The fonds consists of textual records and artifacts related to surgeon and researcher Dr. Charles R. Drew. It contains letters, artifacts, and a yearbook from Drew's time as a student at McGill University, including his notable achievements as a student athlete. These items include medals, a track meet program, an athletic shirt, and a yearbook. The fonds also contains invitations, pamphlets, and other ephemera related to tributes and honors awarded to Drew, including printed testimonials and materials associated with schools, lectures, and institutions named after him, such as the Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School. These tributes and honors primarily recognize his contributions to medical science, but also encompass the program from his induction into the McGill Athletics Hall of Fame. Two letters in the fonds addressed to Drew's sister and his wife reflect on his accomplishments and include reminiscences from friends. Additionally, the fonds comprises five reprints of articles authored by Drew and two items concerning his career at Howard University and the Freedman's Hospital, including an outline for gathering a patient's medical history.
Leacock's papers comprise manuscripts of books, articles, and speeches written ca 1913-1937: included are Leacock's history of Montréal, and comic pieces such as "Too Much College", "The Stamp Album World", "Simple Stories of Success" and "Bed-Time, Stories for Grown-Up People". Correspondence covers the period ca 1915-1944. There are also newspaper articles by and about Leacock; book orders and related correspondence; manuscripts of articles and speeches about Leacock; and correspondence concerning donations to the Leacock Collection (Approximately 1948-1960).
These consist of manuscripts of various Goldbloom's writings on paediatrics as well as various articles and speeches, 1929-1963, the manuscript of an unpublished short story titled "On a Monday Afternoon" and correspondence with Samuel Behrman, 1957-1965.
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).
The collection contains materials related to a bicycle relay ride between Sarnia, Ontario, and Montreal, Quebec, held June 15-16, 1894 by the Canadian Wheelmen's Association (CWA) under its president, A. T. Lane, an early importer of bicycles to Canada who is credited by many contemporary sources as the first person to ride a high wheel bicycle in North America. The relay ride was organised as a promotional event for the CWA's annual meet, hosted in Montreal that year. The collection contains a newspaper article from the Toronto Mail (June 16, 1894) detailing the route and listing the participants, as well as a leather travel satchel used to carry a congratulatory letter to the president of the Canadian Wheelman's Association to be signed by the mayors of the cities and towns along the route. The satchel is embossed with the text: "Sarnia to Montreal relay ride, 1894." The collection also contains a published programme from the CWA annual meet, entitled, "Our city and our sports : souvenir and official programme of the 12th annual meet of the Canadian Wheelmen's Association, Montreal, July 1894."
The collection was formed by the Canadian puppeteer Rosalynde Osborne Stearn as a comprehensive library on the puppet theatre with representative examples of puppets characteristic of different periods and countries. It includes some 2714 books and periodicals from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries on the puppet theatre in various European languages as well as scripts for puppet plays. The collection contains 171 puppets from Europe, Asia (including shadow puppets), and the Americas, from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. Also included are toy theatres, theatrical portraits, paintings, prints and posters.
Etchings by Giovanni Battista Piranesi printed in Paris between 1800 and 1809. Sixteen plates numbered I-XVI, with the title plate first used in the second edition of 1761 and the two plates added to the second edition, Pl. II “The Man on a Rack,” and plate V, “The Lion-Bas Reliefs” as well as plate XVI, the reworked “Pier with Chains.” All plates with Roman numerals added in the second editions, numbered I-XVI, including the title plate.
The collection comprises more than 6,000 Canadian and non-Canadian bookplates. The Masson collection reflects the range and scope of the art of bookplate design, mirroring period styles and incorporating the owners’ personal tastes and pursuits. References to heraldry, literature, nature and art are common. The collection was created by Montrealer Philippe Masson (1911-1944) and includes both personal and institutional plates. The nearly 3,000 Canadian bookplates are arranged alphabetically. The rest of the bookplate collection is divided between armorial and non-armorial plates. This unique collection represents a wide range of book ownership reflecting institutions, book sellers, and individuals as well as over one hundred examples of bookplates from Canadian libraries. The chronological coverage dates to more than a century from the early nineteenth century and continuing to the beginning of the Second World War. Bookplate design is a minor yet notable form of graphic design. Bookplates reveal a great deal about our book-centered culture. For many institutions, bookplates possess an iconographic or emblematic value reflecting the values of the institution. As well, within an institutional setting, bookplates are often used to acknowledge individual collections, gifts and bequests. Finally, for the individual the bookplate is a powerful symbol of possession and a love of books. Among the Canadian bookplates, many well-known Canadian artists are represented in the Masson collection including J. E. H. MacDonald, his son Thoreau MacDonald, Jean-Paul Lemieux, and W. F. G. Godfrey.