Collection of research papers, academic correspondence and personal correspondence relating to the career of Professor Douglas Farnie at both the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University, with a focus on research into the Manchester Ship Canal and on the textile industry in the North West of England, Russia and Japan. It includes research notes, statistics, articles by Farnie and many others, obituaries of academics, some photographs and illustrations.

The collection includes his notes for his book 'The English Cotton Industry and World Market', including the detailed statistics he used in the book to illustrate the historical phenomena of cycles and periods of economic growth and decline. His research papers and some of his correspondence also reflect the work he carried out in collaboration with Japanese and American scholars.

As Farnie worked by writing in longhand and working with a typist, many of the papers in the collection are handwritten. Most of the collection is in English, with some material in French and German.