Fonds consists of materials that document Walter Young's personal life, academic career, and political interests. It includes correspondence, minutes and agendas, reports, lecture notes and other course materials, financial statements, manuscripts, index cards, audio recordings, and publications (including books, newspapers, magazines, journals, pamphlets, and clippings). They are arranged in two series, Personal Papers and Research. Their original order has largely been maintained.

The fonds consists of correspondence (1940-1984), articles and addresses by Soward (1926-1969), book reviews (1950-1965), collected articles and book reviews by others, and a collection of newspaper and magazine clippings. Also included are copies of a weekly column entitled "The Way of the World" that Soward wrote for the Vancouver Morning Star (1927-1929).

Fonds consists of personal and professional materials of Beesley’s related to his career. The fonds is divided into seven series: Biographical/Personal Information series (1946, 1972-2009); Correspondence series (1973, 1979, 1980-1984); Articles, Statements, and Speeches series( 1967-2004); Newspaper Clippings series (1972-1982); International Law Commission (UN General Assembly Reports) series (1986-1992), Photographs series (1962-1963, 1972-1984, 1989, 2003), and Audiovisual series (1972-1982).