Arranged into four broad sections:

• Liverpool Marine Biological Committee
• Port Erin Marine Laboratory: Records
• Photographs relating to Marine Biology staff and students and their work on the Isle of Man
• Records relating to Staff and students

The Liverpool Marine Biology Committee was established in 1885 by Professor W A Herdman. Herdman was the first Professor of Natural History. The Committee brought together professional and amateur naturalists in research of the Liverpool Bay and adjoining areas of the Irish Sea, publishing findings in an Annual Report. A boat named Hyena borrowed from the Salvage Association was used in dredging expeditions. A marine biological station was established on Puffin Island until transferral to Port Erin on the Isle of Man in June 1892. A Fisheries Laboratory was constructed in the Natural History Department in collaboration with the Lancashire County Sea Fisheries Committee in 1892, followed by an additional research centre at Piel, near Barrow in Furness, under the auspices of Lancashire County Council. Port Erin continued to grow and a new laboratory built was built in 1932 following the closure of the Piel site in 1928. An extension was added in 1980 including a library, teaching laboratory and diving unit.

Port Erin Marine Laboratory closed on 30 September 2006, all learning and teaching is to be transfered from the Laboratory to the main campus in Liverpool. The decision to close the Laboratory was made after lengthy discussions with the Isle of Man Government because the facility has become uneconomic to sustain.

For brief article on Port Erin Marine Laboratory see Precint, The University of Liverpool Magazine for Staff, July 2006, p. 13, Ref. no. SPEC R/LF379.5.A1.P1