The collection consists of autographed signed letters from multiple senders, representing authors, artists, politicians, and other figures from Canada and Europe. The letters were accumulated by the Rare Books and Special Collections unit of the McGill Library over many years and assembled into the collection.

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.

This collection reflects Henry S. Chapman's relationships with a number of important figures in Montreal's political and business history, between roughly 1833 and 1853, the period following Chapman's return to London. A significant amount of the material in this collection is related to the 1837-1838 Upper and Lower Canada Rebellions (especially in Montreal), as well as events occurring immediately after the uprisings.

Consists of copies of original material, chiefly correspondence, arranged roughly by date. The contents of letters (1835-1853) include business partnerships, political reform, and personal news. Significant correspondents include Louis-Joseph Papineau, Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine, Jacob Dewitt, François-Antoine Larocque (of Laroque and Bernard), Joseph Perreault, and Edmund Bailey O’Callaghan. There is also a partial manuscript on Canadian history and pages from a scrapbook, both dating from the 1830s.

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.

Collection consists of 36 autograph letters written to James Cameron and his son Archie. The correspondence includes letters by friends, associates, and members of the Cameron family in Toronto, Lake Beauport, Scotland, England, Hull, and Montreal. Subjects include family news, freemasonry, business (regarding deed of sales), factory work in Toronto, curling, and an April Fools' Day letter. With three extant envelopes.

Three letters from Seaton relating to the Rebellion of 1837, including a letter to General Fitzroy Sommerset about the capture of St-Eustache.

This collection consists of translations from Terence, begun in 1778, and correspondence on military, political and private matters, 1787-1821, mostly addressed to Thomas Coutts, banker.

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.