The series contains some letters from family and friends in Scotland, and later, some correspondence with his son John William and his grandson George, but the bulk of his correspondence is concerned with his business interests and legal affairs. This includes deeds to land in Pictou, Nova Scotia, authorizations, copies of wills, and other legal documents; correspondence concerning publishing ventures and other money-making schemes, as well as government economic policy; and finally, bills, invoices with books titles and receipts from his book and stationery store. The series also contains correspondence, reports, and notes on Dawson's involvement in Bible and missionary societies. James Dawson also wrote two autobiographical works: a narrative diary from 1838-1861, and the more formal "Incidents of a Life," around approximately 1859.

This series consists of research files on the interpretation of Genesis.

These are materials published by the Council as such, or independently by its members. With respect to the former, the MCSA issued numerous documents produced in the course of its operations (initially from the New Birks Building, 10 Cathcart Street, and sometimes, also in early days, from no stated location; then from 1421 Atwater Avenue and subsequently its long-standing 1040 Atwater Avenue address). Many of these it listed in a cumulative Index to Publications composed of four chronological·Series· (file 464), nominally starting in 1919 and ending in 1968, though the first actual entry in the Index is dated 1934. The contents of the Publications (MCSA and Member Organizations) Series, however, span 1920 - 1969; and, while they do not comprise every item published by headquarters or members, do reflect those in practice filed as the series title indicates. (The Council routinely published its Annual Reports and the proceedings of Annual Meetings, but these are classified together as a separate series) .

The materials contained in Publications (MCSA and Member Organizations) embrace a range of categories, but prominent are the Commentator and Comment newsletters; service directories and guides; briefs, reports, studies and surveys; and institute, conference and workshop proceedings. Following the Council's usage, many of these materials also appear in other series. While the large majority were published by the MCSA, a few, like Administration of a Chronic Disease Hospital: ' Maimonides Hospital and Home for the Aged (file 1132), Montreal Parks and Playgrounds Association Incorporated: A Half Century of Community Service, 1902-1952 (file 1133), or the collection of articles by the Royal Victoria Hospital's Social Service Department (file 1052), are productions of member organizations.

The series includes personal and professional correspondence between various Dawson and Harrington family members, between 1861 and 2001; family history, documents and genealogical notes, essays, newspaper clippings, maps, mementos, and obituaries of family members; pamphlets and other promotional material for Redpath Museum, 1933-1961; conference material for the Phoenix Festival in 1971 and the Phoenix Natural Science Association; photocopies of receipts, deeds of gift, notes, and correspondence related to the donation of archival materials to McGill University, given by the Dawson family, between 1908 and 1963.

The series consists of research files on name origins, specifically Stonehenge.

Bulletins, brochures, magazines, pamphlets, newsletters, press clippings, guides, reports, surveys, statutes, by-laws, Hansard: examples of all of these are provided here. With documents dating from 1932 to 1970, this series contains approximately the same number of files as the previous one, which it usefully complements. Publications (External) constituted a major reference source for the Council and helped keep the institution up to date with developments in the wider welfare field, in turn reflected in the productions of Publications (MCSA and Member Organizations), and indeed other series. It likewise sets all the MCSA's activities in perspective, providing an external standard of comparison.

Necessarily North American in concentration but with some representation from Britain, Publications (External) in effect provides an extensive overview of contemporary welfare problems and the institutions and policies that addressed them. Apart from much U.S. material, it is the series which offers the most substantial listings of Canadian legislation and regulations at the municipal, provincial and national levels. Community welfare research, planning and procedure, as well as social work training, are notably covered; but data pertaining to most facets of social service can be found in this series. It may also be mentioned that, despite its title, the 1956 - 1957 Canadian Workshop on Social Work Education (file 1023) has the character of a collection of essays rather than a record of the proceedings of a regular workshop; hence its retention here and not in the Conferences, Seminars, Workshops and Institute Proceedings Series. The Department of National Health and Welfare, Canadian Welfare Council, Quebec Department of Family and Social Welfare, U. S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, and the Child Welfare League" of America all contribute heavily to the Publications (External) Series.

Second only to Projects and Task Forces in number of files, the Reports, Studies, Briefs and Surveys Series has the oldest document in M.G. 2076, the J.H.T. Falk inspired Social and Financial Survey of Protestant and Non-Sectarian Social Agencies of 1919 (file 11). Though after the mid-1960s Projects and Task Forces tended to appropriate records which previously would have gone to Reports, Studies, Briefs And Surveys, the latter series nonetheless remains a prime indicator of social welfare problems, policies and resources for most of the Council's history. With input from internal (especially committee and section) sources and external contributors alike, it features studies and reports by and, about particular MCSA agencies as well as the institution collectively, besides those addressing numerous other welfare issues. Content ranges from mundane questions of infrastructure - administrative organization and function, or Red Feather fundraising and personnel practices, for instance -- to Executive Director J.W. Frei's scholarly, theoretical paper on Research in Socio-Cultural Development (file 289).

Briefs to the federal and provincial governments are an important element of this series. Among the noteworthy are those to the 1968 Royal Commission on the Status of Women (file 861) and the 1964 Special Senate Committee on Aging (file 954), as well as that on Social Policy for Quebec (the 1967 Castonguay Commission, file 5). The two latter submissions indeed come complete with drafts and working papers (files 428, 560 and 936 respectively). Draft documents similarly figure with finished ones in the welfare planning study of Greater Montreal's English-speaking Protestant community conducted by the National Study Service of New York for the MCSA, and in J.W. Frei's response (files 986-988 and 166). While much of the material in this series relates to meeting physical and psychological needs in conventional social agency terms readily intelligible across Canada, a few items also deal with concerns like Quebec's constitutional position, and bilingualism and biculturalism, which have a special relevance for Montreal.

The series consists of research files on the Hebrew Bible.

The series consists of research files on the Palestinian bridge.

Lists, charts, regulations, office guidelines, and constitutions and by-laws, whether individual files or consolidated as in the Montreal Council of Social Agencies Manual (file 168), are major components of Subject Files. Some of the holdings of this series and Administrative Records are closely related, but where the latter reveal more of the day-to-day function and process, Subject Files predominantly indicate the structure and regulations within which such process or administration took place. By the same token, blank or sample membership applications or other business forms are found here, while the same completed records are in other series as appropriate by provenance and function. Subject Files also hold some miscellaneous reference materials such as Activities and Interests of Health Sections and Health Councils in Other Cities in the U.S. and Canada (file 511), and the Canadian Children's Charter (file 629).