chiefly for publicity purposes and there is a file of correspondence requesting photographic and other material. Some of the photographs are mounted on cards for display, but the majority are loose prints stored in folders. There are also a few albums. The main subjects are the layout, building and appearance of the universities, including, in some cases, pictures of models and aerial views, and the life of students and staff. More general pictures of the city or area of the university are found in a few cases. There are also some coats of arms, chiefly from greeting cards.

The list falls into four sections, beginning with General, for material on the IUC as a whole and a few items on British universities. The major part of the collection, on individual Commonwealth universities, follows. To take account of changing names, the universities are set out under their titles, arranged in country order, as in the Commonwealth Universities Yearbook (year not recorded) which has also provided the brief historical notes. Some of the photographs have additional information written on their reverse by Ian Maxwell, Deputy Director of the IUC. No detailed research or listing has been attempted, but groups of photographs which by date, photographer's name, or obvious numbering go together have been linked up, though some confusion can arise between original numbering and renumbering by IUC for its own needs. Under each university any large general collection comes first, followed by items which can be dated easily in chronological order; miscellaneous material comes at the end. Where a collection has a specific subject, this is indicated, but in general the collections are broad in scope. A few items of special interest, such as a significant occasion in the life of the institution, or the arrival of a distinguished visitor, have been individually listed. Obvious duplication only has been noted. Some cross references are included. The total number of photographs for each university is given in brackets after its name. The list ends with a small section of Non-Commonwealth Universities, and an Appendix lists slides (which are cross-referenced from the main list).

The collection was received in time for 8 photographs to be selected to form Section G.10 of the exhibition, 'Commonwealth in Focus', prepared by the Library for the Brisbane Festival coinciding with the Commonwealth Games of 1982, and this has been indicated by CF followed by the Catalogue number and the copy negative (CN) number. A batch of 5 x 3 inch cards came with this collection; they were prepared for an exhibition in 1974 and are in numbered sets, with short captions. Where the photographs to which they relate have been identified, the cards have been filed with them and 'Cards' appears in brackets at the appropriate point in the list, in University of the West Indies - Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados - Guyana, Papua New Guinea, Ahmadu Bello, Ife, Hong Kong and Malaya). It has not been possible to collate all the cards with their photographs, however.

The whole collection is filed in 14 boxes in the same order as the list, save for some very large items which have been stored separately in a portfolio, and this is indicated after the relevant entries.