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An architect's archive can form a major source for biographical information. The personality and outlook, beliefs, theories and ideals of an architect will often be documented in letters, notes, memoirs and diaries, records that may provide a personal day-to-day account and intimate perspective on their life and work. This is where the Manuscripts Collection can provide an insight into an individual in ways which published works may never do.
 
In some cases an architect's archive is comprehensive enough to provide substantial biographical information, but it is usual for biographical information on one architect to be found in the papers of other architects and organisations. Letters, for example, usually end up in the archive of the recipient rather than the author. An individual may be the subject of essays and articles by another, particularly an architectural historian. Examples include comprehensive research notes on Nicholas Hawksmoor (1661-1736) by J.H.V. Davies, papers relating to the Victorian architect and editor James Knowles (1806-1884) by Priscilla Metcalf and texts by one of the foremost architectural historians, Sir John Summerson, on John Nash (1752-1835), John Thorpe (c. 1565-1655) and Inigo Jones (1573-1652).
 
Diaries are often a particularly personal record and many examples in the Collection are very detailed. The 52 diaries by the prolific architect Sir Thomas Rickman (1776-1841) are full of small, dense handwriting recording his daily life and work, with barely a gap in the text from one day to the next. They also contain daily weather reports, carefully recorded on the bottom of every page. One of the most magnificent sets of diaries in the Collection is that of C.R. Cockerell, an authority on ancient Greek architecture and a well-respected archaeologist. He kept detailed diaries from 1823 until 1831, and they are a full record of his day-to-day activities. He wrote about architectural, archaeological, scientific and cultural issues and included descriptions and observations on buildings and archaeological sites that he visited.
 
There are a number of memoirs and drafts of autobiographies (published and unpublished) in the Collection. These include records by William Peacock (1779-1849), Peter Moro (1911-1998), Edward Playne on his partner Grey Wornum (1888-1957), Jane Drew (1911-1996) and Maxwell Fry (1899-1987). There is also an heirloom copy of the memoirs of the Wren family, compiled by Christopher Wren, son of Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723) and published by Stephen Wren in 1750. It contains interleaved original manuscript material, dating from 1634 to 1751. The memoirs of Fry and Drew, architects of the Modern Movement who worked in partnership for over 30 years, provide anecdotes on friends and colleagues such as Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), Richard Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) and Le Corbusier (1887-1965). They also describe works in Africa and India, the role of architects during the the Second World War and personal philosophies and perspectives on projects such as the Festival of Britain and city of Chandigarh, the capital of the Punjab, India.
 
Letters are often as detailed a biographical source as diaries. This is nowhere more effectively illustrated than with the correspondence between Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) and his wife, Lady Emily. The 4,463 letters provide a virtual autobiography of Lutyens. He writes in a very personal and entertaining way about his life and work, his clients, colleagues and acquiaintances. The letters provide a unique insight into one of the greatest English architects and they are also delightfully illustrated with sketches of people, buildings and landscapes.
 
Sometimes architects create a collection of articles and cuttings to provide a record of their life and work. Examples include F.W.B. Yorke (1880-1957), Sir Herbert Baker (1862-1946) and Erno Goldfinger (1901-1987). Although these are not unique in themselves, the fact that they have been taken from diverse sources and brought together makes them totally irreplaceable.
 
The Collection does not only contain documents of specifically architectural interest or relating just to architects and those in related professions. In the Archive of Sir Herbert Baker (1862-1946) the personal correspondence includes revealing letters between himself and such eminent men as Cecil Rhodes and T.E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). There are also a number of records dealing with activities during wartime, for example the memoirs of Eugene Kent, which relate to his experiences as a soldier on the front line during the First World War. The notebooks of the émigré architect, Berthold Lubetkin (1901-1990) include sections on his life in Moscow where he was a young art student during the time of the Russian Revolution.
 
For biographical information on members of the RIBA, the Manuscripts Collection holds an almost complete collection of the papers of election of RIBA members, dating from 1835 to the 1950's (later records are kept in the RIBA's Membership Department). These 'Nomination Papers' often include information on an architect's professional education, practice, architectural and literary works. The amount of detail that the papers provide depends upon the date at which they were created and which class of membership they refer to, e.g. Fellows, Associates or Licentiates. The earlier papers, up to about 1880, are generally less detailed.