The project files which occupy most of the archives of J.T. Donald and Co. fall into two series: ordinary business and special assignments. Both series contain the firms report's, and correspondence. Special assignments were largely connected with wartime armaments production. A few files concern work for the Imperial Munitions Board in World War I, but most consist of reports for the Chemical and Explosives Branch of the Department of Munitions and Supply, 1939-1948. Ordinary projects involve consultation for food, pulp and paper, petroleum, and chemical manufacturies, as well as for some government departments, 1888-1940. Outgoing correspondence from 1881 to 1909 is contained in letterbooks. A file of legal documents, 1924-1946, refer to claims against the company, agreements, and partnerships. Also included are an undated notebook on chemical analysis, and scrapbooks and files of newsclippings of professional interest (e.g. reports of explosions caused by oil and gas) covering the period 1916-1958. There are also reports on mining and energy sources prepared by Donald alone and also in partnership with J.H. Ross for various private and government bodies.

The administrative records constitute the bulk of the collection; they include annual reports, and financial statements of John Millen & Co. and related firms, 1962-1972; quarter-monthly reports, 1956-1969; memoranda, 1961-1969; files concerning clients, products, sales, and inventory, 1960-1969; executive meetings, 1960; staff lists, 1955-1970; budgets, 1965; files on Exide & Oil Co. Sales, 1964-1968; file on Modern Sales Ltd., 1943-1970 and business correspondence, 1943-1972. Legal records consist of leases, 1963-1964; employee contract between S.B. Millen and John Millen & Son Ltd., 1968; correspondence, memoranda, and court cases, ca 1930-1936. Also included are reports and typescripts on the principles of management and sales, 1948, 1960-1969, as well as some newspaper clippings.

These scattered items of correspondence deal with Porter's resignation from the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railroad Co. (1892), stock purchases (1907) and other financial matters (1927-1928).

This archive consists of photocopies of the portion of the ledger of William Lauder, concerning the Arts Building project, 1838-1841. An index to the entire ledger is included.

The greater portion of these records consists of journals, cash books and ledgers recording purchases and sales, 1822-1898. Also included are formula and prescription books, catalogues, price lists, company releases, 1948 and 1952, and a genealogy of the Lyman Family in Canada.

These McGill papers are entirely concerned with his property and estate. They comprise legal documents and copies of letters (some in McGill's hand) concerning his land holdings on St. Paul St., Montréal, in Stanbridge, and in Detroit. McGill's cash book, 1809-1815, and copy by W.D. Lighthall of a deed of conveyance to McGill of some land formerly occupied by the city fortifications, 1805, are also included, as is a blue-print and sketch by W.D. Lighthall of the site of McGill's St. Paul St. house. Estate papers comprise a probate of McGill's will, copied by Alice Lighthall, and his executor's cash book.

Consists of microfilm of originals, located at Library and Archives Canada. The records of the Board of Trade fall into two series. Administrative records comprise the register of the Committee of Trade, 1822-1842; followed by the minutes of the Board, 1842-1952; reports of general meetings, 1842-1951; and annual meetings, 1876-1879; and council annual reports, 1886-1931. Correspondence consists of letterbooks, 1870-1920, and the correspondence files of the Committee of Trade, 1822-1842. A review of the activities of the Board from 1950 is also included.

This archive contains administrative and financial records of the Montreal Stock Exchange/Montreal Exchange and its subsidiary companies, and of the Montreal Curb Market/Canadian Stock Exchange.

These papers concern the work of the committees on which Beach served from 1962 to 1969, and contain correspondence, memoranda, proposals, and reports, mostly for the Academic Policy Committee and the University Libraries Committee.

Three scrapbooks document Birks' involvement with McGill, particularly with the Theological Colleges and the Faculty of Divinity. One contains newspaper clippings and correspondence (1912-1913) concerning the United College of Theology. The second scrapbook contains newspaper clippings and correspondence (1912-1948) on the establishment of the Faculty of Divinity at McGill. The third contains telegrams concerning the appointment of Sir Auckland Geddes as Principal in 1919, as well as newspaper clippings regarding the McGill Fund Campaign (1911) and the Patriotic Fund, (1914-1917). There is also correspondence about church matters and the Joint Theological Colleges and brief accounts of the establishment of the latter, correspondence, minutes, reports, reminiscences and notes document the establishment of the Faculty of Divinity in 1948. There is also a builder's contract and accounts for the Birks building on University Street and a draft fragment of a historical story or novel set in the 14th century about a Richard Birks.