The collection largely consists of photographs, negatives and slides produced by Wilfred Lee during his time at the Central Photographic Service, and contains photographs produced for various University Departments and for other individuals.

Lee provided photographic illustrations for University Theses on a range of science and art subjects. Some examples of such images taken by Lee for researchers at the University can be found within the collection; these include spawning brown trout from the Zoology Department and enlarged photomicrography of the Large Blue Butterfly's metamorphoses.

The collection also comprises portrait photographs taken by Wilfred Lee and a number of photographs of civil ceremonies.

A small selection of personal papers are also included within the collection. Numerous press cuttings relating to the work of Wilfred Lee and the Central Photographic Service, travel ephemera and exhibition pamphlets are contained.

Plate glass and film negatives, and slides can be found within the collection, and many of the negatives also have photographic reproductions. The negatives and slides depict various topics including sciences, arts, buildings and places, and people.

There was no obvious structure to the collection so material has been arranged into the following six broad categories:

• D655/1 Buildings and Places
• D655/2 Arts
• D655/3 Sciences
• D655/4 People
• D655/5 Personal Papers
• D655/6 Negatives and slides

The majority of the photographs, negatives and slides do not have captions and have been arranged into the category deemed most appropriate to the subject of the image. As a consequence there may be a certain amount of overlap between categories.

Wilfred Lee was a Technician in the Central Medical Photographic Service from 1948-1963. The Department was established in 1948 to meet the needs of medical staff for clinical photographs. Lee later became Senior Technical Officer in the Central Photographic Service from 1963 until his retirement in July 1970. The Department provided a photographic service for the whole of the University and also met requests from other individuals.

Lee photographed a wide variety of subjects, including architecture, antiques and silverware, medical, veterinary sciences and the fine arts. Through many of his photographs Wilfred Lee aimed to highlight the similarities between biological forms and man-made subjects. He aimed to convey this in his 'Basic organic art forms and their reflected human shapes in human artifacts' exhibition in the 1980s. A number of images used for Lee's exhibitions are included in the collection. Lee has had work exhibited at Tate Hall, the Victoria Buildings in Liverpool, and the Williamson Art Gallery in Port Sunlight.

Lee was awarded a Fellowship of the Biological Photographic Association of America for his services to photography.

Wilfred Lee died in 1975.