Guide to the Papers of Frederick Sidney Cotton

The collection is comprised of correspondence and papers from 1938 - 1969 relating to Sidney Cotton's pre-war and wartime experiences with aerial photographic reconnaissance. Correspondents include Lord Beaverbrook, Lord Dowding, Ernest Bevin, Sir John Salmond, Sir Sholto Douglass, Clement Atlee, Sir Richard Peirse, Geoffrey Tuttle and others. The collection's strength lies in its numerous aerial reconnaissance photographs and map diagrams as well as correspondence with senior officials. The work with the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit (PRU) is not well documented. Cotton approached the Memorial through the agency of Australia House in London in 1966 with an offer of a donation of his papers and photographs. After his death in 1969, arrangements were made with his wife to finally send the collection to Australia from England. By early 1970, the Memorial in conjunction with the National Library of Australia had taken delivery of the collection, and it was included in the Memorial's Private Records collection.