The fonds present extremely rich source for the study of Montreal and Quebec social and legal history. The fonds (mainly 1820-1890) comprises of judicial diaries or judges' bench books, which contain unique information: the opinions and memoranda of judges and lawyers of the Lower Canada and the Quebec Superior Court written down in the course of trials. They reflect the judge's interpretation of the law, his reaction to arguments and they show the background to official verdicts. The fonds contain bench books of Judges Robert Mackay (1871-1882), Andrew Stuart (1859-1885), Frederick Torrance (1869-1880). There are also record books of several law firms including Rose and Holmes (1840-1850), and Torrance and Morris (1850-1875). Included is also administrative correspondence, factums on various Montreal judges and lawyers, dockets and other records of law firms, legal authority books, commonplace books and other notes of individual lawyers. Present is also small number of lecture notes by lecturers in the Faculty of Law, student notes, scrapbooks as well as legal notes of unknown provenance. The bench books are in bound volume arranged in chronological order, the correspondence and authorities books are arranged by name or subject. There are contemporary indexes to the bench books of F. Torrance and R. Mackay.
The earlier dates of the fonds concern John Monk, Elizabeth Monk’s grandfather, and consists of genealogical tables, originals of his and his wife’s wills and a xerox copy of his admission to the Bar of Lower Canada. There are letters from both, Elizabeth Monk’s mother and father, some of which cover the years her father was prospecting in Yukon. Later dates include newspaper clippings recording many of the outstanding events in Elizabeth Monk’s life. There are a few personal letters, a copy of her valedictory address to the Class of 1919 and correspondence relating to the McGill Marlet Memorial Fund established after her death. Other correspondence, mainly copies of outgoing letters (1962-1975), Elizabeth Monk's student essays (1915) and high school and university certificates won by Elizabeth Monk are pat of the collection. copies of outgoing letters (1962-1975) and Elizabeth Monk’s student essays (1915) are part of the collection.
McDonald retained his lecture notes for every course he took at McGill, together with laboratory notebooks and student projects. There are also a few notes from his dental course. Photographs concentrate on student outings and entertainments, engineering field trips, family portraits, and the Quebec Bridge disaster.
This archive consists largely of Ruttan's notes on general pathology and physiology lectures given by William Osler as well as a second series of notes on physiology, 1881-1882.
Eric Aloys Sprenger's papers comprise course materials, and items reflecting sports and social activities at McGill in the 1930s. Apart from an annotated high-school geometry text, Sprenger's course materials are from his years at McGill. They comprise class and tutorial notes from each of the four years of the Engineering course. Also included in this series are exercises in freehand and mechanical drawing, 1930, and the outlines, drafts, and typed copies of summer essays for 1934, 1937, and 1939, on paper-making machines. Other reflections of student life are provided by copies of the McGill Daily for 21 November 1938 and November 29 1940 (the latter reporting the death of William Sprenger) and a song-sheet for an Engineering 'Smoker', 1935. A large scrapbook of newspaper clippings and programmes for swimming meets at McGill and the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association gives particular attention to William Sprenger's participation, 1926-1935.
A series has been dedicated to William Paterson Sprenger, Eric’s brother and the textual and photographic records concern his school and college record, and his death and subsequent memorials.
Duchow's papers document the social aspects of his deanship, his involvement in faculty committees, and his work as a teacher. Apart from some personal letters (1930-1953), Duchow's correspondence covers his years as acting Dean and Dean of the Faculty, and largely concerns the social side of his position: speaking engagements, invitations to attend conferences and social events, patronage of musical performances, and the entertainment of visitors. His committee files are mainly devoted to the graduate studies programmes (1966-1976); there are also files for the Committee on Theory and minutes of the Theory Department meetings (1968-1976), for the Music Library Sub-Committee, and the Sub-Committee on Musicology (1968-1975). Duchow's teaching materials comprise a markbook for history and analysis courses (1963-1965) (restricted); assignments and class materials for courses in Bibliography and Methodology, Analysis, and Mediaeval Music; xeroxed lecture notes on Dufay, Dunstable, and Flemish renaissance composers; files on graduate theses proposed to, and directed by Duchow; and copies of letters of appraisal sent to teaching institutions and granting bodies.
These scattered Henry family papers, except for a few letters from William Taft and about Dr. Bowditch addressed to John Stewart Henry, 1929-30, reflect Leila Henry's interest in family history. They include genealogical charts, a biographical sketch of Lysbeth Dawson Murdoch, and a copy of a Banffshire newspaper of 1894 reprinting sections of Barbara Mitchell's diary of her return journey from Nova Scotia to Scotland.
