The collection consists of three letters from the Great Western Railway Co. to J.W. Fisher, Superintendant of the bridge, 1854-55. There are also two letters, 1862, addressed to William G. Swan, Suspension Bridge, Clifton, Ont. and one invoice from Wood & Leggatt, 1873. Finally there is a letter to C. Strut, 1848, with regard to the lumber contract for the bridge.

The fonds consists of a manuscript account book kept by Allison for the period 1845-1849, 164 pages. There are also three b&w photographs, one of Allison, two of the blacksmith's shop. The date of one photograph is [192-]. A typed transcript of the account book has been made.

There have been three accruals. The first accrual, which consisted of photographic slides and camera equipment, was deacessioned in July 2008. The second accrual (28-1996, 32-1996) measures 1 m, and is arranged into the following series: personal correspondence; legal correspondence and documents; Canadian Red Cross society; Samuel B. Freeman scrapbooks; memorabilia; certificates and awards; photographs and albums. It includes legal correspondence relating to the family property on 341 James St. South. The third accrual (29-1998) measures 3 cm and consists of correspondence, news clippings and a photograph.

Tokens such as these were issued in many places in England between 1787 and 1800 when the government failed to mint enough copper coinage for the conduct of business. One of the coins is a Samuel Johnson copper coin, the other is a Jack Lackington copper coin.

99 items relating to the fur trade in French and British Canada from the 17th to 19th centuries. Some items (e.g. exchanges of correspondence) comprise multiple components. The collection includes correspondence, voyageur contracts, diaries, court proceedings, account books, indentures, bills of exchange, company money, and other documents pertinent to the exercise of the fur trade.

This remarkable collection includes extensive personal and official documentation relating to the exercise of the fur trade in the territory which would eventually become Canada. Included are significant letters (from James McGill, George Simpson, and Catherine Fraser, among others), personal diaries, legal indentures, court papers (especially pertaining to lawsuits), account books, indictments, voyageur contracts, and more. Of particular note are extensive materials relating to the business of several significant fur trading concerns, including both major players like the North West Company and Hudson’s Bay Company and smaller firms like McTavish Frobisher Co., McTavish, McGillvrays and Co., &c. The collection also contains a substantial body of documentation relating to the Anglo-French Cornud family, which was heavily involved in the fur trade.

The collection also contains unlisted supplementary material prepared by Robert D. W. Band and his estate, including transcriptions, facsimiles, handwritten notes, and bibliographic information.

The collection mainly concerns the formation of an Employees’ Collective Bargaining Committee for the workers in Sault Ste. Marie in December 1941 and the negotiations which followed, culminating in a contract in July1943. The collection contains correspondence, labour legislation documents, draft agreements and other materials, and the completed contract. Correspondents include: Leo H. Timmins; Norman W. Bryne, Secretary; R.O. Denman, Vice-President, Managing Director and Treasurer; officials at the Department of Labour; and others. The collection also contains a Progress Report issued in 1934; a Balance Sheet and Notice of Annual Meeting in 1938; and two undated typescripts written during Word War II. One typescript concerns the development of the company in Sault Ste. Marie. The other is not specifically company related and concerns the struggle of tyranny against democracy.

The b&w photographs depict the survey and construction of secondary rail lines in South Saskatchewan from April to July 1930. They were removed from several pages of an album with the heading “C.P.R. Survey”. Beneath this heading was a photograph of Engine 562. The photographs were taken in Coderre, Alma Lake, Fife Lake, Rockglen and surrounding area. Some of the photographs were printed in Regina. Most of the photographs have descriptive captions written on the verso in pen and pencil in seven different hands with separate numbering sequences. They include photographs of the following: tent camps, pile drivers, horses and wagons (bulldozing, grading), people (including the Chinese cook Jim, Cederic White Rodman, Eddie Sellors, George Lowry, “your son” and “me”), laying of ties and steel, a CPR construction coal shed, surveying, Lake Alma, Coderre, Fife Lake and Rockglen. The rail locations are all south of Regina. The lines that run through Coderre and Alma Lake are abandoned. Rockglen still has a working CPR line although there is an abandoned line just to the west. Fife Lake does not appear on this abandoned rail lines map.

The stock share certificate is stamped "cancelled".

The fonds consists of b&w photographs removed from an album. They are both family and business photographs. The business photographs include one with a group of men standing in front of a make-shift building with the sign “Robert Miller & Sons, General Contractors”. Many photographs show the construction of what appears to be a lock wall with gates. The family photographs include the following: formal family portraits, one of which is captioned “Young Fred”; vacation photographs at the family cottage north of Toronto – one is dated 1904 – with boats; vacation photographs of a trip out West possibly in the mid to late 1910s, including the Yale Hotel and Stanley Park; photographs of various family members in automobiles with one captioned “Packard?”,possibly mid to late 1910s; lakeships, group on a boat, children playing and other photographs. In addition, the fonds contains the marriage certificate of Fred R. Miller and Edna A. Noxon.

There have been two accruals. The first accrual consists of three copybooks, 1934-1938, kept by Isy Esses. The copybooks contain carbons of his handwritten letters as well as financial statements and shipment lists. Other documents, such as telegrams, receipts, invoices, and bills of exchange, are either pasted into the books or found loose. There are also incoming and outgoing letters and other documents, 1938-1941, which have been removed from a binder. The second accrual consists of one copybook, 1939-1942, as well as several files of correspondence. Almost all of the fonds is in English, although there are a few documents in Arabic.