18 letters from Dorothy Needham, 9 letters from Lu Gwei-Djen and 2 telegrams to Joseph Needham.
Dorothy Needham’s letters relate to news of friends and academic colleagues (including: Dr Cheng and his family, Tien-Chin [Cao Tianqin 曹天欽], Hsi-The [Xie Xide 謝希德], Harold Jeffries, Miss Chen, Dottie, Hung Ying [Liao Hongying] and Derek [Bryan], the Tsaos, S.P. Chu, Margaret Braithwaite, I.A. Richards and his wife, Mrs Senor and her children, Chhien, Donald Leslie, Ferdie and Benyina, Margaret Hatfield, Reggie Trim, Keilin, Dr. Wu, Susan and Zoë Kim, Jaap and Willy Cohen, David Bell, Chiung-Yün [Qiu Qiongyun 邱瓊雲], Tang Fei-Fên [Tang Feifan 湯飛凡), Bate-Smith, Bendall, Engelhardt, Gregorio and Shirley Weber, Wang Ling, Angus and Ruth, Kwang-Chun, Anna Bidder, Su-Hsuan [Wu Suxuan 吳素萱], the Lapwoods, Opariu, Lipmann, Kalckar, David Green, Davidson, Borsook, Haurowitz, Kuo Yo-Shu [Guo Youshou 郭有守], Aunt Violet, Mu, Chu-I and her mother Yang Yuen Huei, Mia Warringa, Elizabeth Vellacott. Professor Gaillard, Professor Mendel, Cynthia Liao, Bill Pirie, Kate and D. Crowfoot, Peter Gray, Barbara Hume, Mrs Haloun), the wedding of Sylvia and Bay, grants (including the Medical Research Council and Broodybanks grant) for her laboratory work and reports of progress in her experiments, attendance at the CIBA conference, Joseph Needham’s lecture obligations for the Michaelmas Term and reaction in Cambridge to his travels, her holiday in France with Lu Gwei-Djen, reading and revising the Civil Engineering chapter of Science and Civilisation in China, and warning against giving press conferences until the report is published. She signs her letters Dophi, Δ ' or Pipit.

Lu Gwei-Djen’s letters relate to her health, mutual friends including Marion Yang [楊崇瑞], Wang Ying-Lai [王應來], Yin Hung-Chang [殷宏章], Jean Thomas, Tao Shan Ming. Also her holiday in France with Dorothy Needham and Joseph Needham’s visit to her father. She signs her letters Mei mei or Ming sing.

Includes a torn telegram envelope addressed to Joseph Needham.