The collection has been attributed to John Ralph Murray, based on the clippings that were saved. It is not known if he also compiled them. An assumption has been made that the few earlier clippings from 1875 concerning Charles H. Murray (M.D. -1876) meant that he was a relative of J.Ralph Murray. All the rest of the clippings are from the years 1881-1886. They cover a variety of subjects including examination results, articles concerning the admission of women to the University, the transit of Venus in 1882, reports of societies at McGill or in Montreal and articles from the student newspapers of other universities .