These papers comprise office files for the Parks and Playgrounds Association from 1902 to 1972, and for the Community Garden League from 1933 to 1959. The records of the Parks and Playgrounds Association include administrative and financial records, scrapbooks, photographs, public relations material and information files. Administrative records consist of general and committee minutes, 1902-1972, annual reports, 1902-1964, personnel files, 1937-1947, files of correspondence and memoranda on individual sites as well as themes, e.g. water pollution, 1906-1972; and various surveys and studies, 1912-1967. Financial operations are documented by budgets, 1960-1971, financial statements, 1948-1967; ledger sheets, 1951-1961; and invoices, 1939-1957, 1967. Scrapbooks of newsclippings cover the periods 1902-1904, 1916-1932, 1935-1937, 1939, and 1949-1964; some scrapbooks are thematic, e.g. one on the Mount Royal tram line. Over 1,000 photographs taken ca 1906-ca 1960 show parks, playgrounds, landmarks, street scenes, recreation activities, and the work of the Association. Public relations files, 1937-1952, 1955-1962, contain press releases, briefs, petitions, legislative bills, and correspondence related to lobbying and public awareness. Information files contain largely printed material on parks and recreation in Canada and the United States, 1935-1968. Administrative records of the Community Garden League include minutes of its general committee, 1934-1952; annual reports, 1933-1959; correspondence and information files (1938-1949), and notices, 1938-1953, 1959.

The Montreal Mendelssohn Choir Collection comprises several volumes of sheet music from the Choir’s library. The choral folios were compiled and bound into eight volumes at the time of their donation to McGill University in 1895. The estate of D. Torrance Fraser, a former Choir member, donated another four volumes of choral music in 1926 and 1927. Three volumes contain second copies of the pieces from the Choir’s library donated thirty years prior; the fourth volume donated in 1927 contains a number of pieces performed by the Choir but not found in the seven extant volumes from the Choir’s library.

The administrative records of the MCSA contain annual reports, 1921-1968; minutes of annual meetings, 1956-1971; minutes and correspondence of the Board of Governors and its Executive Committee, 1953-1972; files on budgets and staffing, 1962-1973; and documents on the merger with the Conseil de Développement Social. The operations of standing committees (Committee on Committees, Admissions and Standards, Nominating, etc) are documented by broken series of minutes from 1937 to 1971. Far more extensive are the papers of special committees researching social problems such as school leaving, 1934; single parents, 1949; housing and urban renewal, 1967-1971; dental services for children, 1950-1961; and low-cost medication, 1970-1971. These files include case work studies, correspondence, minutes and reports. The question of day care is particularly well covered, both through committee materials and through the files of Barbara Heppner, MCSA Day Care Coordinator, 1969-70. Correspondence files contain letters and reports from member agencies, university schools of social work, co-ordinating bodies such as the Canadian Welfare Council and the Conseil de Bien-Etre du Québec, various citizen's groups, and government bodies. A large percentage of this material consists of information files, containing reports of, and studies by, American and Canadian social agencies, conference and workshop proceedings, and materials on social legislation.

Frobisher's papers comprise a letterbook of the North-West Co. containing copies of letters written by Frobisher from April 1787 to October 1788, two original letters to Simon McTavish, 1796, and one from him, 1787, business and legal documents, largely concerning the estate of James McGill, 1810-1834, and a diary, 1806-1810, mostly a record of where he dined.

The fonds documents John Mappin’s occupation as an independent antiquarian book seller, his personal interest in the history of print and Canadian politics, and his personal achievements as an author. The wide variety of subject files found in this collection are almost entirely North American based and span from 1733-2004. These records reflect Mappin’s particular focus on Canadian authors and Canadiana in general.

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.

The collection consists of 10 ink manuscript maps and plans on paper, some hand-coloured, depicting the earliest settlements and fortifications at Montreal and Quebec City. The earliest dated document is a plan of the fort of Quebec and is dated 1635. The earliest document in the collection depicting Montreal is believed to date back to 1642. The maps and plans were prepared by Jean Bourdon, seigneur and surveyor for the French colony. Included in the collection is a plan of the earliest Fort Richelieu of which nothing had previously been known. There are also detail drawings of riverside fortifications, probably near Montreal.

Collection contains a manuscript letter from Henry Lyman to his wife, Mary, in Granby; dated July 25, 1849, when the druggist shop Wm. Lyman & Co. was located at 194 and 196 St. Paul St. in Montreal, the letter deals principally with the cholera epidemic in the city.