The Charles Reiner Collection consists of correspondence, newspaper reviews and clippings, performance programmes, personal documents including legal material, photographs, writings, published and unpublished music by Reiner and other composers, audio and visual recordings of Reiner and other performers, books, and awards. Of particular interest is correspondence from Rudolf Serkin, Alfred Cortot, and Kurt Waldheim; legal documents from both before and after Reiner’s immigration to Canada; and the extensive collection of programmes and newspaper clippings that document Reiner’s extensive performance career.

Paul Helmer’s "Growing with Canada" Collection constitutes an important resource for research in Canadian music and culture of the twentieth century. Canadian music and culture of the twentieth century. The Collection has been divided into seven series and contains approximately 1 140 items. Of particular interest are the edited interview transcripts (S.1 and S.7, available in print and .pdf, respectively), which Dr. Helmer had intended Paul Helmer Finding Aid Page 3 of 18 17 July 2014 as the second volume of his project. The Collection also contains the raw material for these edited transcripts: namely, the unedited transcripts and audio recordings themselves, as well as biographical information for each “émigré” musician discussed (with correspondence, copies of source material and photographs), copies of primary and secondary sources on immigration and internment, and miscellaneous items, including correspondence, unused research materials and notes relating to the book launch for "Growing with Canada".