The collection consists of 10 ink manuscript maps and plans on paper, some hand-coloured, depicting the earliest settlements and fortifications at Montreal and Quebec City. The earliest dated document is a plan of the fort of Quebec and is dated 1635. The earliest document in the collection depicting Montreal is believed to date back to 1642. The maps and plans were prepared by Jean Bourdon, seigneur and surveyor for the French colony. Included in the collection is a plan of the earliest Fort Richelieu of which nothing had previously been known. There are also detail drawings of riverside fortifications, probably near Montreal.

Correspondence, accounts, journals maps, etc., documenting Bissett’s career with the Hudson’s Bay Company. The Photostats (in C.1 and C.2) include Bissett’s journal and accounts at the Red River, 1854-1855, and a journal “Lachine to the Sandwich Islands” 1858-1859. There are also journals for 1859 and 1867. The original documents (in C.3) include correspondence with the Hudson’s Bay Company, 1858-1875, and accounts, 1860-1873. There are Bissett’s commissions as Chief Trader (1858) and as Chief Factor (1872), and a list of Chief Traders and Factors, 1855-1879. There are also some plans / maps, sketches, and photographs including a sketch of the Hudson’s Bay Post at Honolulu, ca. 1860.

Collection consists of an illustrated manuscript containing a map and brief guidebook to Paris landmarks, created by Nicole Allardet probably during the 1940s or 1950s. The item is inscribed to Vivienne Horne. A folded booklet on heavy grey paper, the guidebook contains twelve panels, ten of which feature a gouache illustrated vignette of a Paris landmark and a short handwritten description in white. The landmarks include the Jardin du Luxembourg, Opera House, Eiffel Tower, the river Seine, the Bois de Vincennes, Notre-Dame de Paris, the Jardin des Tuileries, the Champs-Élysées, Montmartre, and the Luxor Obelisk in the Place de la Concorde. In the centermost two panels is a simple map of Paris showing the landmarks depicted.