The collection consists of records of the provincial office of the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and general research material pertaining to socialism and the labour movement. It consists of minutes, scrapbooks, office correspondence and files relating to party organization and records of committees, CCF clubs, constituencies, federal ridings and election. The collection also includes records generated by Arthur Turner as CCF Whip and Arnold Webster as a provincial party leader. Subject files pertaining to early socialists and clippings about international affairs were created by Dorothy Steeves. Subsequent accessions added to the collection have included the records of Angus MacInnis, Francis McKenzie and former provincial leader Ernest Winch.

Fonds consists primarily of records created by Coupland from approximately 1980 to 2012. The fonds includes: drafts of Coupland’s major literary works, personal and artistic photographs, visual art material (such as collages, paintings, printouts of digital collages and sculpture maquettes), items of clothing and leather goods, technical notes and designs for Coupland’s website, conceptual sketches and designs, correspondence, and other records.

The fonds consists of Shadbolt's private journals, notebooks, lecture notes, sketch books from his work with the Art Students' League of New York, 1948-1949 as well as 6 sketchbooks from the 1960s, a collection of his loose drawings and studies, an extensive collection of photographs of Shadbolt's paintings, including colour transparencies, slides of a photographic work entitled "Year", family photographs, personal and professional incoming correspondence, his picture reference file of postcards and magazine clippings, exhibition catalogues and other printed material. Correspondents include John Macdonald, Wilfred Watson, Max Maynard, Jock Firestone, Molly Bobak, George Swinton, and Ron Thom.

The collection contains a variety of artifacts, and includes children's games, items related to the Gold Rush, and various odd items tangentially related to Rare Books and Special Collections and University Archives collecting interests.

The collection consists of audio cassettes and vinyl records (33 1/3) created by Radio Canada International in the course of promoting Canada and Canadian culture to the people of Japan. The collection has been arranged into four series, which reflect the various formats the broadcasts were made up of, and include Japanese Topical Cassettes, Japanese Economic Topical Cassettes, Japanese Canadian Magazine, and Japanese Topical Discs.

The fonds consists of photographs depicting conventions or groups (CCF or CCYM), press releases, correspondence, newspaper clippings, publications and a brief historical outline of the Cooperative Commonwealth Youth Movement written by Olga Reithaug. The fonds shows the workings of the CCYM, the issues with which it involved itself, and its relationship with the CCF.

The fonds consists of personal materials including biographical information, correspondence (1905-1944), financial records (1892-1930), speeches, clippings and memorabilia relating to Canadiana and mining in British Columbia. Also included are collected historical items, most prominent amongst which are research materials relating to Alfred Waddington (1858-1872). The fonds also includes various collected historical items (1754-1889) and photographs of the E. Moss family, Esquimalt scenery and buildings, scenes of Nelson and Ymir mining, and Cape Breton scenery.

The fonds consists of a scrapbook (1936-1939); clippings, printed material; correspondence (1970s); financial statements of B.C. District, IWA (1945-1947); ribbons and buttons for IWA and Labour Progressive Party conventions (1944-1948); subject files pertaining to his legal status while travelling in the United States (1936-1938); 31 prints of loggers' funerals and membership cards. The fonds also includes correspondence (1945-ca.1980), subject files, photographs (1940s), memorabilia (1936-1940) and membership books.

The Angeli-Dennis collection consists of the diaries (1855-1913), manuscripts, financial records and correspondence of William Michael Rossetti. Also included are the manuscripts, correspondence and financial records of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1842-1882), Christina Georgina Rossetti (1853-1894), Ford Madox Brown (1852-1993), Gabriele Rossetti and other members of the Rossetti family. In addition, the collection includes materials of Robert Browning, Thomas Landseer, William North, Algernon Swinburne and James Thomson.

Fonds consists mostly of cartographic materials relating to reconnaissance trips taken by R.C. Harris. The maps are both historic and those drawn up by Harris for his trips, incorporating old trails on current maps. While the inclusive dates of the map collection are from 1835 - 1981, the majority of these maps were created from 1880 -1930. They are organized according to a personal classification system maintained by R.C. Harris. The remainder of the fonds consists of surveys, plans, photos, correspondence, topographical notes, magazine and newspaper clippings, Harris research notes, books, reports, brochures, photocopies, and book reviews.