Fonds contains mainly J.E. Buchanan's correspondence, notably his correspondence with Phyllis Buchanan prior to their marriage, newspaper clippings, agendas and administrative paperwork concerning Phyllis Buchanan and her family, with material related for the First World War and children education in the first half of the 20th century.

The fonds consist of copies of deeds, some of which concern the British-American Land Co., that were executed by Torrance for the period 1856 to 1861, and a notebook of opinions on Québec legal questions, including copies of letters from the firm Torrance & Morris (1857-1859).

Fonds consists of a printed copy of Babbage's autobiographical Passages from the Life of a Philosopher (1864) interleaved with his letters, 1804-1847, from contemporary scientists, including John Dalton, Michael Faraday, Hans Christian Oersted, Sir George Biddell Airy, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Sir Richard Owen, and H. F. Talbot.

The greater portion of this material relates to his political activity, including electoral lists for Montréal and notes on qualifications of voters, ca 1895, as well as a Volunteer Electoral League notebook, 1895-1900. His daily journal covers the periods from 1899-1909 and from 1912-1915. Financial notebooks, dated 1897 to 1910, are also included.

The World War I Clippings Collection consists of approximately 635 newspaper clippings and articles related to the First World War. Most of the clippings in this collection consist of daily reporting on troop movements and events that occurred during World War I, with some editorial and commentary pieces. Also included are clippings of maps, most from unidentified newspapers, and clipped recruitment ads. Specific topics include the sinking of the Lusitania, McGill participation in the war, the siege of Przemysl, Canadian troop deployments and casualties, and the Pope. The majority of the clippings come from the Montreal Gazette (approximately 140 clippings) and the Philadelphia Public Ledger (approximately 120 clippings). Around 50 clippings are from the The Evening Bulletin (Philadelphia) and a handful are from The Times (London). Also included are some articles from the D. A. W. War Tracts (numbers 5-7), Berlin, and the Journal of Commerce and Commercial Bulletin (New York). The fonds also contains a copy of the War Gazetteer, compiled by Charles McD. Puckette and Carrington Weems, issued by the New York Evening Post in 1914. The earliest article appears to be reporting on England's declaration of war on Germany, dated 5 August 1914.

This collection consists of letters to Sir James Craig and others on the subject of Lower Canada, 1810-1815.

Collection consists of six account books dating from the 1830s to the 1860s, including ledgers and daybooks, used and kept primarily by Enoch Curtis for his leather tanning business. There are also some loose accounts and notes on small sheets of paper. The ledgers use a single-entry bookkeeping method in £sd. They are organized by individual merchant account, with records of debits (purchases or expenditures made) and credits (payments or goods received). Parallel underlining and Xs indicate when an account has balanced. The collection also includes some records related to Stella Curtis from the 1890s, including one letter and two sheets of math problems marked Clarenceville Model School.

Manuscript copy from shorthand notes of proceedings in the Court of Queen's Bench, 12 January, 1839 to 25 January, 1839, concerning an appeal for the release of 12 Canadians from a transportation sentence for taking part in the 1837 Rebellion.

Collection consists of photograph albums and publications from Jean Drapeau's library related to significant events that occurred during his mandates as mayor of Montreal (1954 to 1957 and 1960 to 1986). Photograph albums, brochures, and publications represent Expo 67 and its reiteration, Man and his World (Terre des Hommes), which ran from 1968 to 1986. The 1976 Montreal Olympic Games are documented in programmes and photograph albums. The collection also includes records of Drapeau's political life, including transcripts of his speeches from 1955-1957, photograph albums related to his municipal political party, the Civic Party of Montreal (Parti civique de Montréal), and presentation copies of books.

The collection contains business correspondence, including letters to William Grant and Grant, Campion & Co. from Brickwood, Pattle, & Co., 1792-1793, and letters from Brickwood & Daniell, John Blackwood, and McTavish, Fraser and Co., 1799-1800. There is also a bound letter book for Grant and Laframboise, Montreal, 1800-1801 with additional loose leaves of letter copies dating between 1798 and 1800.