Fonds consists of manuscript essays spanning the years 1847-1903. They comprise his inaugural lecture on pericarditis, reminiscences of early days of the Medical Faculty, several discussions of homoeopathy, and papers on vaccination, the registration of the causes of death and other topics. Eleven volumes of his manuscript lectures "On women's medical problems" are also included.
Fonds primarily documents Armstrong’s social life. They consist overwhelmingly of correspondence for the period 1909-1933. Letters from his professional colleagues, such as Sir William Osler, F.J. Shepard, Edward Archibald, William J. Mayo and others in the Mayo Clinic, are concerned largely with personal greetings, association memberships, or Medical Faculty business, particularly honorary degrees. Armstrong's non-medical correspondents include Lord Beaverbrook, Lord Atholstan, Sir Hugh Allan, Arthur Meighen, George Foster and Herbert Symonds. Topics include politics, Armstrong's war work and honours, some medicals matters, and personal news. Appended to this main series are obituaries and letters of sympathy to Armstrong's widow (1933), six photographs, including one of Armstrong in an operating room, and admission cards and diplomas from Armstrong's student years.
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.
The McGill Group in Medical Genetics Oral Histories Collection documents the history of the McGill Group in Medical Genetics, active 1972 to 2009, through fourteen oral histories with the group's members. The Collection contains transcripts in English and in French translation of oral history interviews conducted with the members of the McGill Group in Medical Genetics between 2009 and 2011. The oral history interviews were held in the course of a larger project conducted by a group of researchers at McGill's School of Social Studies of Medicine to document the history of the group and its role in the development of the field of medical genetics in Canada more broadly. These researchers included Christopher Canning, Andrea Tone, George Weisz, and Alberto Cambrosio. The project received guidance from David Rosenblatt and funding from the Canada Research Chair Program in the Social History of Medicine. The fourteen interviews document the members' individual biographies and careers, as well as the history and development of the McGill Group in Medical Genetics during a transformative period in the field of medical genetics. The interviews are available as transcripts, created by Christopher Canning. French translations of the transcripts were also created by McGIll's Translation Services and are also made available. The following individuals were interviewed as part of the oral histories project:
F. Clarke Fraser, interviewed by Christopher Canning on November 3, 2009
David Rosenblatt, interviewed by Christopher Canning on December 1, 2009
Rima Rozen, interviewed by Andrew Hoffman on February 16, 2010
Charles Scriver, interviewed by Andrew Hoffman on March 2, 2010
Reynold Gold, interviewed by Christopher Canning on July 13, 2010
Leonard Pinsky, interviewed by Christopher Canning on July 21, 2010
Emil Skamene, interviewed by Christopher Canning on August 5, 2010
Peter Hechtman, interviewed by Christopher Canning on September 30, 2010
Eric Shoubridge, interviewed by Christopher Canning on October 8, 2010
Mark Trifiro, interviewed by Christopher Canning on October 22, 2010
Andrew Karaplis, interviewed by Christopher Canning on November 30, 2010
Robert MacKenzie, interviewed by Christopher Canning on February 2, 2011
Roy Gravel, interviewed by Christopher Canning on February 4, 2011
H. Susie Tenenhouse, interviewed by Christopher Canning on February 8, 2011
The Sir William Osler Collection, distinct from the Bibliotheca, is an extensive archival holding of Osler's correspondence (including eighteen hundred original letters), daybooks, accounts, engagement books, legal documents, book invoices, membership certificates, notebooks, lectures, addresses, newspaper clippings, photographs, books with manuscript additions, and miscellaneous loose items formerly inserted into individual books in his library. The collection also contains various family papers, including correspondence of Lady Grace Revere Osler and Edward Revere Osler.