The fonds contains correspondence related to the Osler Library and its holdings with people such as Maude Abbott, Edward Archibald, William B. Bean, Edward Horton Bensley, Archibald Malloch, Casey Wood, as well as John Farquhar Fulton, Keeper of the Medical History Collections at Yale University's library; the fonds also contains a typescript of talks by W.W. Francis (titled "Showman's Patter") about books and other items held in the Osler Library.

The fonds consists of books, letters, documents, drafts, publications, photographs, and several artifacts collected by W. W. Francis and Marian Francis Kelen over the course of their lifetimes. Many books and documents relate to Sir William Osler and the Osler family including several personal letters, the Deed of Trust documents regarding the Bibliotheca Osleriana, drafts of Osler's works, and a wooden travelling trunk that belonged to Edward Revere Osler. The fonds also includes original poetry written by Marian Osborne, W. W. Francis, and Marian Francis Kelen.

The fonds contains original and typescript letters, manuscript notes, newspaper clippings, journal extracts, reminiscences and more, assembled by Harvey Cushing chiefly between 1920 and 1924 during the course of his research for the biography of William Osler. For the biography, Cushing collected and retyped over 7500 pieces of Osler's correspondence, among which are some original letters.

The fonds is separated into three series: Manuscripts, Working Notes and Osler's Correspondence. It also contains photographs, annual reports, publications, clippings, one watercolor painting, one postcard. Osler's correspondence is further arranged in three subseries based chronologically.

The fonds contains chiefly of family correspondence between members of the Penfield and Chester families, as well as clippings and correspondence regarding Wilder Penfield's autobiography "No Man Alone" and correspondence regarding posthumous honours for Wilder Penfield. Family correspondence includes a 1917 letter from Helen Kermott (later Helen Kermott Penfield) accepting Wilder Penfield's marriage proposal. Much of the family correspondence is between Wilder and Helen Penfield and their daughter Priscilla and her husband William M. (Bill) Chester Jr., as well as Bill Chester's parents William (Sr.) and Alice Chester. There are incoming letters and many carbon copies of outgoing letters. A series of 1949 letters congratulates the young couple (Bill Chester and Priscilla Penfield) on their engagement. One letter is also between Wilder Penfield and George Chester. A few materials are related to posthumous honours for Wilder Penfield, such as the naming of a building after him at John Abbott College (letter to Wilder Penfield Jr.) and a 1982 speech given by Priscilla at the Penfield Children's Center (typescript copy). There is also correspondence between Bill Chester and William Feindel. One 1976 carbon copy of a letter (1976) details the period following the death of Priscilla's father, Wilder Penfield, while the couple was in Japan. Materials related to "No Man Alone" include clippings from journals and newspapers of reviews and book announcements, as well as two copies of the book jacket and some related correspondence.

The fonds primarily reflects Pappius’s activities as a researcher at the Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital (MNI/H): both her experimental research as such and various support activities, including academic publication, coordination of research projects with colleagues, and acquiring funding. It also contains much information about her leadership of the Clinical Neurochemistry Laboratory. The fonds contains smaller amounts of documentation regarding her activities as a professor at McGill University, her administrative roles at the MNI/H, and her participation in professional organizations, which reflects the smaller place that those roles occupied in her professional life.

The period of time best documented in the fonds spans the early 1980s to Pappius’s retirement in 1995. Correspondence with colleagues, mostly though not exclusively work-related, contains relatively more material from Pappius’s early career; although, here too, most of the material dates from the 1980s and after.

The main document types in the fonds related to Pappius’s research activities are experiment worksheets and printed tabular research data. Many of the research-related files contain negatives of autoradiographies, with a smaller number of photographic prints. Correspondence can be found in many series besides series F (Correspondence), as much of Pappius’s work was collaborative in nature.

The fonds is divided into eight series: (A) Research, (B) Academic events, (C) Teaching, (D) Administrative activities, (E) Professional organizations, (F) Correspondence, (G) Personal collections, and (H) Visual documents.

Fonds consists of correspondence with the pediatrician Dr. Alton Goldbloom of Montreal. It gives a picture of pediatrics and parental concerns at the time. The fonds contains 30 letters.

Fonds contains correspondence mostly between George Dock and Sir William Osler but also with Lady Osler, W.W. Francis and Archibald Malloch, from 1891 to 1919. The fonds includes 106 letters, originals and carbon copies.

The fonds includes Dr. Archibald’s correspondence and reports pertaining to the Ministry of National Defence, 1940-1945; certificates and diplomas; and a photograph. The correspondents include family members, Dr. John McCrae and Sir William Osler. There is also a draft of a book on wound ballistics and gas gangrene; an Army Field Service book, 1916 and two notebooks on internal and external pathology, “matiere medicale et therapeutique,” and “medecine legale et toxicologie,” 1895.

The fonds contains materials that Dr. M. Entin collected for his biography of Dr. Archibald. Mainly include articles relate to tuberculosis, pancreatitis, wound healing, history of surgery, and scientific writing. It also includes letters from Edward Archibald to Mrs. Archibald, letters to Archibald from William Osler and Sir Henry Gray, addenda of Archibald's world journey in 1936, and articles by Archibald.

Some draft chapters of the biography of Dr. Archibald and research data for 100th Anniversary of Royal Victoria Hospital can also be found in the fonds.

The fonds contains Margaret Gillett's source materials and drafts for her book Dear Grace, a Romance of History. The source materials include original letters from William C. Little to Grace Ritchie written between 1889-1893.