The collection contains correspondence and ephemera from and about Sir Sydney Cockerell. The correspondence is arranged alphabetically, and correspondence covers the years 1949-1965. The recipient of these letters is Muriel J. Hughes, an American scholar who met Sir Sydney Cockerell through a mutual friend. Muriel J. Hughes corresponded with both Cockerell and later his secretary Dorothy Hawksley. The majority of the correspondence is from Sydney Cockerell to Muriel J. Hughes. Some of the letters were dictated to and written by Dorothy Hawksley for Cockerell, who signed each letter. The letters from May 1962-1965 are from Dorothy Hawksley to Muriel J. Hughes after Cockerell's death.

Sir Sydney Carlyle Cockerell was born on July 16, 1867. He married Florence Kate Kingsford (d. 1949) in 1907, and had two daughters and one son. From 1889-1892, he worked as a coal merchant before going to work as a secretary to William Morris and the Kelmscott press 1892-1898. Between 1900-1904, he was in a partnership with Sir Emery Walker. At the age of 70, Cockerell retired after being the director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge for 30 years (1908-1937). Just before and a couple years after leaving the Fitzwilliam Museum, he was the European Adviser to Felton Trustees of National Gallery of Victoria, 1936-1939. During his long career, he was Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, 1910-1916, and of Downing College, 1932-1937. He was the literary executor of William Morris, Wilfrid Scawen Blunt, and Thomas Hardy. He was knighted in 1934 by the King of England. He was Hon. Litt. D. Cambridge; and Hon. Fellow of Downing College since 1937. For the last 10 years of his life, he was confined to his bed after heart problems. He died on May 1, 1962.

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