The papers in this collection were amassed as a result of work by the Oxford Development Records Project, which set out to preserve the memories and experiences of people who had served in the field of medicine in British Tropical Africa, in particular in the former colonies of Uganda, Nigeria, and Tanganyika (Tanzania). Both missionaries and Colonial Service Medical Officers were approached, including doctors and nurses, and they were invited to respond to an aide-mémoire by writing a memorandum on their African service. They were also asked to contribute any original papers relating to their work that they were willing to donate to the project.

As with other similar projects undertaken by the Oxford Development Records Project (ODRP), the contributions vary enormously in size, from a few sheets of reminiscences to full-scale autobiographies (such as that of Dr David Parrott, MSS. Afr. s. 1872 (115), and Dr Peter Cox, MSS. Afr. s. 1872 (36)), and in some cases, several boxes of papers. Many original papers were donated to the project, including letters, reports, memoranda, texts of lectures, working papers, and so on, with some photographs and many offprints of articles, journals, and other printed material.

The period mainly covered by this collection comprises the two decades after the Second World War, leading up to the independence of the country concerned, although there are exceptions to this, for example Dr Greta Lowe-Jellicoe, who first went out to West Africa in 1926, and Dr Cicely Williams, who began her Colonial Service career in 1929. Several people stayed on long after independence, such as Dr Elizabeth Topley, who served in West Africa from 1961 to 1983, and Miss Eunice Tattersall, who was in Nigeria from 1952 to 1979.