A large portion of the collection is concerned with the growth of the Medical Library at McGill. Other than the Catalogue of Books from the Library of the Medical Faculty of McGill College which dates from 1845, the earliest preserved records are the handwritten Library Committee reports of Dr. Francis Shepherd, dating from 1880. The textual material includes early library reports, surveys, information about library staff, finance, gifts, procedures, as well as information regarding the Osler Library and departmental building plans and renovations. The collection also includes correspondence, notes, photographs, and artifacts associated with 'McGill Medical Men' including: James "King" Cook, Robert Palmer Howard, William Wright, Robert Lea MacDonnell, Richard Lea MacDonnell, Herbert Stanley Birkett, and others. There are many reprints in the collection – some bound into volumes, and many that include signatures and written notes. The collection also includes photographs, scrapbooks, and glass lantern slides (some of which are from World War One), books, and theses. The Medical Library's accession records, index cards, and journal cards are also preserved in the collection, still housed in their original catalogue drawers (see Series 7). The collection includes various announcements, university calendars and directories related to the Faculty of Medicine, as well as communication, meeting minutes, and essays belonging to the McGill Medical Society (1884-1907), the McGill Reporting Society (1926-1951), and the Montreal Dermatological Society (1930-1951). Lastly, the collection includes miscellaneous textual materials related to McGill and the Faculty of Medicine, for instance McGill student attendance cards from 1828-1872 (with course name and professor details).

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.

Collection includes a scrapbook and a file of memorabilia of Dr. Anderson and his family, 1894-1952. It contains letters, menus, programmes, certificates, a manuscript of a poem, a contract to purchase, ferrotypes, and many newspaper clippings.

This collection is divided into material either by, or about, Wilder Graves Penfield. The material was collected by Lewis in order to write his biography. The fonds also includes materials associated with Mr. Lewis' writing of the biography.

The Penfield material is organized by family member, with the largest portion belonging to Wilder Penfield and his wife Helen Penfield. This material is largely personal in nature. It consists of originals and photocopies of diaries, as well as personal correspondence between Penfield and his wife, family photographs, and ephemera from a variety of social and professional events. There is also a small selection of personal correspondence between family members.

Lewis created drafts, revisions, letters concerning the development of the screenplay, and research material. Correspondence between Lewis and the family is contained in the material covering personal family matters.

The collection contains correspondence, curriculum vitae, a poem written by his wife, Elizabeth Turnor, a record of medical examinations for the Coroner's Court of Montreal, 1894 and lectures notes. The greater part of the notes consists of embryology notes made at the Anatomisches Institut, Munich, around 1900.

The collection contains the Holmes Gold Medal, photographs, certificates, a poem, letters, newspaper clippings and memoirs.

Consists of a notebook Robson kept as a student at the Banting Research Institute at the University of Toronto from June to September, 1930. The notebook comprises over 60 manuscript pages, plus 31 manuscript pages attached to the end, 1 loose leaf of manuscript medical notes, approximately 50 ink drawings of various sizes of experiments, 26 black and white photographs pasted in, including a photograph of Sir Frederick Grant Banting in his office, the Banting Research Institute and its faculty, and experiment apparatuses. Also includes 13 mimeographed pages (pasted in) containing 12 different experiments, the printed programme for the formal opening of the Banting Institute on 16 September 1930, and 9 newspaper clippings pasted in related to the opening of the Institute.

The fonds contains Norman Bethune's letter correspondences, including numerous letters between him and his former wife Frances Penney. The majority of the fonds consists of material about Bethune: newspaper and magazine clippings, photographs, slides and negatives, an original play about his life, a documentary script, various memorabilia (e.g. commemorative stamps, brochures, pamphlets, buttons and pins, posters, fliers), and writings about Bethune's work in Canada, Spain, and China.

The collection consists of seven volumes of Elliott's personal diaries, which were bound together, at his own expense, after their completion. These diaries cover the five-year period that Elliott spent serving overseas, primarily in England. The contents of the journals include handwritten entries, sketches and watercolours that were either executed in the pages of the diary or pasted in, and photographs, newspaper clippings, letters, playbills, menus and other paraphernalia that were also pasted into the diary. These serve to document both the development of the war and Elliott's personal experiences. The diaries are generally in chronological order although there are places, particularly in the last three volumes, where the diaries have been bound out of sequence.

The fonds also contains several folio sheets of photographs and clippings regarding Elliott's career.

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.