Cruttwell's two geological notebooks contain addresses delivered by him to the Cardiff Natural History Society and other groups, notes on mineral types and their distribution, particularly in Western Britain, as well as maps and section drawings, notes and clippings.

These papers contain Forbes' personal files of correspondence and clippings, some design materials and films of McGill football games. The personal files contain biographical materials such as his birth certificate, military commission and service records, and letters concerning his employment at McGill. Other files concern Forbes' designs for decorations for the 1951 Royal Visit, the McGill C.O.T.C., the Forbes Trophy for athletics, Forbes' involvement with McGill athletics and museums, and the career of his brother Kenneth Forbes, a painter. A number of diplomas and certificates awarded Forbes, as well as a photograph album, complete this series. Materials for designs include files on heraldry, a collection of illustrations from 19th century periodicals, designs for the Royal Visit decorations (a few, by Percy Nobbs, were used for the 1939 visit), maps, linocuts, bookplates, and programmes designed by Forbes for McGill events, ca 1925-1950. Thirty-four reels of motion picture film record McGill extramural football games (1947-1951). Films with sound track show the construction of the Currie gymnasium (1939-1940), and demonstrate the swimming techniques of Matt Mann. Additional biographical material is provided by obituary notices and letters of condolence to Mrs. Forbes, and by clippings of articles about Forbes.

The Harold Spence-Sales fonds at McGill’s Canadian Architecture Collection primarily contains project records related to Harold Spence-Sales' career as an architect and urban planner. The bulk of the records pertain to projects that Harold Spence-Sales worked on as well as corresponding financial, administrative and office records.

The fond heavily documents projects that Harold Spence-Sales worked on during the 1970s-1980s in British Columbia and in Quebec during the 1940s-1960s. Other projects that Harold Spence-Sales worked on across Canada and internationally appear intermittently throughout the fonds. The Oromocto community planning project that Harold Spence-Sales worked on from 1955-1958 in New Brunswick is particularly well documented. Harold Spence-Sales designed Oromocto to be a military town. Before He transformed Oromocto into a military town it was a defunct 19th century shipbuilding town. The Oromocto project is considered one of Harold Spence-Sales most important urban-town planning projects.

Apart from administrative, office and project records, the fonds also contains records that relate to Harold Spence-Sales professional activities outside of his work as an architect and urban planner. For example, awards and honors that he received and records related to his involvement in architectural and urban planning associations. Additional professional activities include: his involvement in creating exhibitions, curating architectural-themed magazines and periodicals as well as copies of publications that he worked on solo and in collaboration with John Bland.

The fonds also contains fourteen boxes of Harold Spence-Sales personal records. The personal records primarily cover Harold Spence-Sales interest in art, creative pursuits, family activities, family genealogy, personal finances, last will and testaments as well as his decline in health and his death. Within the fourteen boxes that have been cataloged as personal records, there are also materials related to Harold Spence-Sales professional activities. For example, awards that Harold Spence-Sales received and records related to exhibitions and artistic projects that he worked on.

This material features a small amount of medical papers: a manuscript of Bell's address on the subject of nursing training to the Alumnae Association of the R.V.H. School for Nurses, 1910; a letter introducing Bell to Dr. Viktor Hueter of Marburg, Germany, from Francis Shepherd, 1891; and a laboratory report to Bell from R.F. Ruttan, on kidney stones, 1900. Bell's map of the Riel Rebellion, 1885, is also included. A series of five lectures and papers on intestinal ailments, syphilis, rodent ulcer of the face, cancer of the larynx and kidney disease is supplemented by 19 case reports, 1896-1907, 7 of patients whose primary symptom was abdominal pain, and 12 suffering from sore or swollen throat. The remainder of the papers consist almost entirely of obituary notices, newsclippings and resolutions in memory of Bell and about half a dozen lettes of sympathy, including one from Sir William Osler.

Correspondence, accounts, journals maps, etc., documenting Bissett’s career with the Hudson’s Bay Company. The Photostats (in C.1 and C.2) include Bissett’s journal and accounts at the Red River, 1854-1855, and a journal “Lachine to the Sandwich Islands” 1858-1859. There are also journals for 1859 and 1867. The original documents (in C.3) include correspondence with the Hudson’s Bay Company, 1858-1875, and accounts, 1860-1873. There are Bissett’s commissions as Chief Trader (1858) and as Chief Factor (1872), and a list of Chief Traders and Factors, 1855-1879. There are also some plans / maps, sketches, and photographs including a sketch of the Hudson’s Bay Post at Honolulu, ca. 1860.

The bulk of Gill's papers concern his consulting work for the mining industry and for government. Only two small files relate to his teaching career. Gill's work as mining consultant is documented by 124 maps, 48 designed by Gill himself, showing structural geology of various regions in eastern Canada, and mineral deposits of gold, iron, zinc and molybdenite, not only in Canada, but also in the Malartic gold fields in Peru (1929-1968). The papers also contain his report on iron ore in Labrador (1929) and two reports by W.F. James and J.E. Gill to the Newfoundland government, assessing prospects for gold in the Rainbow and Kayak Concessions, Labrador (1933), areas prospected by R.B. D'Aigle, see his papers, Section IX: Professions And Trades. IX). Three field notebooks record summer research expeditions (1935, 1947-1948). Three reports by Peter Eakins, a former student of Gill, describe the Malartic mine (1951, 1955-1956); there is also a report by Eakins on the Wasa Lake Goldfield (1950), and one by J.B. Gilliatt on the Wabana Iron Mines (1949). Gill also raised a file of correspondence and reports on Newfoundland mineral resources (ca 1955-1969). Finally, there are two boxes of petrographic slides, one with laboratory reports, a box of mineral samples collected for the Québec Ministry of Mines, and 4 photographs of mining concerns with which Gill was involved. His teaching activities are reflected by a file of plans, reports and memoranda on the organization of the Geology Department Map Library (1959-1969) and an outline with some draft chapters of a student's thesis (1969).

The collection consists of 10 ink manuscript maps and plans on paper, some hand-coloured, depicting the earliest settlements and fortifications at Montreal and Quebec City. The earliest dated document is a plan of the fort of Quebec and is dated 1635. The earliest document in the collection depicting Montreal is believed to date back to 1642. The maps and plans were prepared by Jean Bourdon, seigneur and surveyor for the French colony. Included in the collection is a plan of the earliest Fort Richelieu of which nothing had previously been known. There are also detail drawings of riverside fortifications, probably near Montreal.

Collection consists of an illustrated manuscript containing a map and brief guidebook to Paris landmarks, created by Nicole Allardet probably during the 1940s or 1950s. The item is inscribed to Vivienne Horne. A folded booklet on heavy grey paper, the guidebook contains twelve panels, ten of which feature a gouache illustrated vignette of a Paris landmark and a short handwritten description in white. The landmarks include the Jardin du Luxembourg, Opera House, Eiffel Tower, the river Seine, the Bois de Vincennes, Notre-Dame de Paris, the Jardin des Tuileries, the Champs-Élysées, Montmartre, and the Luxor Obelisk in the Place de la Concorde. In the centermost two panels is a simple map of Paris showing the landmarks depicted.

The collection consists of reports and plans for urban and rural areas from all provinces of Canada and some international cities, including Boston, New York, Chicago, France, and London, dating from the late 1950s to the 1990s. Most of the material consists of plans and reports for future land-uses that are revised, usually every decade. It also includes regulations for these areas, such as zoning. Some reports deal with sectorial policies such as housing, transportation, conservation, or environmental protection.

The fonds consists primarily of Logan's scientific work. A small percentage relates to the affairs of his family and to memorials to Logan after his death. The great majority of the papers consists of scientific correspondence from about 1820 to 1874, but mostly for the years following his appointment to the Survey in 1842. The letters deal with the collection, exchange and description of geological specimens, expeditions under the aegis of the survey, problems of research and scientific interpretation, scientific meetings, and visits by scientists. The number of correspondents, both individuals and learned societies, is very large, but the most substantial bodies of letters are from J.W. Dawson, geologist and Principal of McGill University, James Hall, paleontologist of the New York Geological Survey, Alexander Murray, Logan's chief assistant, and James Lowe of Grenville, Québec, who supplied Logan with specimens and appears to have been casually employed by him on surveying jobs and field trips. Other correspondents include Sanford Fleming, E.D. Ashe of the Québec Observatory, Thomas Sterry Hunt, and R.I. Murchison of the Geographical Society of Great Britain. Some letters pertain to political or social affairs, but usually in close connection with the scientific work of Logan or the Survey. These files contain copies of some of Logan's outgoing letters, as well as some letters addressed to other individuals, generally his assistants. Other scientific papers consist of field trip records (a journal kept during an expedition in 1845, a weather table kept on Lake Superior in the winter of 1846-1847, work records and astronomical readings for surveying projects, notes on mineral deposits, and lists of specimens), manuscripts of three scientific papers, as well as "Observations on the proposed Geological Survey", and manuscript and printed maps and geological schemata, including some by Logan of the Bay of Fundy, Labrador, and Hamilton, Ontario regions. Manuscript catalogues of specimens were prepared by Logan for the Paris Exhibitions of 1855 and 1867. Official reports include Logan's annual reports for 1842-1844, an overview of the work of the Geological Survey, 1866, two reports by Logan on prospects for mining on the north shore of Lake Superior, 1846, 1847, and one on mineral deposits around Rivière-du-Loup, 1853, as well as Logan's copy of his proposed Geological Survey Bill, 1844, and some copies of reports on mining and cartography prepared by others. Logan's financial records include expense accounts for Geological Survey expeditions, as well as other professional expenditures, such as books. His private and family life is reflected by a very brief diary of an Atlantic crossing in 1856, letters to and from his brothers James and Henry, his father, his uncle Hart Logan, and Hart Logan's partner John Fleming, covering the years 1772-1856. There are also baptismal and burial certificates, and legal documents, particularly bills of sale pertaining to James Logan's farm. Memorials to Logan after his death include J.W. Dawson's correspondence concerning the Logan Memorial Fund and Collection, 1881, and a manuscript biography by Alexander Murray. There is a chronological and author/recipient index to these papers.

Additional materials received from McGill Library's Rare Books and Special Collections consist of correspondence, 1837-1871; notices of admission to scientific and historical societies, 1842-1867; a history of the geological survey 1850; a report on mining locations addressed to B. Papineau, 1847; and correspondence with Robert Bell, 1861-1874.