This fonds contains documents created by or created for members of the Hall family and their extended family, beginning with Sarah Barker and ending with Charlotte Anne Vennor Lindsay, her great-great-granddaughter. The documents in the fonds represent the personal relationships and activities of Hall family members, as well as some of their business dealings. They date from between 21 January 1719 and approximately 1912, with the majority of the documents representing the period between 1750 and 1890. The documents were created while members of the Hall family and their relations lived in Montreal, Quebec City, and in New England (including Philidelphia, Andover, and Boston). Other documents were created in parts of Ontario (including Kingston, Fort Erie, and York/Toronto) and Germany (Kirchbrak, Durlach).

The fonds is arranged into four series: Diaries, Correspondence, Financial and legal documents, and Other family papers. The Diaries series consists of bound diaries and loose diary entries created by Hall family members. The correspondence series consists primarily of personal correspondence between Hall family members, with some business correspondence and some letters and notes related to genealogy and a financial legacy. The Financial and legal documents series contains a variety of documents related to personal and household expenses, guardianship of minor children, land sale and management, and the execution of wills and distribution of estates. This series includes accounts, receipts and invoices, loans, power of attorney, land surveys, wills, inventories of estates, a marriage contract, and other documents. Finally, the Other family papers series contains documents that did not fit neatly with the other series. These are related to the Hall family's participation in military, religious, and masonic organizations - documented by certificates, official letters, and a religious manuscript - and also includes a recipe.

The fonds documents Swain's career at the Deputy Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, including his role in the standoff at Oka, Quebec, in 1990. One series also consists of research materials collected during the writing of Swain's 2010 books, Oka: A Political Crisis and its Legacy.