The collection consists of material created by Lowry and others, including Margerie Bonner Lowry, Earle Birney, Dorothy Templeton, and Carol Betty Atwater pertaining to his life and work. It includes correspondence, signed autograph letters and postcards, multiple drafts of manuscripts, poems, phonograph records, clippings, reviews, articles, essays, typescripts, unpublished material and photographs. Photographs include snapshots and professional photographs or Malcolm and Marjorie Lowry, their friends, their houses, and their travels in B.C., the United States, Mexico, and Europe (primarily between 1939 and 1957). Collection also includes Malcolm Lowry's personal copy of his first novel, "Ultramarine", with his pencil notes and edits throughout.

The fonds consists of letters created or received by Paul Tiessen regarding the movie-going practices and environments of Malcolm Lowry. Letters were created from 1968-1988 and address five main topics of Tiessen’s queries: Lowry’s early years (1909-1927); visit to Bonn, Germany (1928); education at the University of Cambridge (1929-1932); time in the United States, particularly Hollywood; and settlement and activities in Vancouver, especially in relation to the local Film Society movement. Significant correspondents represented in the collection include the following: Russell Lowry, brother of Malcolm Lowry; Margerie Lowry, Malcolm Lowry’s widow; Muriel Bradbrook, Cambridge professor and author of a Lowry biography; Rachael Low, film historian; Gerald Noxon, Lowry’s Canadian friend; Christopher Isherwood, author and Hollywood reader of one of Lowry’s film scripts; and Earl and Esther Birney, Lowry’s friends and attendees of Vancouver Film Society screenings.

Letters are arranged in subject files dedicated to particular correspondents (e.g. Russell Lowry) or areas of Tiessen’s inquiry (e.g. Lowry’s time in Germany). Letters in files are arranged chronologically. Documentary forms include correspondence (handwritten and typed), copies of the Malcolm Lowry Newsletter, newspaper clippings, a pamphlet from the British Film Institute, photocopies of various journal articles, and library photoduplication order forms.

The fonds consists of letters to Markson from Margerie Lowry (131), Douglas Day (20), Conrad Knickerbocker (13), and Peter Churchill (1). The letters relate to Malcolm Lowry and his writing. The fonds also includes two rejection letters regarding "Through the Panama", and two handwritten poems by Lowry and one draft of a telegram.