The collection consists of correspondence, research files, manuscripts, journals, and ephemera created and accumulated by writer and scholar Leon Edel, who was notably the editor and biographer of Henry James as well as Edmund Wilson.

The Taylor White Collection is comprised of 938 watercolour paintings of mammals, birds, fish, and reptiles. White, a British jurist, commissioned various artists of the day (including Charles Collins, Peter Paillou, Jacob Van Huysum, George Edwards, and Eleazar Albin) to paint these animal portraits from live and dead specimens brought back to England from around the world. Many of the paintings are accompanied by loose-leaf manuscript notes, written mainly by White in Latin, providing further information about the animal; transcriptions and English translations of these notes have been provided within the record for each painting.

Collection consists of 57 illustrations of birds, eggs, snakes, and plants by James Forbes chiefly to illustrate his work "Oriental Memoirs," published in four volumes between 1813 and 1815. The majority of the illustrations are either engraved or hand-drawn and then coloured, and have been cut out and mounted on paper. In many cases, a background has been drawn in and coloured or partially coloured. Approximately thirty of the images depict tropical birds, many from the Indian subcontinent, as well as some from Brazil and Australia. A number of these drawings also feature insects, particularly butterflies, and trees and flowers. Fifteen drawings depict bird eggs, including many of forest birds. The images generally contain captions by Forbes or a contemporary, identifying the subject of the drawing. Some birds are unidentified. Numerous drawings also contain species identifications or annotations in pencil by Henry Mousely, librarian of the Blacker Wood Library at McGill University during the 1920s and 1930s. These drawings are tentatively dated to approximately 1811. A note on one drawing indicates that it was originally based on drawings created during Forbes's voyages during the 1780s, then recopied in 1811. Items 44 through 57 depict snakes and reptiles and are tentatively dated to between approximately 1811 and 1818, based on a small number of drawings which are signed and dated. Many of these drawings of snakes and reptiles feature as plates in Patrick Russell's "A Continuation of an Account of Indian Serpents: Containing Descriptions and Figures, from Specimens and Drawings" (1801).

The collection comprises more than 6,000 Canadian and non-Canadian bookplates. The Masson collection reflects the range and scope of the art of bookplate design, mirroring period styles and incorporating the owners’ personal tastes and pursuits. References to heraldry, literature, nature and art are common. The collection was created by Montrealer Philippe Masson (1911-1944) and includes both personal and institutional plates. The nearly 3,000 Canadian bookplates are arranged alphabetically. The rest of the bookplate collection is divided between armorial and non-armorial plates. This unique collection represents a wide range of book ownership reflecting institutions, book sellers, and individuals as well as over one hundred examples of bookplates from Canadian libraries. The chronological coverage dates to more than a century from the early nineteenth century and continuing to the beginning of the Second World War. Bookplate design is a minor yet notable form of graphic design. Bookplates reveal a great deal about our book-centered culture. For many institutions, bookplates possess an iconographic or emblematic value reflecting the values of the institution. As well, within an institutional setting, bookplates are often used to acknowledge individual collections, gifts and bequests. Finally, for the individual the bookplate is a powerful symbol of possession and a love of books. Among the Canadian bookplates, many well-known Canadian artists are represented in the Masson collection including J. E. H. MacDonald, his son Thoreau MacDonald, Jean-Paul Lemieux, and W. F. G. Godfrey.

The collection contains three volumes of manuscripts from an anonymous student of the course of lectures on midwifery by Dr. Thomas Young, dating from 1783. The first volume has three inserts: two pencil portraits of unidentified men and an envelope on which is written a note to Dr. J.A.S. Brunelle. The collection is divided in three file folders.

Collection includes the Minute Books of the Committee of Management of the Hospital, 1844-1926; a letter book, 1886-1896; Annual Reports 1887-1926; Medical Board Minutes, 1905-1918; Record of Pupil Nurses from R.V.H., 1908-1923; Annual Reports of the Auxiliary Board, Women's Pavillion, 1929-1943; Obstetrical and Gynaecological Report of the Royal Victoria Montreal Maternity Hospital, 1950-1960 and a copy of "Royal Victoria Montreal Maternity Hospital" by C.V. Barrett and J.R. Fraser, 1943.

The collection contains a notebook, a scrapbook and some correspondence of Richard Robert Madden. The notebook includes drafts of his poems in his writing, ca 1830; notes by T.M. Madden pertaining to his tutors and schoolfellows at Radcliffe, 1854; and medical lectures at Trinity College, Dublin, 1855. The scrapbook includes clippings of controversies, enquiries and letters relating to slave trade, ca 1840.

The collection contains W.W. Francis memorabilia: an obituary notice, reprints with notes from W.W. Francis to Miss Anderson, a copy of a photograph of Francis with Osler, a program of an annual meeting of the Medical Library Association and a letter from Francis to Miss Anderson.

Collection contains memorabilia relating to Dr. Robert Howard's student life at McGill University and of his career, from 1871 to 1888. Among the items are diplomas, photographs, newspaper clippings, a booklet from McGill University, a frame and a programme.