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This Collection covers Genée’s performing career from the earliest years and includes a significant number of photographs of late 19th and early 20th century ballets, programmes and ephemera for performances in the UK and overseas, professional and personal memorabilia. There is material covering her work with the RAD, a significant number of letters especially to Anton Dolin, art works, designs, music scores, teaching notes and her memoirs written with Ivor Guest. It is a comprehensive record of a career as well as a rich resource for the study of ballet.

The Pavlova collection includes a number of programmes from 1912 – 1930 and publicity and performance photographs and postcards from 1902 onwards. There are also commemorative brochures, magazines and press cuttings, plus some personal documents relating to contracts and tour arrangements.

The collection comprises original, personal letters from several luminaries in the ballet world including Anton Dolin, Margot Fonteyn Peggy van Praagh and Anthony Tudor. Mostly dating from the 1980s, the correspondence also includes some photocopies of letters relating to work issues from company directors. Photographs taken during Dai Ailian's visits to the RAD in 1981 and 1993 are incorporated into the collection along with a small number of colour photos also donated by Daryl Ries.

The bulk of the collection comprises the photographic archive of 35,000-40,000 images. The images reflect the growth of dance from relatively sparse coverage in the years before 1914, rising in the 1920s and 1930s, growing exponentially in the 1940s and throughout the years of the “ballet boom” in the late 1940s and 1950s. They trace the expansion of contemporary dance in the US and the UK (especially London Contemporary Dance Theatre) during the 1960s and 1970s and the growing popularity of national dance, especially Spanish and Indian. The diversity is one of the collection’s strengths, charting the rise of first the national dance companies, and the rise of contemporary Black and Asian dance. The Dancing Times magazine was noted for its international coverage and this is reflected in the images of the flourishing dance scene in Europe, the US, the Soviet Union and further afield.
Additional material includes a complete run of the Dancing Times magazine from 1894 - 2020; Ballroom Dancing Times; and Dance Today, along with some framed photographs, historical designs and visitor books.

The Archive covers the life and career of Kenneth MacMillan. The earliest material relates to his family, subsequent material covers his time as a student and dancer, and his career as choreographer and artistic director in the UK and abroad. There is research material, choreographic notes, production files, photographs and designs relating to his ballets as well as a significant amount of correspondence with dancers and companies around the world. Administrative records include files from his agents containing contracts and correspondence. Following his death, there are details of his funeral and Thanksgiving Service and letters of condolence. Events and conferences addressing his career and legacy are also in the archive. There are collections of programmes, periodicals and press cuttings, as well as some books and other publications.

An eclectic collection of photographs and ephemera acquired from various sources. There are photographs and correspondence that relate to her activities for and with the RAD, as well as interesting correspondence about her life on the farm in Panama with her husband, as well as a significant number of photographs of her dancing.

The collection includes scrapbooks, notebooks, articles and illustration alongside Richardson's personal collection of ballroom and charity matinée programmes. Photographs were added to the collection in 2021 and given by the Dancing Times who also donated Richardson's typewriter and bookcase.

The archive contains a variety of materials – programmes, press cuttings and photographs – which provide a comprehensive record of Bedells’ professional dancing career as well as some personal papers and correspondence relating to her work for the RAD and teaching activities. The complete manuscript of her autobiography, My Dancing Days (1954), is housed alongside several other interview transcripts and scripts for radio programmes or magazine articles presenting a very detailed profile of her life and career.