The fonds consists of material related to David Aberle's research activities, academic work and writing. It includes the notebooks and journals of his fieldwork beginning in 1940-41 and continuing through 1991. These consist primarily of field notes and other notes made during and after those trips. The vast majority of this material relates to Aberle's work with the Navajo in Arizona. The fonds also includes notes, articles, data and codes relating to Aberle's research into kinship and language among the Navajo, Mongols and Athapaskans, and extensive research into Navajo culture and economy. The fonds also includes correspondence on a variety of academic subjects, including Aberle's teaching materials from UBC's Department of Anthropology and Sociology. His work includes several reports written as part of the Navajo-Hopi land dispute. The fonds includes research notes for many of Aberle's essays and articles, as well as chapters and appendixes of his books.

The fonds consists of material related to Kathleen Gough's research activities. It includes the notes of her Ph.D. fieldwork in Kerala, India, 1947-1949 and her return in 1964, and those from her primary fieldwork in the Tanjore District of Southeast India in 1950-1953, then again in 1974. These consist primarily of field notes and other notes made during and after those trips. At the same time, much of the material can be found under the "Kerala" (1947-1949, 1964) or "Tanjore District (1950- 1953/1976)" series. Similar and related material can also be located under the "Miscellaneous" and "Lectures and other Notes" series headings. The fonds also includes several maps of various locations in Southeast India and several genealogies. Finally, the fonds also includes several manuscripts of Gough's numerous essays and the complete manuscript of her last book, Political Economy in Vietnam (1990).

The fonds consists of field notebooks, reference materials and a forestry report written by Marchant. Of particular note to UBC is Marchant’s research in the summer of 1979 on the botany of the cliffs at Point Grey.

The fonds consists of field notes and transcripts of interviews with the Dane-zaa gathered between 1965 and 1969.