The David Hume Collection contains letters and other ephemera brought together from multiple acquisitions. The principal manuscripts are found in is the bound volume containing letters from David Hume to the Comtesse de Boufflers. There are also letters from Jean-Jacques Rousseau and others for a total of 59 letters. This collection of letters was the basis for the anonymously edited Private Correspondence of David Hume with Several Distinguished Persons, Between the Years 1761 and 1776. Now First Published From the Originals. (London: Printed for Henry Colburn and Co., 1820.) One of the McGill copies of this book belonged to the Montreal lawyer and book collector Frederick Griffin (1798-1877). In addition to this volume there are eight other Hume letters. Some of these have been published by Professor Klibansky and Ernest C. Mosser in New Letters of David Hume. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954). Finally, there are photographic copies of Hume manuscripts held by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and typed copies of official letters on Canada from the manuscripts of Sir Mark Dalrymple.

Collection contains primarily of 9 photograph albums containing 457 silver print photographs, and 4 printed items. It also includes records relating to Canadian railways and an export catalogue from the Canadian Car and Foundry Company.

The Coppenrath Collection of Voyageurs Contracts for the North West Company partners contains 52 contracts for the period from approximately 1800 to 1821. These document the terms of engagement for men going into the North West . Voyageur contracts are of particular interest for study of the fur trade, Canada's first major industry, because they document the conditions of employment for many of the journeymen ("engagés") involved in the trade, both those who worked on the Ottawa River and those who "wintered" in the North West. The contracts are dated from 1800 to 1821 with printed forms from before 1800 being used in some cases. A significant number of outfitters are included namely the firm of McTavish, McGillivrays & Co. with various partners including John Ogilvy and Thomas Thain, Pierre de Rocheblave and earlier partnership – McTavish, Frobisher & Co. As well, there are contracts with lesser known outfitters. These contracts provide not only the names of the "engagés" but usually their place of residence and the conditions and terms of their employment.

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.

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.

Collection consists of 36 autograph letters written to James Cameron and his son Archie. The correspondence includes letters by friends, associates, and members of the Cameron family in Toronto, Lake Beauport, Scotland, England, Hull, and Montreal. Subjects include family news, freemasonry, business (regarding deed of sales), factory work in Toronto, curling, and an April Fools' Day letter. With three extant envelopes.

Collections consists of holiday greeting cards. Description is forthcoming and will be published as it becomes available.

The collection consists of six of Walter Crane’s sketchbooks. Two of the sketchbooks date to the summer of 1864, and the remaining four date to the summers of 1897, 1901, 1903, and 1905. The collection’s dates offer a contrast between Crane’s early and later career as an artist. The contents feature his preliminary designs, pictorial observations of the world, and textual notes.

Crane’s sketchbooks are filled with landscapes and towns and building interiors and exteriors from Crane’s life in England and travels to Ireland. Aligned with Crane’s commissioned and published works, the sketchbooks include sketches for his book designs, a heraldic eagle, and plans for a panel painting or frieze. Flora, fauna, men, women, children, Greco-Roman figures and architectural details make up the wide range of subjects covered in the sketchbooks.

The drawings range from Crane’s rough ideas expressed in his preliminary sketches and line drawings to tonal drawings and studies of individuals, landscapes, and flowers. The drawing techniques play with perspective, topography, bodily gesture, facial expression, tone, line, outline, form, and colour.

Crane’s notations appear throughout the sketchbooks, including on the sketches themselves and on their facing pages. He also hand-wrote inspirational excerpts from poems and essays which includes quotes from Charles Kingsley and John Ruskin works.

Between blank and torn pages, the medium for the textual and visual content shifts between pen and pencil on paper. Several landscapes are full-page watercolours on paper.

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.