The fonds consists of textual records related to the operations and administration of the Percé Handicrafts Guild, the Black Whale Shop, as well other community initiatives sponsored by Percé Handicrafts Guild such as the the Black Whale Dental Clinic, and photographs of the shop and its volunteers. Operational and administrative files are intermingled with a range of informal correspondence, in particular many letters between Ethel Renouf and Phyllis Birks, and files of anecdotal notes and clips related to the Black Whale shop as well as to the history, flora, and geology of the Gaspé region.

Formal administrative records consist of letters patent for the Percé Handicrafts Guild, full minutes for 1939, and brief annual summaries of activities from 1933 to 1975. Legal documents comprise licence and registration papers, together with pertinent correspondence, 1938-1953, and a correspondence file relating to rental of the shop building. The financial side is illustrated by a cash book, 1934, and files of miscellaneous receipts, inventories, balance sheets and bookkeeping instructions, 1935-1971. Almost half the records of the Black Whale are informal in nature, for example, letters from Ethel Renouf to Phyllis Birks mixing personal news with accounts of shop operations and craft production, 1934-1937. Files of anecdotal notes and clippings relate the shop and to the history of the Gaspé, as well as on the flora and geology of the region. The fonds includes a copy of The Black Whale cookbook and some related records.. Some correspondence, budget notes and flyers pertain to the work of the Dental Clinic, 1939-1940. Sixty photographs featuring different views of the Black Whale handicrafts shop in Percé, Quebec, are also included. A number of photographs are individual and group portraits of the volunteers who created and ran the shop, including Ethel Renouf. A few photographs document a Black Whale Shop stand at the University of Montreal.

Series consists chiefly of architectural photography from Italy and France, featuring building exteriors and exteriors and details such as doorways, crests, and capitals. Photographs are mostly undated. One file contains photographs of public buildings in the United States and one photograph of a Royal Canadian Mounted Police garage in Montreal Quebec.

The Harold Spence-Sales fonds at McGill’s Canadian Architecture Collection primarily contains project records related to Harold Spence-Sales' career as an architect and urban planner. The bulk of the records pertain to projects that Harold Spence-Sales worked on as well as corresponding financial, administrative and office records.

The fond heavily documents projects that Harold Spence-Sales worked on during the 1970s-1980s in British Columbia and in Quebec during the 1940s-1960s. Other projects that Harold Spence-Sales worked on across Canada and internationally appear intermittently throughout the fonds. The Oromocto community planning project that Harold Spence-Sales worked on from 1955-1958 in New Brunswick is particularly well documented. Harold Spence-Sales designed Oromocto to be a military town. Before He transformed Oromocto into a military town it was a defunct 19th century shipbuilding town. The Oromocto project is considered one of Harold Spence-Sales most important urban-town planning projects.

Apart from administrative, office and project records, the fonds also contains records that relate to Harold Spence-Sales professional activities outside of his work as an architect and urban planner. For example, awards and honors that he received and records related to his involvement in architectural and urban planning associations. Additional professional activities include: his involvement in creating exhibitions, curating architectural-themed magazines and periodicals as well as copies of publications that he worked on solo and in collaboration with John Bland.

The fonds also contains fourteen boxes of Harold Spence-Sales personal records. The personal records primarily cover Harold Spence-Sales interest in art, creative pursuits, family activities, family genealogy, personal finances, last will and testaments as well as his decline in health and his death. Within the fourteen boxes that have been cataloged as personal records, there are also materials related to Harold Spence-Sales professional activities. For example, awards that Harold Spence-Sales received and records related to exhibitions and artistic projects that he worked on.

"Architectural drawings, 1957-76, 161 drawings."
The archive holds drawings for seven projects.
Beardmore Building, 417 rue St. Pierre, Montreal, Que., 3 drawings by I. Nicolas from 1936, 11 drawings by Harry Stilman. The building was originally designed in 1911 by Howard C. Stone.
New Building for Canadian Vickers Ltd., 4970 Notre Dame Street, East, Montreal, Que., 1963-64, 12 drawings
Davis YM-YWHA Building, Cote St. Luc, Que., 1965-66, 16 drawings
Pavilion of Judaism, Expo '67,1966-67, 46 drawings
YM-YWHA Building Chomedy Branch, Laval, Que., 1969-70, 35 drawings
Yeshiva Gedola Mercaz Hatorah, Deacon Road, Montreal, Que., 1973, 18 drawings
Alterations to 180 St. Catherine Street East, Montreal, Que., [La Patrie Building], 1973-74,76, 19 drawings including plan of property

"Photographs"
Beardmore Building, 417 rue St. Pierre, Montreal, Que., 3 photographs
Alterations to 180 St. Catherine Street East, Montreal, Que., [La Patrie Building], 13 photographs

" Architectural drawings and photographs, Saran Chai Val David, Quebec,1929-1930, 1952. "1 pencil on paper: plan and wall elevations of living room, 3 blueprints: plans, 6 diazotypes: elevations, plans, sections, original black and white photographs, photo reproductions of photographs.

The archive consists of drawings for planning and architectural projects, preparatory notes and visual documentation for Schoenauer's books and articles, as well as course notes, photographs, small sketches and research files on the typology of Canadian housing. The archive reflects the breadth and depth of Schoenauer's involvement with architecture, housing and planning in Canada; his profound commitment to teaching; and his labours as an author of a fundamental, and far-ranging text on housing as a sine qua non of civilized existence.

[59-2031] Hughlings Jackson birthday, April 4, 1935 - unnamed dear departed!; [59-2034] Bill Reed [1934-38] the dreaded doctor!; [no number] unnamed trio - apparently angelic!; [59-2035] Dave Reeves [1934-37] The Sheik!; [59-2033] April 4, 1935: Hughlings Jackson's birthday and first HJ Lecture.; 5 additional b&w photographs taken at the same time as the other photographs in the file.

The fonds includes 27 drawings (1888-1896) of, notably, a house for George Drummond on Sherbrooke Street in Montreal and the Montreal Diocesan Theological College on University Street are documented in watercolour drawings of plans, elevations, and sections. In addition, there are measured drawings of the Hugh Allan house on Pine Avenue West in Montreal, designed by John William Hopkins (1825-1905) in 1861. These drawings were used for Taylor and Gordon's designs for additions to the Allan house. There is also an undated photograph of a measured drawing of the Hugh Allan house. In addition, there are also drawings by Andrew Taylor for the Montreal Maternity Hospital (Centre Hospitalier Ste-Jeanne-d'Arc), 1903. The fonds contains one published volume: Andrew T. Taylor, "The Crowns and Steeples Designed by Christopher Wren," (London: B.T. Batsford High Holborn, 1881)

This series consists of glass plate negatives and other photographic materials with their original boxes relating to the Feather Book, ornithology, falconry, McGill University Library, and Casey Wood. The majority of the glass plates were produced in Berlin, Germany by Agra, while a few were produced in London, England and Toronto, Canada; which is indicated on the boxes the plates were contained in. On many of these boxes, McGill University librarian Dr. G. R. Lomer’s name appears, indicating these plates and photographic materials were used for library-related activities. Most of the plates, photographs, and photographic negatives (1927, 1930, 1956) show pages from the Feather Book by Dionisio Minaggio. Other glass plate negatives and photographic material depict artwork or images relating to ornithology and falconry, a portrait of Casey Wood (1927), Gronvold’s painting of Wood’s parrot John III (1930?), an ornithological archeological exhibit in the Redpath Library (1924), and library stacks in the Redpath Library (1924).

Fonds contains drawings, photographs, slides, professional papers and correspondence relating to interior architecture, design practice, design research and design consulting.

File list:
"Swedish Design Practice, 1930-1950: Interiors"
22 oversize folders, 15 file folders, 2 boards and 20 photographs.

"Swedish Design Practice, 1930-1950: Furniture"
17 oversize folders, 8 boards, 6 photographs.

"Swedish Design Practice, 1930-1950: Exhibitions"
9 oversize folders and 7 file folders

"Swedish Design Research, 1930-1950: Swedish Housing and Domestic Design, Research Tour of the USA"
14 files folders

"Swedish Papers, 1930-1950: Assorted Reference Literature, Publicity Newsclippings, Museum File Photos"
12 files folders and 17 photographs

"Canadian Design Practice, 1950-1994: Architecture"
17 oversize folders, 1 file folder and 3 photographs

"Canadian Design Practice, 1950-1994: Interiors and Furniture"
133 oversize folders, 99 photographs

"Canadian Design Practice, 1950-1994: Exhibitions"
2 oversize folders, 3 file folders, 1 board and 33 photographs

"Canadian Design Practice, 1950-1994: Operations and Marketing"
1 oversize folder and 3 file folders

"Design Portfolio, 1942-1967"
7 folders and 30 slides

"Canadian Design Research, 1950-1994: CMHC Kitchen Research Project"
4 oversize folders and 29 file folders

"Canadian Design, 1971-1977: Consulting for Design Canada and the Royal Canadian Mint"
23 file folders and 20 slides

"Canadian Papers, 1950-1994"
40 file folders, 36 slides and 1 board