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.
The collection contains materials related to a bicycle relay ride between Sarnia, Ontario, and Montreal, Quebec, held June 15-16, 1894 by the Canadian Wheelmen's Association (CWA) under its president, A. T. Lane, an early importer of bicycles to Canada who is credited by many contemporary sources as the first person to ride a high wheel bicycle in North America. The relay ride was organised as a promotional event for the CWA's annual meet, hosted in Montreal that year. The collection contains a newspaper article from the Toronto Mail (June 16, 1894) detailing the route and listing the participants, as well as a leather travel satchel used to carry a congratulatory letter to the president of the Canadian Wheelman's Association to be signed by the mayors of the cities and towns along the route. The satchel is embossed with the text: "Sarnia to Montreal relay ride, 1894." The collection also contains a published programme from the CWA annual meet, entitled, "Our city and our sports : souvenir and official programme of the 12th annual meet of the Canadian Wheelmen's Association, Montreal, July 1894."
