The fonds contains photographs, drawings, textual records, and other material used by France Gagnon Pratte as the basis for her 1987 book, "Country Houses for Montrealers, 1892 - 1924: The Architecture of E. and W.S. Maxwell". There are also records related to a book project on the architecture associated with the Canadian Pacific Railway Line.

The fonds chiefly reflects Gordon Edwards' professional practice, both in consortium with various firms and as an individual practitioner, and also reflects his teaching career at McGill University and the Université de Montreal, however there are some files of a personal nature. Correspondence, lighting design proposals, and their accompanying documentation (such as architectural plans) are included. A majority of the files representing his professional projects contain the same types of documents: architectural plans, lighting fixture schedules, illuminance grids, and manufacturer's literature and brochures. In addition, there are some miscellaneous photographs both of professional and personal nature, negatives, and fabric samples.

The correspondence is both personal and business-related; most of it deals with his practice and various projects and proposals, but there is also correspondence relating to legal and banking matters. There are letters from Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau and Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. There is also correspondence from noted architect Moshe Safdie and Canadian War Museum architect Raymond Moriyama.

Plans include lighting designs for the Supreme Court of Canada, the Outremont Library, and the McCord Museum expansion project.

The fonds contains architectural drawings and textual records documenting Montreal projects by the architect John Smith Archibald as well as the various firms with which he was associated, including Saxe & Archibald, Archibald & Illsley, and Archibald, Illsley & Templeton. The architectural projects documented in the fonds include hotels, clubs, office and commercial buildings, homes, railway stations, churches, and schools.

The fonds consists of professional papers, architectural and silver artifact photographs, drawings, teaching materials, research files on historical buildings in Québec, and heraldry designs for Boy Scouts. The bulk of the fonds consists of professional papers and three-dimensional objects (1889-1949). These have been arranged into twelve categories based on function: notes by Traquair for architecture curriculum courses; personal items of Traquair; signed notes of Gordon Antoine Neilson; signed notes of Marius Barbeau; Boy Scouts' flag design and correspondence; drawer list of drawings of French-Canadian architecture as arranged by Traquair; source clippings/publications; student sketchbooks; historic notes on individual places; publications of Traquair; publications by others working in the field or allied fields; line blocks. 14 original drawings in the fonds date from 1901-1921 and include watercolours and drawings of Egypt and India as well as details and sketches of churches in England and Italy. There are also approximately 550 measured drawings of historic buildings in Montréal, Québec City and elsewhere in the province made by Traquair and his students. Approximately 5 m of photographs portray landscapes, historical buildings, furnishings, and rural people at work in Québec; some copies of historical prints and photographs are also included. The historical architecture of Québec is also the subject of 1 m of plastic negatives, and a further 40 cm shows old Québec silverware.

The collection consists of reports and plans for urban and rural areas from all provinces of Canada and some international cities, including Boston, New York, Chicago, France, and London, dating from the late 1950s to the 1990s. Most of the material consists of plans and reports for future land-uses that are revised, usually every decade. It also includes regulations for these areas, such as zoning. Some reports deal with sectorial policies such as housing, transportation, conservation, or environmental protection.