Section A, Biographical, is very slight. It includes an obituary and a copy of Pollock's curriculum vitae. Of particular note are correspondence and papers relating to Pollock's difficulties in obtaining a visa to visit the USA in 1967 and 1970.

Section B, Medical Research Council, documents Pollock's time at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Mill Hill, London, from 1948 to 1964, shortly before his departure for Edinburgh. It is not a large section. There are copies of contributions to the Institute's annual reports from Pollock's Department of Bacterial Physiology but the single largest component is material relating to a course run at the NIMR on 'Enzymic basis of variation in Microorganisms' in the years 1961-1962. Further material relating to the day-to-day administration of the Department of Bacterial Physiology is to be found in section L, Correspondence, in Pollock's correspondence with the two Directors under whom he served, C.R. Harington and P.B. Medawar.

Section C, University of Edinburgh, is not extensive. However, it does include significant material relating to the events leading up to the establishment of the Department of Molecular Biology at Edinburgh, including the initial approaches from M.M. Swann, then Dean of the Science Faculty at Edinburgh, and subsequent material relating to the terms and conditions under which Pollock worked, staffing and accommodation. There is a little material relating to relations with other departments of the university including correspondence and papers relating to a planned 'Institute of Artificial Intelligence' that would bring together experts from a number of departments and for which Pollock was a leading advocate.

Section D, Research, offers interesting if extremely patchy coverage of Pollock's research work. There is a significant group of notes and data on research on bacterial toxins from 1941 to 1945, and some material relating to work on the 'genocycles' in the early 1950s, penicillinase in the 1960s and bacterial genetics in the early 1970s. The section also has an extensive collection of Pollock's notes on the literature, most of which appear to date from the 1960s, and a little material 1972-1973 relating to a consultancy with the Japanese company Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co. Ltd for which he was asked to give an expert opinion on the production of L-lysine by fermentation. Further documentation on Pollock's work on bacterial toxins and penicillinase may be found in section L, Correspondence, which includes many letters in which Pollock reports on work in progress.

Section E, Drafts and publications, presents a chronological series of drafts, published and unpublished, from an undergraduate dissertation of c 1934 to an historical account of the Department of Molecular Biology of 1986. Although it is very far from being a complete record of Pollock's output, it does indicate the progression of his scientific research over the years. There is also a significant sequence of editorial correspondence with journals and publishers.

Section F, Lectures and broadcasts, includes public and invitation lectures from 1948 to 1977. There are detailed scientific lectures outlining work in progress and overviews of the field, as well as lectures of a more general and philosophical nature considering implications and opportunities in scientific advance. There is good coverage of three of Pollock's most important lectures, the 2nd Louis Rapkine Lecture on 'The secretion of enzymes by bacteria', which he delivered in French at the University of Paris in 1960, the 3rd Griffith Memorial Lecture of the Society for General Microbiology on 'The discovery of DNA', 1970, and the 1975 J.D. Bernal Peace Library lecture on 'Freedom in Science'. There is a very slight record of Pollock's University teaching in section C. Pollock made a number of broadcasts for BBC Radio and television and educational films, and some record of this is to be found in this section.

Section G, Visits and conferences, has two main parts. The first presents a partial record of Pollock's visits and attendance at conferences from 1947. Among the visits recorded here are those to India in 1973 and 1980, to Mexico and Cuba in 1961 and Mexico in 1983, and a 'World Tour' in 1957. However, the correspondence in section L includes frequent references to visits made or planned that are not documented at all in this section, including his visits to the USA. The second main component of the section, comprising the bulk of the material, relates to a 1981 Conference on Common Denominators in Art and Science held at the University of Edinburgh. Although Pollock had retired from Edinburgh some years earlier, this conference was very much Pollock's inspiration. It brought together scientists, philosophers and artists to discuss similarities and differences between their approaches to knowledge. Pollock helped organise the conference - there is a remarkably comprehensive sequence of his correspondence with prospective speakers and participants, possible funding bodies etc - and the publication of the proceedings. At G.82 are a number of invitations to visit declined by Pollock or for which there is no evidence of acceptance. Pollock visited a number of countries to give specific lectures; some of this material can be found in section F, Lectures and broadcasts. Material relating to symposia organised by the Ciba Foundation can be found in section H.

Section H, Societies and organisations, brings together material relating to Pollock's involvement with sixteen British and international organisations. It includes scientific, professional and educational bodies. Again, the record is very partial. The best documented bodies are the Ciba Foundation, the Louis Rapkine Association, which Pollock helped to establish, the Royal Society and the Society for General Microbiology, of which he was a founder member.

Section J, Politics, brings together material that reflects Pollock's political concerns in their broadest sense. He was on the Left politically and much of the material relates to his active support for political causes associated with the Left, including the social responsibility of scientists and nuclear disarmament, as well as support for academic freedom and human rights in general. The largest body of material relates to the British Society for Social Responsibility in Science and to two bodies associated with it, the Working Group on International Responsibility of Scientists - of which Pollock was the convenor - and the Edinburgh Society for Social Responsibility in Science (ESSRS). Much of the material relating to the ESSRS concerns a 'Teach-in' on Chemical and Biological Weapons (CBW) at Edinburgh University in January 1969. The issue of CBW remained a concern of Pollock's thereafter. There is also correspondence and papers relating to the World Federation of Scientific Workers and material on human rights, freedom of speech and related issues, arranged alphabetically by country.

Section K, Non-text material, presents tape recordings of the proceedings of two conferences which Pollock helped to organise, the Edinburgh 'Teach-in' on Chemical and Biological Warfare, 24 January 1969 (J.14-J.24) and the Conference on Common Denominators in Art and Science, Edinburgh, November 1981 (G.21-G.81).

Section L, Correspondence, is by far the most substantial and comprehensive section in the collection. Pollock kept his correspondence - incoming letters and carbon copies of outgoing letters - in a single alphabetical sequence ordered by correspondent and this arrangement has been retained. It includes correspondence with some of the most distinguished biochemists, microbiologists and molecular biologists of the day, including E.P. Abraham, M. Cohn, F.H.C. Crick, E.F. Gale, W.E. van Heyningen, J. Mandelstam, J. Monod, G. Pontecorvo, R.Y. Stanier and C.H. Waddington, as well as significant correspondence with researchers who came to work under Pollock at the NIMR (including his colleague M.H. Richmond) and colleagues abroad, particularly in Hungary, to whom Pollock gave encouragement. The bulk of the correspondence is scientific in nature and dates from the 1950s and 1960s. There are exchanges of information on research in progress and planned, requests for strains and specimens of research material, scientific publications and conferences (including a number not documented in section G), arrangements for visitors working with Pollock at the NIMR etc. The correspondence sheds light on areas not covered elsewhere in the collection, thus Pollock's wartime work with the Emergency Public Health Laboratory Service in the 1940s, virtually undocumented otherwise, features in his correspondence with R. Knox. Also of note is correspondence relating to the day-to-day administration of the Department of Bacterial Physiology at the NIMR represented by correspondence with the two Directors under whom Pollock served, C.R. Harington and P.B. Medawar. Many colleagues were also friends and the letters may include personal and social news, expressions of political views and career advice. There is also an index of correspondents.

[NB: there is no "Section I" in the original handlist]