The records of the Montreal-Ottawa Conference of the United Church are arranged in the following series:

1. Denominational records prior to Union, 1824-1925
   Records of each of the three parent denominations follow the same general pattern. There are minutes, usually printed, of the national executive body, and original minutes of the local unit corresponding to the geographical boundaries of the present Conference. Papers of associations at this level generally include the files of Sabbath School associations, ministerial associations, missionary societies, and theological colleges. A number of interdenominational clergy and mission groups are also represented; while a special series of correspondence, minutes, and conference reports covers the debates concerning union, 1906-1925. The Methodist materials begin in 1824, and the Presbyterian in 1841, and the Congregational in 1842.

2. Conference records, 1925-
   Minutes of the Conference, and of the Conference-based Women's Missionary Society, Women's Union and United Church Women, are extant from the time of Union. The Montreal Presbytery maintains a record of proceedings, and supports a number of groups and associations (Minister's Wives Association, young peoples' groups, camps, missionary societies, United Church Women) whose work is documented by minutes, financial records and, occasionally, correspondence files. Also included are records of the Joint Theological Colleges of McGill University and of the United Theological College, 1912-1948.

3. Local Churches, 1832-
   Many local churches retain their historical records, including civil registers. The Archives' holdings include records of approximately 75 individual congregations in the Montréal and Québec-Sherbrooke Presbyteries, consisting of minutes of governing bodies, communion rolls, minutes of organizations, accounts, annual reports, and occasionally photographs and architectural drawings. The most substantial and significant records are those of the Erskine and American (from 1832), including records of Canada Education and Home Missionary Society, 1833-1848, St James (from 1820), Zion Congregational (from 1832), and Odelltown (from 1829) congregations.

4. Missionary Work in French Canada, 1848-1861, 1876-1969
   The importance to the United Church and its parent denominations of mission work in French Canada is documented by minutes of the French Canadian Missionary Society (1848-1861), and papers, including sermons, notebooks and correspondence of the French Evangelical Church of Canada (1876-1969).

5. Papers of individuals, 1822-1925
   Papers of individuals include the correspondence, essays and sermons, 1870-1917, of Calvin E. Amaron; the Bieler Family; J. Armitage Ewing (largely concerning the controversies surrounding Union in 1925); William Mair, sermons, 1827-1855; Richard Robinson, diaries, personal records, sermon outlines, 1857-1912; Henry Wilkes, 1822-1878, and others.

The fonds is composed of G.E. Wilson's student work, primarily between 1930 and 1935, including design projects and notebooks from the History of Architecture course (1931-1933), and drawings generated from his travels on the McLennan Travelling Scholarship. Mr Wilson's professional work concentrates on his residential projects in Quebec while in partnership with G. E. Auld. The publications vary from his four books based on his experiences in the Royal Canadian Air Force during WWII to home planning books, office brochures and reports.

Fonds contains notes taken by Thomas McCrae between 1897 and 1904 at William Osler's clinics at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore.

Fonds contains the notebook kept by Walker Herbert Drury of his bacteriology laboratories while a student at McGill University, from 1906 to 1908, but mainly 1906.

Fonds documents Dr. Cecil O. Walsh's activities mainly as a medical student at McGill University but also during his service overseas as a medical officer with the CAMC during World War I. The fonds contains notebooks on Nutrition, Physiology, Histology, Clinical Microscopy, Bacteriology, Practical Zoology, Medical Jurisprudence, Clinical Medicine, Mental Diseases, Clinical Surgery and Hygiene; printed exams intructions and notes on duty at war.

Adams' papers are largely concerned with his experiments on the mechanical deformation of rocks. Glass lantern slides, both for lectures and private record, are also included, as well as some materials on his interest in religion and in the history of geology. His scientific research is documented by working papers and experimental materials on rock deformation, 1896-1912. These consist of ten notebooks and one scrapbook recording his experiments, as well as notes, photographs, and carbons of typescript chapters on background literature, equipment used, and specific minerals. There are also graphs recording results, and over 1,000 photographs, glass negatives, and petrographic microscope slides. Adams' index-card bibliography lists articles and reports on Canadian geology and mining (ca 1900-1920). Adams' collection of glass slides and negatives were used for teaching geology and as a private record of his travels and family life. These slides number approximately 1,000, and show mines (particularly in Canada) volcanoes and glaciers, a large collection of views of Mexico, the Laurentians, China, the Rockies, England and Palestine, as well as family and vacation scenes. Also included are two essays, and an outline for a third on the Christian life (1937), short reflexions on his activities from 1937 to 1942, a photocopy of his will (1943), clippings of articles where he is mentioned (1919-1942), and notices of his history of Christ Church Cathedral (1941). Adams' interest in the history of geology is reflected in a manuscript biography of A.R.C. Selwyn, for the centenary of the Geological Society of Edinburgh, and a handful of letters and notes on the early use of the word "geology" (1932). His post-retirement travels resulted in a manuscript essay on mining in Malaya.

Cruttwell's two geological notebooks contain addresses delivered by him to the Cardiff Natural History Society and other groups, notes on mineral types and their distribution, particularly in Western Britain, as well as maps and section drawings, notes and clippings.

The fonds contains Macfarlane's papers, concentrating on his geological research and his professional work in mining. They comprise: geological and chemical notes made in Germany and England, 1855; geological notes on New Brunswick, 1855-1856, the copper mines of Upper Telemarken, Norway, 1861, Quebec, 1861-1862, and Eldorado Canyon, Nevada, 1887; laboratory journals and records of results, 1851-1856, 1859-1882, 1884-1889; and letterbooks, notebooks and memoranda on geology, 1863-1899.