The collection shows Dr. Casey Wood's interest for ophthalmology, especially in the history of ophthalmology but also for medicine in the countries he visited, among them Ceylon. The collection contains rough copies of published articles or planned papers on these subjects. Ayurvedic medicine is a major interest. The collection also contains three versions of the "Descriptive catalogue of the Casey A. Wood Collection of Sinhalese Materia Medica for the Museum of McGill University".

The fonds contains Norman Bethune's letter correspondences, including numerous letters between him and his former wife Frances Penney. The majority of the fonds consists of material about Bethune: newspaper and magazine clippings, photographs, slides and negatives, an original play about his life, a documentary script, various memorabilia (e.g. commemorative stamps, brochures, pamphlets, buttons and pins, posters, fliers), and writings about Bethune's work in Canada, Spain, and China.

A large portion of the collection is concerned with the growth of the Medical Library at McGill. Other than the Catalogue of Books from the Library of the Medical Faculty of McGill College which dates from 1845, the earliest preserved records are the handwritten Library Committee reports of Dr. Francis Shepherd, dating from 1880. The textual material includes early library reports, surveys, information about library staff, finance, gifts, procedures, as well as information regarding the Osler Library and departmental building plans and renovations. The collection also includes correspondence, notes, photographs, and artifacts associated with 'McGill Medical Men' including: James "King" Cook, Robert Palmer Howard, William Wright, Robert Lea MacDonnell, Richard Lea MacDonnell, Herbert Stanley Birkett, and others. There are many reprints in the collection – some bound into volumes, and many that include signatures and written notes. The collection also includes photographs, scrapbooks, and glass lantern slides (some of which are from World War One), books, and theses. The Medical Library's accession records, index cards, and journal cards are also preserved in the collection, still housed in their original catalogue drawers (see Series 7). The collection includes various announcements, university calendars and directories related to the Faculty of Medicine, as well as communication, meeting minutes, and essays belonging to the McGill Medical Society (1884-1907), the McGill Reporting Society (1926-1951), and the Montreal Dermatological Society (1930-1951). Lastly, the collection includes miscellaneous textual materials related to McGill and the Faculty of Medicine, for instance McGill student attendance cards from 1828-1872 (with course name and professor details).

The collection consists of 3 scrapbooks assembled by Richard L. MacDonnell, and 1 McGill Dissection Room Record Book created and kept by MacDonnell from April 1883-1891. The scrapbooks contain notes, patient prescription information, reprints of various publications by MacDonnell, and lots of news clippings concerning various topics such as the history of Montreal, McGill University, the McGill faculty, Montreal General Hospital, and obituary notices. A second volume of dissection records (1896-1908) was compiled after MacDonnell's death, and can be found in the library catalogue.

The collection contains a notebook, a scrapbook and some correspondence of Richard Robert Madden. The notebook includes drafts of his poems in his writing, ca 1830; notes by T.M. Madden pertaining to his tutors and schoolfellows at Radcliffe, 1854; and medical lectures at Trinity College, Dublin, 1855. The scrapbook includes clippings of controversies, enquiries and letters relating to slave trade, ca 1840.

The collection contains the Holmes Gold Medal, photographs, certificates, a poem, letters, newspaper clippings and memoirs.

The collection contains a photo album of classmates and Annie Hall, and three diplomas McGill MD, CM 1891, Ontario College of Physicians and Surgeons, 1891, and the Quebec College of Physicians and Surgeons 1892.