The collection was compiled by Charles Morris Woodford, naturalist and First Resident Commissioner of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 1896 - 1915. The collection includes diaries, photographs, correspondence, sketches and research notes related to the natural history, geography and ethnography of the Solomon Islands and other Pacific Islands from 1884 - 1915, as well as family papers and documents related to the administration of Solomon Islands Protectorate. There are documents about relations between the missionaries and the traders, matters associated with labour and the alienation of land, economic activity and tourism. The collection includes Woodford's 'Journal of a voyage from Suva Fiji to the Gilbert Group' from 4 March 1884 - 22 June 1884 ; Woodford's diaries from 1886 - 1889 ; 140 photographs taken on the voyage to and residence in the Solomon Islands in 1886 ; photographs of Rennell Island and inhabitants signed by Northcote Deck c1909. Of significance are ten large photographs of various scenes of the Solomon Islands, c1901, some published in The discovery of the Solomon Islands by Alvaro de Mendana in 1568, by Lord Amherst of Hackney and Basil Thomson (1901).

ANUA 481 is a consolidated collection of all four parts of the Woodford donation:
ANUA 481/1 is a photograph album containing 140 photographs taken in from April - October 1886 ;
ANUA 481/1 - 282 are items from 'bundles 1 - 30' ;
ANUA 481/ 283 - 317 relate to the second donation (ie PMB 1381) ;
ANUA 481/318 - 322 and 324 - 327 are eight large format photographs c1884 ;
ANUA 481/323 is a presentation plaque given to Woodford in 1905 ;
ANUA 481/329 is a collection of 126 photographs [ie PMB Photo 58]

Research papers and notes on PNG elections, Kuma, Aboriginal Australians and gender relations; fieldwork notebooks, correspondence, draft manuscripts and completed MA thesis, sketches of kinship diagrams, reports and publications, financial records, newspaper clippings, photographs, maps, sound cassettes and reel tapes. Includes material from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS).

Collection of administrative records 1966 - 1984, including applications for research grants, minutes of meetings, correspondence and the essays submitted, 1970 - 1984.

Press clippings from Hawaiian and other US press on the Pacific Islands, articles and reports. The files are arranged by the following subjects: American Samoa, American Polynesia, Anglo-American Rivalry for Pacific Islands, Arno Atoll (Marshall Islands), the Bounty and genetics, Canton Island and Enderbury Island, Caroline Island, Christmas Island, Clipperton Island, Easter Island, Falcon Island, Fanning Island, Fiji, French Polynesia (Tahiti, Marquesas, Tuamotus, Australs), Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Guam, Hawaii, Hoorn Islands, Howland Island, Hull Island, Japanese Mandate Islands, Jarvis, Howland and Baker Islands, Johnston Island, Kapingamarangi Atoll, Kingman Reef, Lord Howe Island, Mangareva, Mariannas Island, Marquesas Islands, Marshall Islands (Kwajalein Island), Michener and the Pacific, Micronesia, Midway Island, Nauru and Ocean Island, New Caledonia, New Hebrides (now Vanuatu), New Zealand, Palau, Palmyra Island, Papua New Guinea, Pearl and Hermes Reef, Pitcairn Island, Ponape, Rose Island, Saipan and Tinian, Solomon Islands, Swains Island, Tonga, Torres Strait, US Trust Territory, Vostok Island, Wake Island, Washington Island, Western Samoa, World War II. Also loose press cuttings on Micronesia Independence, nuclear testing and strategic policy.