Fonds contains correspondence and manuscripts. The correspondence is largely devoted to the Tait family’s property in Nova Scotia and other domestic matters, but there are also files regarding Tait’s work at McGill (1928-1942) and at the Nova Scotia Summer School in Education (1927-1941). The fonds also contains a few letters to and from Vincent Massey (1926-1940). Approximately a third of Tait’s papers are drafts of publications on practical psychology, behaviour and behaviourism, educational psychology, psychopathology and social applications of psychology. (ca 1920-1930).
Fonds consists of lecture notes prepared in connection with a survey course on Greek and Roman literature (1924-1954), as well as examination questions for this course (1951), and copies of humorous verse about McGill staff members.
Most of Lighthall's varied interests and activities are represented in his papers which fall into a number of series. There is a general series of letters and papers 1875-1954 which includes much but not all of the correspondence. There are letters from many Canadian literary figures (before ca 1940) including Duncan Campbell Scott, Charles Sangster, Charles G.D. Roberts, W.W. Campbell and Stephen Leacock. Others represented in this series include Sir Wilfrid Laurier and Sir William Van Horne (about his and Lighthall's collections of pictures). Among the subjects covered are the McCord Museum, the Chateau de Ramezay, the McGill University Library, the Manitoba School question, conscription and imperial government. There are series for the Canadian Author's Association, the Canadian Union of Municipalities, the Metropolitain Parks Commission, the Great War Veterans Association and the Royal Society of Canada. The papers of the Montreal Armenian Relief Committee (1920s) are included, as are Captain MacKenzie Forbes' files from the Military Hospitals Commission, 1917. There is some material on various legal cases in which Lighthall was involved including some Indian land claims. There is a series of personal financial records and some material on Church Union (ca 1910). There is a large series of documents, both originals and copies dealing the region of Huntingdon, Chateauguay and Beauharnois. Most of Lighthall's literary works are represented in draft and/or annotated form including The False Chevalier (1898) and The Master of Life (1908). There is as well Lighthall's index of Canadian author's pseudonyms (ca 1880-ca 1900). In addition to this manuscript material, there is the Lighthall collection of books which contains some three hundred volumes of metaphysics, history and poetry many of which are either inscribed to W.D.L. or contain his annotations.
Shaw's papers include memoranda, notebooks and letters mainly on natural history. There are also annual reports of the Montréal chapter of the Nicholas Agassiz Association.
This small file of Van Horne's correspondence concerns McGill affairs between 1901 and 1915. Apart from routine notices of Governors' meetings, there are appeals from professors for funds to purchase equipment, collections and scholarships, letters from Sir William Peterson on the appointment of Carrie Derrick as Professor of Botany, from E.B. Greenshields on the University Magazine and from others, including Sir William Macdonald, Helen R.Y. Reid and R. Tait Mackenzie.
Meredith's papers relate almost exclusively to his professional, philanthrophic and leisure activities prior to his appointment as Dean of Law. The largest series comprises correspondence files (1927-1945) dealing with his professional expenses, memberships, insurance, investments, and personal finances. Other professional papers include files on the survey of the Legal Profession in Canada 1945-1946, and an address to the Junior Bar Association on automobile accident law (1945). The philanthropic aspect of his work is documented by files on the Inns of Court Fund, 1947-1948; and particularly on Bishop's University, of which Meredith was a trustee, 1943-1950. Meredith was chairman of the Québec Committee, the Selwyn House School Association, 1945-1948. Correspondence regarding amateur radio licencing, transmission, and equipment reflects Meredith's favourite hobby, 1945-1947. The only material relating to his teaching career is an introductory lecture to first-year students entitled "The Legal Profession".
Fonds consists of largely off-prints and clippings of articles on education and politics, particularly in relation to Poland (1916-1932). There are also printed copies of testimonials for his applications for the chairs of philosophy at Aberdeen (1900) and St. Andrew's (1903), an annotated programme for the London Conference on Re-Affirming the World's Moral Ideal (1922), at which he represented Canada, and a poster for his 1896 Shaw Lecture at Edinburgh, on Schopenhauer.
Fonds documents William B. Malloch's activities as a medical student at McGill and the links he kept with his alma mater, 1863-1870. The fonds contains admission cards, programmes, certificates, examination copies, newspaper clippings and an indenture of apprenticeship.
