Fonds consists of original documents and printed materials concerning King’s research, but there is also some general correspondence, student materials, and personal papers.

Research materials comprise manuscripts, addresses, and research notes. The manuscripts and addresses (1901-1933) contain essays on fog-signals and the transmission of sound, radiation, the physics of viscous fluids, the hot-wire anemometer, astronomy, and theoretical problems. The research notes (1904-1935) comprise approximately 50 files. Eight of these concern fog-signal research (1915 1926) and include some correspondence. Other topics include radiation, physics of gases and liquids, acoustics, astronomy, electromagnetism and mathematical problems.

General correspondence covering the years 1908-1936 contains letters from his fellow physicists, including Rutherford, A.N. Shaw, E.S. Bieler and H.T. Barnes, on research and personal matters. There are also letters of introduction (1905), correspondence regarding his appointment at McGill, letters to the editor of Nature (1926), the National Research Council (1933-1934), and the Central Computing Bureau (1918). As well, files concerning ice research (1920), tests at Prescott, including his diary of the expedition (1920), and the St. Lawrence waterway (1931-1932) can be found here.

King's private papers comprise a diary for 1902, reading notes and reviews of Maria Chapdelaine (1919-1921), his pension papers, and an inventory of periodicals in his library. There are also two formal photographs and a number of snapshots of school groups, Cambridge scenes, and laboratory equipment.

Fonds relates almost entirely to Reilley’s career as a university teacher and research scientist. Teaching materials consist of lecture notes and examination questions for his courses on heat, light and sound, as well as materials for a popular course on the general principles of science. Papers illustrating his research interests are grouped around two topics, fire and noise. Tables, notes, photographs, reports and correspondence concern his experiments in using gypsum and gyprock as flame-proof building materials (1930-1932). Notebooks record his survey of noise levels on Bleury and St. Catherine Streets (1930-1938), and notes and correspondence document his research on the acoustics of public buildings (1929-1936). A hospital administration course designed by Gerhart Hertman, but based on Reilley's work, concentrates on the twin problems of insulation and acoustics (1939). There are also files of printed background material on noise pollution.

The collection consists of the following four categories: biographical, obituary, pictorial, and memorial. Apart from copies of two addresses delivered from England by radio to the meeting of the Royal Society of Canada at McGill (1930), and an extensive collection of off-prints, the biographical documentation is about, not by, Rutherford. It comprises newsclippings about Rutherford's work and awards (1909), a curriculum vitae to 1907, a copy of Shaw's article on Rutherford's departure from McGill (1907) and E.R. Terroux's catalogue of Rutherford's McGill laboratory.

Photographic materials include five individual portraits of Rutherford (1905-1937) and a group portrait of Rutherford with other members of the Macdonald Physics Laboratory (1904-1905). There are also two views of the Macdonald Physics Building lecture theatre and the Physics Department staff taken at the Rutherford Memorial Lecture, 1937.

Obituary materials largely consist of newsclippings about Rutherford's death and copies of commemorative articles. Also included are two drafts of A.N. Shaw's essay Rutherford at McGill (1938), as well as correspondence concerning this article. There is also a copy of McGill's telegram of sympathy to Lady Rutherford, her reply, and some correspondence concerning the disposal of Rutherford's desk.

Various memorial projects in Rutherford's name are documented by A.N. Shaw's correspondence files (1939-1957). These include incoming and copies of outgoing correspondence about the Rutherford Plaque, the Rutherford Museum (with E.R. Terroux), and the joint Royal Society-Royal Society of Canada Rutherford Memorial Scholarships. This last file largely concerns subscriptions to the fund, but also contains campaign literature and reports. Furthermore, copies of correspondence (1896-1937, 35 cm (Large MSS), the originals of which are at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge University are located in the Archives.

Fonds contains a transcript of Keys' radio broadcast on "Radio in the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky" (1931) and files of correspondence with university, military, and government officials concerning the McGill Radio Mechanics Training Course (1941-1945). There are also a few teaching materials from this course.