The Red River Settlement was a colonization project set up in 1811 by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk (1771-1820) who was granted 300,000 square kilometres (120,000 sq mi) of land the Hudson's Bay Company. Upon inheriting his father's title in 1799, Selkirk focused the majority of his time and resources on establishing a Scottish colony in North America. Selkirk was influenced by humanitarian luminaries such as William Wilberforce and, following the forced displacement of Scottish farmers that took place during the Highland Clearances, decided that emigration was the only viable option to improve the livelihood of the Scottish people. In July 1811 Miles MacDonell sailed from Yarmouth, England to the Hudson's Bay post at York Factory with 36 primarily Irish and Scottish settlers. Due to persuasive efforts of the North West Company only 18 settlers actually arrived at Red River in August 1812. Dogged by poor harvests and a growing population, MacDonell, now governor of Red River, issued the Pemmican Proclamation in January 1814 to prevent the export of pemmican from the colony. In doing so, MacDonell undermined the security of Red River and plunged the colony into a conflict with the North West Company that would not end until 1821.

On 11 June 1815, representatives of the North West Company attacked and fired upon the colonists, and demanded the surrender of Governor MacDonell, who, to avoid the loss of blood, gave himself up voluntarily. He was taken to Montreal as a prisoner, and charges were laid against him by his enemies, but his case was not tried. These depositions concern this case.

Items include:
Deposition of John Pritchard before A.N. McLeod, 4 June 1816, concerning the attack by Alexander MacDonell of the Hudson’s Bay Company on the tool house of the North West Company at Pimbina River, and the theft of property. Copy dated 30 December 1819.

Letter from John Pritchard to A. Norman McLeod, 28 June 1816, from the “Entrance of the Red River”, describing events at the Red River including a raid by a group led by a Canadian named Bushé, and the capture of Pritchard and his men by them.

Letter from John Johnston at Fort William, 9 Sept 1816, to A. Norman McLeod, describing his duties as acting manager there for the North West Company and the terms of the negotiations between himself and Lord Selkirk. He states that he intends to travel to Montreal.

Affidavit by the Earl of Selkirk, Montreal, 18 March 1818, concerning the dispute between himself and the North West Company, and the inability to attend the upcoming Quarter Sessions at Sandwich.

"Laure", a novel in French, is ascribed to Maria Neglet by a pencilled note in another hand.

The collection was assembled by the Rare Book Department at McGill to group a number of anonymous poetry collections and verse miscellanies dating from roughly the long eighteenth century. These include: a volume written around 1700 containing Milton's Comus and other poems, largely elegiac; a group of 38 original poems from 1774; satires of Cambridge personalities by an undergraduate (1795-1800); a volume of poems bound in vellum written in various hands by George Colin Campbell, Miss Flaxman, Mrs. A. M. Keith, Bernard Bolton, George Tucker and others, with sketches (1817); and Lady Murray's poetry commonplace-book (approximately 1820) containing poems by celebrated authors and some original pieces.

The Coppenrath Collection of Voyageurs Contracts for the North West Company partners contains 52 contracts for the period from approximately 1800 to 1821. These document the terms of engagement for men going into the North West . Voyageur contracts are of particular interest for study of the fur trade, Canada's first major industry, because they document the conditions of employment for many of the journeymen ("engagés") involved in the trade, both those who worked on the Ottawa River and those who "wintered" in the North West. The contracts are dated from 1800 to 1821 with printed forms from before 1800 being used in some cases. A significant number of outfitters are included namely the firm of McTavish, McGillivrays & Co. with various partners including John Ogilvy and Thomas Thain, Pierre de Rocheblave and earlier partnership – McTavish, Frobisher & Co. As well, there are contracts with lesser known outfitters. These contracts provide not only the names of the "engagés" but usually their place of residence and the conditions and terms of their employment.

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 lines on various subjects, 1815-1821.

There are translations from Ovid, Juvenal, Persius and Horace written in the years 1819, 1820, and 1821, verses on several subjects, and a translation of the "De arte poetica".

This collection consists of translations from Terence, begun in 1778, and correspondence on military, political and private matters, 1787-1821, mostly addressed to Thomas Coutts, banker.

Allison's memoirs of Napoleon are accompanied by his watercolour drawings of Napoleon and St.Helena.

This material documents the estate of Mrs. Charlotte Frobisher and includes a copy of her will and an inventory, 1820.