The fonds consists of manuscripts and drafts of literary compositions and other working documents, as well as professional and personal correspondence.

There is one box of files for two magazines that Stephen Morrissey edited and published, what is and The Montreal Journal of Poetics, between 1973-1985. There are also three boxes of documents and literary archives relating mostly to the Montreal poetry scene. These boxes contain audio and video tape recordings of poetry readings; photographs by Stephen Morrissey including colour slides and black and white photographs of poets giving readings and colour photographs of poets; a collection of poetry magazines; posters for poetry readings, and information on poets handed out at their readings; and broadsides of poems, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s. There are also items from the 1990s.

The eleven boxes of papers in series A contain original manuscripts, including working drafts and final drafts of texts from 1966 to 1998. These manuscripts, working drafts, and notebooks of Morrissey’s writings have resulted in seven published books of poetry; these are The Trees of Unknowing (Montreal : Vehicule Press, 1978), Divisions (Toronto : Coach House Press, 1983), Family Album (Vancouver : Caitlin Press, 1989), The Compass (Montreal : Empyreal Press, 1993), The Yoni Rocks, (Montreal : Empyreal Press, 1995), The Mystic Beast (Montreal : Empyreal Press, 1997), and Mapping the Soul, New and Selected Poems 1978-1998 (Winnipeg : The Muses' Company, 1998). As well, there are five chapbooks; these are Poems of a Period (Montreal, 1971), The Divining Rod (Edmonton : Greensleeve Editions, 1993), The Beauty of Love (Vancouver : The Poem Factory, 1993), The Carolyn Poems (Vancouver : The Poem Factory, 1994), 1950 (Vancouver : The Poem Factory, 1996), and several broadsides. Copies of the poetry books are included in the respective boxes.

Includes Morrissey’s earliest poems; juvenilia; the manuscript for Morrissey’s first publication, a chapbook entitled Poems of a Period (Montreal, 1971); other early unpublished manuscripts. A copy of Poems of a Period is enclosed.

Drafts and completed poems written between 1970 to 1978; manuscripts show Morrissey’s interest in concrete and sound poetry and emphasis on experimental writing.

Includes rough drafts of poems, including the manuscript for The Trees of Unknowing (Montreal, Vehicule Press, 1978). Photocopies of reviews of The Trees of Unknowing; invitations to the book launch at Powerhouse Gallery in Montreal; and photocopies of letters from Robert Creeley, Northrop Frye, F.R. Scott, John Newlove, and other writers regarding The Trees of Unknowing are also included. Also included are other original manuscripts by the author. A copy of The Trees of Unknowing is included.

Contains original copies of poems including working copies of the manuscript for Divisions (Toronto, Coach House Press, 1983). A limited edition chapbook of Divisions (1978) published by Sunken Forum Press is also included.

Contains 23 mostly spiral-bound notebooks dated 1979 - 1986. Also, five notebooks with drafts of poems, notes, and crayon drawings and collages from a Canada Council "B" Grant sponsored visit to Mexico from October to December 1984. Includes first drafts of poems published in Family Album (Vancouver, Caitlin Press, 1989) and drafts of book reviews by Stephen Morrissey.
A copy of Divisions is included.

Contains nine “packages” of manuscripts; each “package” is approximately two inches thick. Included are unpublished manuscripts, rough drafts of poems dating from 1984 to 1988, and the manuscript for Family Album (Vancouver, Caitlin Press, 1989).
An unpublished manuscript entitled Meetings With RR, a biography of R.R. Skinner, an English healer and spiritual teacher and friend of Morrissey’s for twenty-five year, is included. Also, included are numerous drafts of book reviews published in Poetry Canada Review, Canadian Literature, The Antigonish Review, and other periodicals.

Contains three packages of manuscripts, loose manuscript pages, as well as thirteen notebooks. There are first drafts of poems including manuscript work on poems for Family Album (Vancouver, Caitlin Press, 1989) and drafts of book reviews and articles on poetry.
A copy of Family Album is enclosed.

Contains five packages of manuscripts as well as loose unbound pages of manuscripts. First and subsequent drafts of poems and manuscript work for The Compass (Montreal, Empyreal Press, 1993). Also, drafts of book reviews and articles on poetics are included.
A copy of The Compass is included.