Collection consists of correspondence from J.W.A. Hickson between 1912 and 1956.

The collection consists of autographed signed letters from multiple senders, representing authors, artists, politicians, and other figures from Canada and Europe. The letters were accumulated by the Rare Books and Special Collections unit of the McGill Library over many years and assembled into the collection.

The collection contains business and family correspondence, land grants, financial and judicial records, etc. of the seigneurial families Chartier de Lotbinière, Rigaud de Vaudreuil, Lefebvre de Bellefeuille, Lemoyne de Longueuil, Lambert Dumont, Chaussegros de Léry, Hertel, Harwood, and of allied families. Much of the material concerns the Seigneurie de Vaudreuil. Other material include correspondence (1809-1821) with Joseph Bouchette; extracts from the registers (1667, 1732) of the Conseil Souverain and the Conseil Superieur; and documents concerning Newton Township, the Seigneurie des Mille-Iles.

The typescripts are arranged into four series. A: manuscripts related to Oregon; B: manuscripts related to Washington; C: manuscripts related to Canada and particularly British Columbia; C: manuscript related to the history of Oregon and the fur trade.

In series C, of particular interest are the first and second journal of Simon Fraser, 1806, 1808; the voyages of the ship Columbia, 1787-1789; and the journal of John Work, Chief Factor, Hudson’s Bay Company, Astoria, 1824-1834.

The collection consists of a typescript of the author's book "Salon sketches" and a copy of the 1938 edition titled "Salon sketches: biographical studies of Berlin salons of the emancipation," published by Bloch Publishing Company in New York. It also contains newspaper clippings featuring reviews of the book from 1938 and 1939, as well as two articles from 1966 commemorating Professor Bertha Meyer's 50 years of teaching at McGill University.

The collection consists of seven leaves of typewritten poems, with a few handwritten annotations, possibly made by the author, as well as a typewritten copy of the poem collection "Svendborger G[r]dichte."

The collection consists primarily of correspondence on natural history topics between scientists and natural historians. Letters are sometimes accompanied by journal articles.

Figures with significant correspondence within the collection include: Casey Albert Wood, Henry Mousley, Robert Ridgway, and Bowdler Sharpe.

The collection consists primarily of manuscripts and typescripts of papers written on natural history topics, such as insects, birds, marine life, plants, and reptiles. Most of the documents concern the collection and cataloguing of specimens, and the identification of new species. Also included are research notes, notebooks, field notes, lecture notes, correspondence, off-prints, proofs, and galley proofs, as well as drawings and mock-ups of illustrations for printing.

The Philippines are the most heavily-represented country in the subject material of the collection, followed by other areas of South-East Asia and the South Pacific, including Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Singapore, Taiwan, the Soloman Islands, and Hawaii. There is also material representing North and Central America, including Mexico, the United States of America (especially California and Alaska), El Salvador, the Galapagos, and Canada (especially Quebec and Newfoundland). Some works also relate to China, the British Isles, Russia, Japan, New Zealand, and Socotra (Yemen).

Significant figures represented in the collection include: Richard Crittenden McGregor, A.E. Wileman, Edward Charles Stuart Baker, Frank Spaeth, Casey Albert Wood, Averil Lysaght, Harry S. Swarth, Henry Seebohm, Henry George Vennor, Roy E. Dickerson, J. Muir, and Charles Fuller Baker.

Highlights from the collection include: a manuscript copy of Joseph Banks’ journal from his 1768-1771 voyage on the Endeavour, likely made by Maria Dawson Turner; a manuscript, and several annotated typescript versions of Volume 5 of E.C. Stuart Baker’s “Fauna of British India birds”; an assortment of Casey A. Wood’s research notes; annotated proofs, galley proofs, and a mock-up of Richard C. McGregor and Elizabeth J. Marshall’s “Philippine birds for boys and girls;” and a binder of ornithological notes recorded by G.G. Ommanney and others in the Whitlock Bird Sanctuary and surrounding district near Hudson, Quebec.

Many of the manuscripts in the collection were published by the Philippine Journal of Science; also included is correspondence related to publication in the journal, especially related to editing and corrections.

The collection consists of four handwritten leaves of poems by Bliss Carman, as well as one typed poem titled "For a Memorial to John Keats," which was written in Washington, D.C. The collection features works from "The Making of Personality," "Songs from Vagabondia," and two unpublished poems. It includes a clipping from a bookseller's catalogue that features a poem from "The Making of Personality."