Correpondence, journals, and photographs of James Robertson, civil engineer, with other papers of members of his family. James Robertson worked on the construction of the Port Patrick Railway, Ayrshire, 1859-60, and then in India, particularly on the G I P Railway at Nagpore, Centra Provinces. He returned to Scotland in 1870 and became a partner in the Milnwood Iron Works, Motherwell.

The correspondence, which forms the bulk of this collection, consists largely of letters written home from India by James Robertson to his father, James Robertson, Factor to Sir Patrick Murray Thriepland, Bart, and to his sisters, Margaret and Jean. There are also letters home from James's brother Duncan Robertson, Banker, Bombay, and his wife, Margaret, née Brown, together with an Indian journal of their relative, John Robertson, RA.