Fonds consists of six letters, with four manuscript letters from Rilke written between 1896 and 1922 and two discussing letters discussing these. The four letters from Rilke are addressed to various correspondents, including on 8 November 1896 to the author Gabriele Reuter regarding her book, 15 October 1904 to Anette Vedel, and 9 July 1907 to an unidentified correspondent. The fourth letter dates likely from August or September 1922 and is addressed to Elfriede Nicolaus. The two later letters which discuss the Rilke letters include one dated 13 December 1954 from Hedvig Wahlgren regarding the date of the 1922 letter to Nicolaus and one dated 29 November 1955 from Ruth Fritzsche (née Rilke) to McGill Librarian Richard Pennington.

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.

There are three letters from Lord Selkirk, one from Lord Dalhousie, and eight from Lady Selkirk. The early letters concern the Red River Settlement and the North West Company. The letter from Lord Dalhousie, 1824, concerns legal matters, and the two late letters, 1828 and 1833, from Lady Selkirk are personal in nature.

Family correspondence chiefly from 1763 to 1820 and family history documents.

Greeley's papers comprise 15 letters, and the original typescript, with handwritten corrections of Chapters 11-18 of Arctic Discoveries.

McDonald's correspondence, 1791-1860, mostly concerns business and property matters, but also includes personal correspondence. There are statements of account with McTavish, Frobisher & Co., 1799; with McTavish, Fraser & Co., 1803-1804; with McTavish, McGillivray & Co., 1808-1809. There are two volumes of autobiographical notes assembled in 1859 and covering the period 1791-1816.

There is a second copy of the autobiography, probably transcribed in the late 19th century. Written on the front fly leaf is the name: A.E. MacDonald. It has 63 leaves, and there are minor textual variants.

Consists of letter from Lord Selkirk to Captain Benjamin Walker dated 14 June 1816 concerning the sale of Selkirk’s land at Salmon River, New York, and his impending departure for the Red River.

Typed copies of the official and private correspondence, 1814-1821, held in the McCord Museum in the William MacKay Papers. They consist mainly consist of military records such as commissions, 1813-1814, correspondence between members of the British Indian Department, including Lt. Col. Robert McDouall and his description of the siege of Prairie du Chien, with reference to the Omaeqnomenew (Menominee), Hocak (Winnebago), and Meskwaki (Fox) warriors who fought alongside British forces, as well as to the Potawatomi leader Main Poc (referred to as Marpock), 1814-1815 and copies of correspondence of Capt. Thomas Anderson with Lt Col. Robert McDouall on military actions, supplies and Indian relations, 1814-1815. There is also a newspaper clipping about Alexander MacKay and the partnership agreement admitting William MacKay and David Mackenzie into the North West Company in 1796.

This collection consists of 15 autograph letters between a sender who is only identified by the initials "J.T." and a Miss Fanny Caulfield. Also included is a love letter by Irish poet J. Finnerty, dated 1852.