The typescripts are arranged into four series. A: manuscripts related to Oregon; B: manuscripts related to Washington; C: manuscripts related to Canada and particularly British Columbia; C: manuscript related to the history of Oregon and the fur trade.

In series C, of particular interest are the first and second journal of Simon Fraser, 1806, 1808; the voyages of the ship Columbia, 1787-1789; and the journal of John Work, Chief Factor, Hudson’s Bay Company, Astoria, 1824-1834.

This collection of original documents concerning Protestant education in Quebec was assembled by E.I. Rexford for his history of the High School of Montreal. The bulk of this material dates from the 1830s and 1840s, and includes a 300 page report on the Jesuit Estates, 1839, a summary of educational legislation, 1838, grammar school returns from Canada West, 1842, and a number of surveys and accounts.

Collection includes account book for the London Grand Junction Railway, London Dock Company and other engineering projects in England.

Consists of notes on the Rideau Canal's traffic.

Book of memoranda on road making and farming at Saint Gervais, 1799-1806.

The collection contains business and family correspondence, land grants, financial and judicial records, etc. of the seigneurial families Chartier de Lotbinière, Rigaud de Vaudreuil, Lefebvre de Bellefeuille, Lemoyne de Longueuil, Lambert Dumont, Chaussegros de Léry, Hertel, Harwood, and of allied families. Much of the material concerns the Seigneurie de Vaudreuil. Other material include correspondence (1809-1821) with Joseph Bouchette; extracts from the registers (1667, 1732) of the Conseil Souverain and the Conseil Superieur; and documents concerning Newton Township, the Seigneurie des Mille-Iles.

Letters and diaries, including typescript transcriptions with photographs, newspaper clippings and ephemera.

Fonds consists of many examples of Szyk's illustrations in the form of prints, commercially-reproduced illustrations, and drawing studies, as well as printed ephemera. Examples of Szyk's illustrations reproduced on commercial products or other items include postage stamps, posters, book jackets, and calendars. The fonds contains ephemera related to or containing Szyk illustrations, including newspaper clippings and issues of magazines featuring articles on Szyk or reproducing one of his designs. Box 10 contains original drawing studies, mostly for the Book of Esther. The fonds also contains materials related to an exhibition on Szyk at McGill University Library held in 1954.

The collection consists of documents amassed by Roderick Mackenzie. Among the Masson manuscripts there are other series of letters; as well as journals kept by North-Westers and various business documents. Some of this material exists as originals; others are contemporary copies - the George Keith letters for example are contemporary copies on paper watermarked 1827. The collection also includes some duplicate texts - contemporary copies or later nineteenth-century copies that in some cases represent edited versions of the texts. Samuel Wilcocke's account of the death of Benjamin Frobisher exists in a draft original (or contemporary copy) and in a late nineteenth-century clean copy. Of course Benjamin Frobisher did not die in the dramatic circumstances as recorded by Wilcocke, but peacefully in Quebec City in 1821.

Collection contains primarily of 9 photograph albums containing 457 silver print photographs, and 4 printed items. It also includes records relating to Canadian railways and an export catalogue from the Canadian Car and Foundry Company.