The fonds consists of documents relating to his career in logging, including membership cards in various union organizations; correspondence with Myrtle Bergren relating to her book, <em>Tough Timber</em>, on the history of the loggers of British Columbia; union correspondence, and minutes of some union meetings including a meeting of October 3, 1948 in which a motion was passed to disaffiliate the membership from the International Woodworkers of America (IWA) and form the Woodworkers Industrial Union of Canada.

The records in the first accrual reflect Johnson’s activities both as a leader in the The Lumber Worker’s Industrial Union (LWIU) during the first half of the 1930s and his later activities as part of the Lumber and
Sawmill Workers’ Union (LSWU) and IWA from 1937 to 1963. Included in the LWIU period are detailed financial and membership account books as well as meeting minutes and correspondence relating to the 1934 strike. This accrual contains the following series: Lumber Workers’ Industrial Union series, Lumber Workers’ Industrial Union financial records series, Lumber and Sawmill Workers’ Union (Local 1-7 1) series, Photograph series, Workers’ Unity League series, and Personal records series.

The second accrual consists of records related to Arne Johnson’s activities as a logger and trade unionist. There are two series: Union activities series and Historical controversies series.

The third accrual consists of two files added to the Personal records series: one file contains a variety of personal documents, including Johnson’s birth certificate, marriage certificate, transportation records, and correspondence; one is a notebook consisting mostly of newspaper clippings.

The fonds consists mainly of subject files created by Anthony Gargrave in his work as a CCF MLA for the riding of Mackenzie, British Columbia, 1952-1958. Some of the subject areas include forestry, fishing, parks, education, municipal affairs, and Indian affairs.

Fonds consists of course materials, correspondence, subject files, reports, clippings, printed material, and index cards, relating to Hutchinson's work with the UBC Department of Biology and Botany. The fonds reflects his research interests, which included studies of conifers, forest ecology and tree genetics, particularly of the Douglas fir; to a limited extent, his personal life is also documented. The fonds also includes approximately 3,600 photographic negatives and prints (most black and white, some in colour), 1,200 lantern slides, and some transparencies. The photographs are mainly microscopic images of plants and trees in British Columbia, Mexico, Cuba, Florida and South Africa in the early part of the twentieth century. There is also a photograph album accompanying Hutchinson's report Grazing Lands in British Columbia. Finally, there are maps, charts, and diagrams, which are listed and stored separately.

The fonds consists of records related to British Columbia politician and judge Alexander Malcolm Manson's life. The records in this fonds encompass all aspects of Manson's life and were produced both through his career and in his personal life. Notably, the fonds contains extensive records from Manson's political career, his judicial career, and the investments and trusts he managed. Many areas of Manson's life overlapped considerably, including overlapping careers, and records related to one area of his life may be found among records related to another area.

The contents of this fonds consist predominantly of correspondence, including carbon copies of correspondence sent by Manson. This correspondence pertains both to Manson's career as well as to various parts of his personal life and has been arranged according to the file names used by Manson wherever possible; correspondence that has not otherwise been sorted by Manson has been sorted as "general correspondence," a designation which also includes personal correspondence. Other types of records in this fonds include meeting minutes, court proceedings, financial statements, newspaper clippings, governmental reports, shareholder reports, certificates, invitations and event programmes, and photographs.

The fonds has been arranged into eight series: legal career; political career; judicial career; finances; personal life; Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; general correspondence; and photographs, scrapbooks, and ephemera.

The fonds consists primarily of Alan Haig-Brown's written and photographic works on the marine industry in Canada and internationally. Photographs document ships and boats, maritime scenes and personalities in fishing and ship-building. The geographical scope of the photographs includes British Columbia, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii; Southern Coastal US (Texas and Louisiana); Thailand, China, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines; Netherlands; Brazil.

Textual records include annotated drafts for several of Haig-Brown's books, hand-written notes, newspaper clippings, design schematics and correspondence.

The fonds also contains audio recordings of interviews and oral histories with figures in the maritime trades.

The records document Chambers' activities in three research projects that all attempt to reconcile the disputes between preservation and development interests in resource management. The first project is documented extensively. The last two projects offer only a glimpse into the response of the Nazko-Kluskus First Nations to the issues raised in the Purcell study. These papers offer valuable evidence of the continuing conflict surrounding resource management and First Nations land rights in B.C. and Chambers's role in attempting to find a resolution. There are three series of records that correspond to these three projects. Because the original order has been lost, it has been reconstructed with reference to the functions and activities of each project. Files within each series have been arranged in chronological order. Undated documents have been placed at the back of each file.