This collection reflects Henry S. Chapman's relationships with a number of important figures in Montreal's political and business history, between roughly 1833 and 1853, the period following Chapman's return to London. A significant amount of the material in this collection is related to the 1837-1838 Upper and Lower Canada Rebellions (especially in Montreal), as well as events occurring immediately after the uprisings.
Consists of copies of original material, chiefly correspondence, arranged roughly by date. The contents of letters (1835-1853) include business partnerships, political reform, and personal news. Significant correspondents include Louis-Joseph Papineau, Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine, Jacob Dewitt, François-Antoine Larocque (of Laroque and Bernard), Joseph Perreault, and Edmund Bailey O’Callaghan. There is also a partial manuscript on Canadian history and pages from a scrapbook, both dating from the 1830s.
The collection consists of falls into two series: Papers and Diaries. The Papers primarily reflect Brown's political concerns and activities in Montreal between 1832 and 1838. They include excerpts from the Vindicator newspaper, notes, resolutions, memoranda and speeches, as well as letters to Brown concerning Florida politics and the United States' negotiations with Native peoples, 1841-1843. There are also business documents and letters; essays by Brown on the 1837-1838 Lower Canada Rebellion and the annexation of Canada; and a journal kept during an ocean voyage in 1838.
The Diaries consist of seven notebooks written in pencil, or perhaps more properly dictated, by Brown in 1887-1888. They were transcribed by F. J. Nobbs in 1987.
McDonald's correspondence, 1791-1860, mostly concerns business and property matters, but also includes personal correspondence. There are statements of account with McTavish, Frobisher & Co., 1799; with McTavish, Fraser & Co., 1803-1804; with McTavish, McGillivray & Co., 1808-1809. There are two volumes of autobiographical notes assembled in 1859 and covering the period 1791-1816.
There is a second copy of the autobiography, probably transcribed in the late 19th century. Written on the front fly leaf is the name: A.E. MacDonald. It has 63 leaves, and there are minor textual variants.
Fonds consists of one manuscript album of poetry, belonging to the Marchioness Townshend. Contains various genres of poetry in English, written between 1769 and 1771, including "comic poems on various occasions." Quarto manuscript written on laid paper in a neat scribal hand in brown ink throughout.
Fonds relates to a dining club, the Philogastric Institute of McGill, and include correspondence, principally from Richard Pennington to John Bland, as well as printed menus.
Fonds consists of six letters, with four manuscript letters from Rilke written between 1896 and 1922 and two discussing letters discussing these. The four letters from Rilke are addressed to various correspondents, including on 8 November 1896 to the author Gabriele Reuter regarding her book, 15 October 1904 to Anette Vedel, and 9 July 1907 to an unidentified correspondent. The fourth letter dates likely from August or September 1922 and is addressed to Elfriede Nicolaus. The two later letters which discuss the Rilke letters include one dated 13 December 1954 from Hedvig Wahlgren regarding the date of the 1922 letter to Nicolaus and one dated 29 November 1955 from Ruth Fritzsche (née Rilke) to McGill Librarian Richard Pennington.
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.
This collection consists of contemporary copies of letters written by T. Blackwood from Michilimackinac to James and Andrew McGill & Co., to Ch. Chaboillez, and to T. and J. McGregor.
