Fonds includes correspondence, reports, minutes, notes, photographs, drafts of Johns' unfinished autobiography and related papers, and manuscripts of a considerable number of her articles and speeches the majority of which were published. Among the letters here included are those which Johns wrote to Eileen C. Flanagan during the period 1949-1967, and which the latter has donated.

Previously known as the "Ethel Johns Research Collection", the fonds consists of records generated during Street's writing of the biography of Ethel Johns. It includes correspondence (1969-1974) with publishers and the Canada Council which funded the project; transcripts of interviews with students, friends and associates (1969-1970); copies of Johns' addresses and publications (including portions of an unfinished autobiography); and draft manuscripts for the book "Watch-Fires on the Mountains".

The fonds consist of 15 incoming letters from Ethel Johns (1948-1950, 1961-1965), Director of Nursing Services and Education at Vancouver General Hospital, and the new nursing program at UBC. Under Johns' guidance, the five-year plan established the B.Sc. in Nursing. The fonds also include biographical information and records relating to Flanagan's various awards, including an honorary doctorate from McGill University (1977).