The Burney family manuscript collection consists chiefly of material created by Fanny Burney (1752-1840), novel Evelina (1778) was a bestseller during her life time and is still in print, as well as by Burney family members and friends. The manuscript collection contains correspondence, letter fragments, and a journal kept by Fanny Burney (1812), and other materials by Burney herself, other members of her family, and members of their circle. The collection also includes significant correspondence for her father, the musician and musical historian Charles Burney (1726-1814).

The fonds consists of books and other materials about Black people in history and contemporary society which Roy States collected from his teenage years to the end of his life. The materials are primarily English-language works produced during his lifetime, and the majority of them are from Canada or the United States. The physically largest series within the collection (Series B, Monographs) consists of 679 published volumes, most of them books and a smaller number of them booklets. These volumes are all catalogued individually, with a common sublocation of "Roy States Collection" within Rare Books and Special Collections. The remaining series contain a diversity of published, ephemeral, and unpublished materials, including various items by or about Roy States himself. Series A is a group of biographical materials and other items which relate directly to States. Series C consists of booklets and brochures. Series D consists of complete issues of newspapers, and Series E consists of complete issues of serials other than newspapers. Series F contains an assortment of newspaper and magazine clippings, as well as reprinted or photocopied extracts from books, journals and other works. Series G contains materials relating to conferences and meetings, chiefly involving groups and organizations advocating for civil rights; the materials include programs, agendas, minutes and reports, as well as the text of various speeches presented at these events. Series H consists primarily of graphic materials which have been mounted in cardboard-and-plastic display sleeves or in glass-fronted wooden frames. Series I is a group of miscellaneous materials such as studies, reports, typescripts, bibliographies and leaflets.

The fonds document Humphrey's role in the United Nations, academic and professional activities as a McGill professor and advocate of human rights, both in Canada and internationally, mainly 1960-1995, and after his career at the United Nations.

The collection consists of programs and recordings of ensemble performances (including opera) by students, faculty members, and guest artists associated with the Schulich School of Music at McGill University and performed at one of the School's halls (Pollack Hall, Redpath Hall, Tanna Schulich Hall, and Clara Lichtenstein Hall), as well as some performances at venues outside McGill.

Fonds contains an inventory of joint property between the late Jean Orillat, a French Canadian merchant, and his wife, Thérèse-Amable Viger. Inventory signed by notary Mesière. ("Inventaire des biens de la communauté d’entre feu Mr Jean Orillat à dame Thérèse Viger son épouse, 19 juin. 1779.)

Collection includes a scrapbook created by Maude Lilian Bremner during her time in South Africa as a teacher to Boer children in refugee camps, as well as other related loose clippings and ephemera. The scrapbook contains newspaper clippings, postcards, and other ephemera tipped in. Many of the clippings are articles reprinting letters written home by Bremner and other volunteer teachers in her contingent. Collection also includes a published Memorandum respecting the engagement of teachers for the refugee camps in South Africa.

Paul Helmer’s "Growing with Canada" Collection constitutes an important resource for research in Canadian music and culture of the twentieth century. Canadian music and culture of the twentieth century. The Collection has been divided into seven series and contains approximately 1 140 items. Of particular interest are the edited interview transcripts (S.1 and S.7, available in print and .pdf, respectively), which Dr. Helmer had intended Paul Helmer Finding Aid Page 3 of 18 17 July 2014 as the second volume of his project. The Collection also contains the raw material for these edited transcripts: namely, the unedited transcripts and audio recordings themselves, as well as biographical information for each “émigré” musician discussed (with correspondence, copies of source material and photographs), copies of primary and secondary sources on immigration and internment, and miscellaneous items, including correspondence, unused research materials and notes relating to the book launch for "Growing with Canada".

The Roger Doucet Collection consists of over 1000 pieces of sheet music (including scores), 45 manuscripts, and one scrapbook containing photographs and newspaper clippings related to his career as the singer of “O Canada” during professional sports games.

The fonds includes a letter from Lex [i.e. Alexander Silbiger] to [Professor] Donald [Mackay] of the McGill Faculty of Music [now, Schulich School of Music], and a typed curriculum vitae [undated, but probably from 1974] detailing personal data, degrees and diplomas, performing experience, recordings, teaching experience, and compositional output. Also included is a printed concert program for a performance given by the Department of Music, Brandeis University in Slosberg Recital Hall on Sunday, April 27, 1975. In addition, the fonds comprises copies of scores of Gian Lyman’s compositions, including [Sonata for Organ?], Three Bagatelles for Piano (first performance, Montreal, 1959), Pieces for Oboe and Viola (first performance, Montreal, 1959), String quartet (first performance, Montreal, 1960), Essay for three Viols (first performance, Hartford, 1966), Trio for Violin, Viola, and Piano, Quaternions (flute, violin, viola da gamba, and harpsichord), and miscellaneous pieces for choir and organ.

The collection consists of 10 ink manuscript maps and plans on paper, some hand-coloured, depicting the earliest settlements and fortifications at Montreal and Quebec City. The earliest dated document is a plan of the fort of Quebec and is dated 1635. The earliest document in the collection depicting Montreal is believed to date back to 1642. The maps and plans were prepared by Jean Bourdon, seigneur and surveyor for the French colony. Included in the collection is a plan of the earliest Fort Richelieu of which nothing had previously been known. There are also detail drawings of riverside fortifications, probably near Montreal.