The fonds consists of photographs and textual records spanning the period 1710-1984, predominantly 1850-1940, related to business and personal lives of five generations of the McLennan family (immediate and extended), as well as to the work of Montreal lawyer, Frederick Griffin. McLennan family materials consist of photographs; incoming and outgoing correspondence; genealogical information and family histories; diaries and remembrances; newspaper clippings and ephemera; official documents; obituaries and tributes; drafts of writings, research notes, and sketches; and other documents.

The McLennan family materials includes a series reflecting William McLennan’s writing career, personal interests, and family life. William McLennan’s materials include full and partial drafts of published and unpublished works; research and reference materials; incoming and outgoing correspondence; legal and official documents; collected historical materials and documents; notes; sketches; journals; newspaper clippings and ephemera; photographs; and other materials.

The fonds also consists of a series reflecting Frederick Griffin’s occupation as a lawyer and his role as founder of the Canadian Loan Company. Frederick Griffin’s materials include incoming correspondence and draft responses; various financial and legal documents; legal research notes and drafts of legal documents; memoranda; meeting minutes; land and property documents and surveyors reports; newspaper clippings and ephemera; and other documents.

Finally, the fonds contains a series consisting of William Durie McLennan’s records, which were primarily created between 1914 and 1915 and pertain to his military service during the First World War. Record types in this series include the following: a handwritten, personal notebook; a typescript of this notebook; correspondence; service records from the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Forces; news clippings; black and white photographs; collected signatures from Canadian dignitaries; and materials from the 5th Battery Association of 1914.

The series contains textual records spanning approximately 1802-1895, which reflect Frederick Griffin’s occupation as a lawyer, particularly his position as a solicitor for the Bank of Montreal and his role as counsel for the plaintiffs in Pierre v. Gabriel S. Chouteau and Mary Charlotte v. Gabriel Chouteau, as well as his role as founder of the Canadian Loan Company. Materials include incoming correspondence and draft responses; various financial and legal documents; legal research notes and drafts of legal documents; memoranda; meeting minutes; land and property documents and surveyors reports; newspaper clippings and ephemera; and other documents. Legal and financial documents include bank deposit receipts; property tax assessments and receipts; promissory notes; powers of attorney; copies of historical legal documents; summaries of evidence; depositions; questionnaires from Pierre v. Gabriel S. Chouteau and Mary Charlotte v. Gabriel Chouteau; a copy of a judgement; procès-verbaux; releases of dower; extracts of burials; and a declaration of Tiers-Saisis. Legal research notes and drafts of legal documents include notes on legal precedent and timelines of case histories and drafts of motions, deeds, petitions, charters, opinions, among other documents. Much of the correspondence in the fonds is related to Griffin’s position as solicitor for the Bank of Montreal. Notable correspondents include F.W. Primrose, E.H. King, Lewis T. Drummond, Richard Bladworth Angus, George O'kill Stuart, Hewitt Bernard, Frédéric-Eugène Globensky, David James Greenshields, Ogilvy Moffat, Robert LeMoine, John Greenshields, Hew Ramsay, William Walker, William Rhodes, Henry John Noad, Andrew Balfour, Charles R. Ogden, Timothy Tyrell, Benjamin Holmes, William Badgley, Stewart Derbishire, Alexander J.P. Garesche, Alexander P. Field, David N. Hall, Richard Alexander Tucker, the office of the Governor General, Christopher Dunkin, James Reid, Samuel Gale, Jacques Viger, George Moffatt, Henry Starnes, William Robb, Louis Andre Ducheny, August Belmont, Robert Milroy, and Georges-Barthélemi Faribault, among others.