Lyell’s 'Papers' serves as a description of several series of archival records, including correspondence to and from Lyell, and other records kept by himself and his team. Lyell’s archive was purposefully created by himself and his team, to evidence his work, achievements and for prosperity. Where evident, Lyell’s own organisation has been retained, and used to structure the series. The archival papers should be seen in the context of the run of Notebooks, his specimen collection, and Offprints – all four of which represent the tools he used in his work.