The fonds consists of books and other materials about Black people in history and contemporary society which Roy States collected from his teenage years to the end of his life. The materials are primarily English-language works produced during his lifetime, and the majority of them are from Canada or the United States. The physically largest series within the collection (Series B, Monographs) consists of 679 published volumes, most of them books and a smaller number of them booklets. These volumes are all catalogued individually, with a common sublocation of "Roy States Collection" within Rare Books and Special Collections. The remaining series contain a diversity of published, ephemeral, and unpublished materials, including various items by or about Roy States himself. Series A is a group of biographical materials and other items which relate directly to States. Series C consists of booklets and brochures. Series D consists of complete issues of newspapers, and Series E consists of complete issues of serials other than newspapers. Series F contains an assortment of newspaper and magazine clippings, as well as reprinted or photocopied extracts from books, journals and other works. Series G contains materials relating to conferences and meetings, chiefly involving groups and organizations advocating for civil rights; the materials include programs, agendas, minutes and reports, as well as the text of various speeches presented at these events. Series H consists primarily of graphic materials which have been mounted in cardboard-and-plastic display sleeves or in glass-fronted wooden frames. Series I is a group of miscellaneous materials such as studies, reports, typescripts, bibliographies and leaflets.
The collection contains private records and papers relating to the medical and teaching career of Maude Abbott. It consists in large part of correspondence, 1894-1920, including family correspondence with, among others, her sister Alice Abbott, 1904-1919, and her brother Rev. Harry M. Babin, 1916-1920. Also included are manuscripts and drafts of articles and addresses; case reports; post-mortem records; glass slides and drawings; exhibit panels largely pertaining to her research on congenital heart disease; programmes of medical meetings, 1902-1937; reprints and papers relating to the history of medicine in Montreal and Quebec, as well as to the history of McGill, 1829-1936. In addition, there are photographs, some poems, an autobiographical sketch and a printed copy of her Classified and Annotated Bibliography of Sir William Osler's Publications, 1939, with corrections and annotations by W. W. Francis. Fonds also includes a draft of Abbott's letter to the Dean of Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, regarding admission (1889).
The collection consists of 3 scrapbooks assembled by Richard L. MacDonnell, and 1 McGill Dissection Room Record Book created and kept by MacDonnell from April 1883-1891. The scrapbooks contain notes, patient prescription information, reprints of various publications by MacDonnell, and lots of news clippings concerning various topics such as the history of Montreal, McGill University, the McGill faculty, Montreal General Hospital, and obituary notices. A second volume of dissection records (1896-1908) was compiled after MacDonnell's death, and can be found in the library catalogue.
Collection consists of Canadiana assembled by Charles Kadwell: Canadiana: or, A medley of sundry matters in print and manuscript, relating principally to the Canadas; (during the period of the rebel-lions;) the other British North American colonies; and the neighbouring United States; with views, maps, plans, portraits, &c. and private journals. 2 vol. Folio. Vol 1 includes "Remarks during a voyage from London to Montreal in the year 1832"; "Notes during a trip from Montreal to Upper Canada... 3rd-18th August 1838"; "Calendar of remarkable events relating to British North America and the United States". Mostly cuttings from newspapers. A pedigree of the Kadwell family has been inserted by L.G. Macdonald, Q.C., and annotated by Robert Howard. Vol. 2, mostly newspapers.
Collection shows Dr. J.C. Simpson's interest in Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882). His collection of Darwiniana contains newspaper clippings, dinner programs and menus, programs of commemoration of the Darwin Centenary in England, correspondence and photographs.
The collection contains a photo album of classmates and Annie Hall, and three diplomas McGill MD, CM 1891, Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1891, and the Quebec College of Physicians and Surgeons 1892.
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.
