326 photographs of varying formats, many uncaptioned.

The earliest photographs document James Donald’s life in Malaya during the 1920s, and include images of the Perak River Estate where he first worked, the Torkington Estate, the Batu Anan Club, and friends, colleagues, travel and recreational activities, including the Lower Perak Football Team of 1923. The bulk of the collection records the family’s years on the Arcadia Estate, and especially the period from John Donald’s birth in 1935 to 1941. There are also some images from the immediate post-war period before James Donald’s retirement in 1950. Subjects include the Arcadia bungalow, domestic and family scenes, Fraser’s Hill where John Donald was educated, holidays, friends and neighbours. The latter half of the collection contains photographs illustrating the management of the estate, which had been planted with coconut in 1912. James Donald did much to open up the estate during his tenure as manager. There are images of cultivation, livestock, machinery, buildings, canals, the launches which connected the estate to Bagan Datoh via the Perak River, sampans used to transport coconuts, and the estate’s work force. The most recent photographs depict the Larong Estate during 1951 with the caption that it was burnt during the Malayan Emergency.

In addition to the photographs, there is a small file of correspondence, telegrams and postcards exchanged between the Donald family and St Margaret’s School during 1941(15 sheets and 14 postcards). They relate to Donald’s travel to meet his uncle (including a letter describing his rescue from the night train at Paloh), his evacuation to Australia, and the family’s return to Scotland. It contains a passenger identification card for his mother Ethel Donald, dated 1943. The collection also includes Donald’s cap and crest from St Margaret’s School.