The fonds consists of papers of the Charlton family principally generated by Ormand Lee Charlton and his son Darwin, who in turn functioned as custodian of the records. The records themselves generally relate to the early CCF movement in British Columbia, and other socialist and labour movements across Canada. Papers include information about the Canadian Cooperative Society (Ruskin Mills) and the Industrial Union (Ruskin) in the 1890s. The fonds also includes several copies of the CCF news, the party newspaper, as well as scrapbooks, clippings, drafts of speeches and addresses, correspondence and photographs relate to the family's involvement in socialist politics. The fonds also includes a collection of CCF poems written by Charlton's wife Annie, and essays written by famed socialist thinker Mildred Macleod.