The collection consists of Maxwell's diaries (1896, 1898, 1907, 1917-1919, 1920, 1923), correspondence, documents, photographs, scrapbooks, memorabilia, printed matter, and newspaper clippings. The collection contains correspondence with and photographs of leaders in government, society, the nobility, and the army, including Lord Kitchener and the Duke of Connaught, as well as with leading Egyptologists. Maxwell served in Egypt during the British Occupation, notably participating in the Battle at Omdurman during the reconquest of the Sudan, and in South Africa during the Boer War. In World War I Maxwell returned to Egypt to defend the Suez Canal and briefly served in Ireland after the Sinn Fein Rebellion. The collection includes World War I discussions of the Senussi threat and the failure at Gallipoli, as well as photographs of places where Maxwell served. In addition, there are Sir George Arthur's notes for a biography, and the correspondence and commonplace books of Maxwell's wife, Lady Louise Selina Maxwell.