Fonds consists of letters written to P.M. Roget by various people, 1830-1856.

Letters and papers relating to employment with the Hudson’s Bay Company. These include letters of appointment, official announcements, lists of officers of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and an inventory the posts and officers in the Albany River district.

The fonds reflects the scientific and literary outreach activities of the Montreal Natural History Society over the course of its existence and contains correspondence, minutes, financial records, council and committee reports, membership lists, donation lists, catalogues of holdings, newspaper clippings, lecture advertisements and weather maps. In addition, the fonds includes reference material to other societies and information regarding the publication and creation of the Canadian Naturalist and Quarterly Journal of Science, Canadian Naturalist and Geologist and the Canadian Record of Science.

The fonds is composed of the following series: 1) Accounting Records (1860-1917); 2) Administrative Records (1833-1887); 3) Catalogues (ca.1829-ca.1925); 4) Correspondence (1871-1896 with gaps); 5) Essays and Lectures (1829-1852); 6) Minutes (1827-1832,1844-1923); 7) Montreal Microscopical Society (1884-1906); 8) Reports (1828-1881 with gaps); 9) Weather Maps (1895-1897).

Fonds consists of six autograph signed letters written at Montreal by Ann Adams, dated between 24 March 1834 to 26 December 1937, to her son Edward H. in Providence, Rhode Island, and Philadelphia. Letters contain local news (churches and organs built, the railroad to St. Johns, fires, printing and publishing, cholera, etc.), observations on the worsening tensions between Papineau and the "Canadiens" and the "Loyalists," and accounts of preaching by an Indigenous convert to Christianity.

Collection consists of 38 letters written primarily by John Wood Senior to family members in England. Many of these were written to a sister or sister-in-law and a few are addressed to his brother, Will Wood, a watchmaker and jeweller in London, including two in which Wood includes a list of trade supplies to order. Four letters are from John Wood's son, Peter Wentworth Wood. One letter is by John's wife, Anna. Contents include topics such as the country's economy, Canadian-British politics, the Woods' watchmaking and jewellery business, crops, slavery, and the American Civil War, as well as local Montreal news on subjects such as fires, the Victoria Bridge, a cholera outbreak, the 1856 Railroad Celebration, and a visit by the Prince of Wales. Letters also include family news, particularly of John Wood's children Peter, John, and Charles, seafaring disasters, gold mines, improvements in shipping in the St. Lawrence seaway and the Atlantic Ocean, the expansion of railroads, and the Atlantic Telegraph. Letters date between 25 November 1839 and 13 December 1867. One is a crossed letter.

The fonds contains professional and private correspondence from Emma Albani, the first Canadian-born singer of international fame, to Parisian publisher Henri Heugel.

The fonds documents Sharon Thesen’s personal and professional life as a poet, editor, and professor from 1961 to 1989. All records in the fonds were collected by Thesen herself, and are primarily composed of correspondence, journals, and creative work. Most of the creative work is composed of drafts and edited versions of Thesen’s own poetry, essays, and articles, but also includes work sent to her for review. While most of the records are textual, there are a small number of pictures and postcards that were sent to and taken by Thesen, and are mostly of a personal nature. Notably, a large section of the fonds is made up of letters that include correspondence between other published and acclaimed authors such as Michael Ondaatje, Christopher Dewdney, Lola Lemire Tostevin, Ken Norris, Judith Fitzgerald, Phyllis Webb, Gerald Burns, and others. Lastly, the fonds also includes Thesen’s journals from the mid-60s to the mid-80s which contain her daily activities, her personal thoughts, as well as some of her creative work.
The fonds is arranged into three different series, Chronological Files, Journals, and Personal & Professional Records, as per the internal organization of the records. The main forms of these records are textual records, but also include graphic/photographic materials and mixed media. The records are arranged chronologically and intellectually within the series.

This collection consists of materials dated from approximately 1850-1981, but predominantly from 1913-1940, relating to Dr. Casey Albert Wood’s research, writing, correspondence, and personal interest concerning ornithology, vertebrate zoology, memoir and family history, Emma Shearer Wood and Blacker Library collection development, ophthalmology, politics, and current events. Materials relate chiefly to Wood’s “Introduction to the Literature of Vertebrate Zoology” (1921-1956), falconry (1930s), his unpublished memoir (1930s), the development of McGill University’s Emma Shearer Wood and Blacker Libraries (1918-1941), the history of ophthalmology (1925-1936), “Fundus Oculi” (1911-1934), his travels and research expeditions studying birds in their natural habitat (1920-1940), political interests, and correspondence relating to these activities and subjects.

There are approximately 2902 incoming and outgoing pieces of correspondence including letters, postcards, notes, telegrams, and cards. Series 1) Research and writing, contains the largest volume of correspondence relating to “the Introduction to the Literature of Vertebrate Zoology.” While Series 2) Research trips, contains the largest portion of photographs. Other materials in this collection include research notes, manuscripts, page and galley proofs, book and article reprint publications, postcards, artwork, glass plate negatives, book plates, palm leaf manuscripts, artefacts, printed ephemera, clippings, journals, and administration and financial records relating to Wood’s publications or the Emma Shearer Wood and Blacker Libraries.

There are gaps within this collection relating to geographic locations, as not all locations Wood is known to have visited are represented or are only minimally represented. Asian countries, such as China or Japan, are not represented in this collection. While geographic locations that are prominent within the collection are Fiji, Sri Lanka and India.

The series consists of 1) research and writing (ca. 1850-1956); 2) research trips (1920-1937); 3) scrapbooks (1887-1946); 4) collection development (1918-1941); 5) published books (1907-1981); 6) artefacts (191-?, 1920-1937); and 7) glass negative plates (1924, 1927, 1930, 1956).

This series consists of research, writing, and correspondence files relating to Casey Wood's major and minor publications and unpublished works, as well as, others assisting in Wood's publications, research, or writing about Wood. The majority of the research and writing materials for Wood's published and unpublished works were created between 1920-1940, while other materials collected during Wood's life, those associated with his memoir and obituary, date from approximately 1850-1943.
Some prominent writings by Wood include “Introduction to the Literature of Vertebrate Zoology” (1921-1956), his unpublished memoir (ca. 1850-1939), “Fundus Oculi” (1911-1934), Wood family history (1920-1940), “Birds of Fiji” (1920-1928), “Through Forest and Jungle in Kashmir and North India” (1921-1934); Persian, Arabic and Hindustani manuscripts (1927-1934); and “The Art of Falconry” (1942).
The series consists of many volumes and files containing a number of record types including manuscripts, typescripts, proofs, publications, photographs, correspondence, clippings, printed material, postcards, journals, administrative and financial records, and artwork. Some of the volumes are scrapbooks containing many of these materials mounted within, while others include similar materials bound within. These volumes do not necessarily have a clear organization but are sometimes arranged chronologically or by correspondent.

There are 2230 incoming and outgoing pieces of correspondence including letters, postcards, notes, telegrams, and cards. Subseries 1) Introduction to the Literature of Vertebrate Zoology includes 1313 pieces of correspondence, the largest number of correspondence within the collection.

This subseries consists of many of Wood's major publications in various iterations such as manuscripts, typescripts, page proofs, and galley proofs. Additionally, this subseries contains other manuscripts, research notes, photographs, prints or illustrations, correspondence, book reviews, and other materials relating directly to Wood's research projects and publications. The material is dated from 1904-1942 but focuses predominantly from 1913- 1934. Much of the subseries is composed of bound volumes, some of which contain multiple record types, either bound or mounted within the volumes.
The research and writing projects focus on the following topics and geographic regions: ornithology, Fundus Oculi (1911-1934), Wood’s family history (1920-1940), South America (1920-1921), Fiji and Fiji Islands (1920-1931), fossil eggs (1923-1925), flowers and meadows in Switzerland (1924-1934), “An Introduction to the Literature of Vertebrate Zoology,” aviculture (1925-1928), New Zealand, medieval Persian manuscripts (1927-1934), Benevenutus Grassus’ de Oculis (1930), John III, Kashmir and North India (1921-1934), Ceylon (1925, 1928, 1934), "the Art of Falconry" (1938?-1942), and Ali ibn Isa (1935-1936).
Other contributors to some publications and manuscripts include Marjorie Fyfe, Alexander Wetmore, Wladimir Ivanow, Arthur William Head, Dr. Andreas Nell, W. J. Belcher, William C. Morgan, and Marion C. Tallmon.
This subseries also contains 145 incoming and outgoing pieces of correspondence including letters and notes. Some individuals addressed include Arthur William Head, Christopher Leggo, Lillian Bates, Elizabeth E. Abbott, Cora Raymond, Dr. Richmond, W. J. Belcher, C. S. Walis, Theodore Hamblin Ltd., James R. Slonaker, and R. R. Donnelley and Sons Co.. This subseries also includes photographs of Wood’s family, professional colleagues and friends, and research and publications.