Fonds consists chiefly of ephemera and correspondence relating to the work of wood engravers of Thomas and John Bewick of Newcastle, England, in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The ephemera found in series 1 includes various examples of fine printing, including proofs and printed keepsakes featuring Bewick engravings from printers such as Havilah Press and Anchor and Acorn Press. Series 2 contains correspondence, chiefly between Geraldine Cole and booksellers, as well as general correspondence with friends and acquaintances. Series 3 consists primarily of bookseller descriptions and clippings and excerpts from catalogues describing Bewick works (generally with the catalogue cover appended to a loose page on which a Bewick item appears). Some are with accompanying correspondence. Also included in this series are documents listing all of the items found in the Cole-Bewick Collection at McGill Library. Series 4 consists of other ephemera related to Bewick and his life, including short biographical pieces, postcards and products featuring Bewick engravings and watercolours, and articles and clippings. The last file in this series contains 4 original letters from Thomas Bewick to various correspondents, dating between 1819 to 1825. Series 5 contains a number of subject files relate to specific projects or organizations, including the Bewick Society.
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.
The domestic finances of the Lyman family are documented by Mary Lyman's household account book, 1849, and by family accounts from 1885 to 1889. Correspondence between the Lyman and Corse families covers the period 1820-1827. The remainder of the papers consists of Corse family business letters, 1815-1853; estate documents, largely insurance policies, 1828-1856; Roswell Corse's cash book, 1842-1853; and documents concerning his buildings, 1846; a statement by Roswell Corse concerning his late brother Henry's bastards, 1853; papers of Henry Corse concerning his contribution to the construction of St. Lawrence Hall, 1845-1847; and documents connected with building supplies, 1845-1848, and R.and H. Corse and Lyman business correspondence, 1806, 1842-1846, 1852-1853.
Much of the collection is family correspondence and papers relating to the hardware business of Thomas D. Patton, 1816-1884. There are also papers and military notebooks of Sergeant George Patton, 1823-1856 and letters concerning Douglas Church and the St. Lawrence Sunday School, Montréal, 1853-1854.
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.
These papers comprise a fair copy, for the press, of "Gale on Redeemable Annuities", 1816, as well as copies of letters to his son concerning the supplement to his "Treatise on the Nature and Principles of Redeemable Annuities", 1817. Apparently neither treatise was published.
Fonds consists of a journal kept by Lord William Pitt Amherst's coachman, James Dennison, while traveling to China on a diplomatic mission to the Qing court in China in 1816. Included is an account of the loss of the ship H.M.S. Alceste in the Straits of Gaspar.
Fonds contain the personal and professional dealings of the Papineau Family, beginning with Louis-Joseph Papineau in 1828, following through his descendents, to 1943. Dealings include land grants, social events, real estate, interpersonal and business related financial notices, notes on construction projects supervised by or funded by the Papineau family, and charitable pursuits. The fonds consists of the following series: Legal, Business, and Financial Documents, Ledgers, Account Books, and Notes, Correspondence & Personal Papers, Genealogical Materials. Majority of the files are titled according to creator rather than content and series are contained within chronological boxes (with the exception of container number 9 belonging to the Legal, Business, and Financial Documents series alongside container number 1 and container number 2). These materials were created for the purpose of keeping track of the interpersonal and business transactions of the Papineau family.
