The fonds consists of textual documents, photographs, films, drawings and medals relating to Maxwell J. Dunbar’s professional life. These documents predominantly cover his early career (1935-1970), though include his later distinctions (1980-1990). In addition, there are 13 diaries of scientific expeditions (1935-1938), which reveal the progress made in the Field of Arctic research, mainly of scientific exploration in Greenland and Ungava Bay. One diary, non-scientific in nature, was kept by Maxwell Dunbar’s wife, Jean, during a winter in Greenland (1945-1946), when Dunbar was Acting Consul for Canada. The diary gives an interesting account of day-to-day life in Greenland in the post-war period. Included is correspondence and reports on Nansen Drift Station, and Dunbar’s extended biography (about 100 pages). Cartographic materials consist of charts dealing with fauna, fish, seabirds, and shorebirds of the Gulf of St. Lawrence (1980). Non-textual records comprise of 7 reels of film with an Arctic subject. The files are arranged by subject and the diaries are in chronological order.