The fonds consists of diaries, scrapbooks, and correspondence spanning the period 1910-2003 and related to the professional and personal lives of three generations of the Bamford family—William Blackley Bamford, his son William Blackley Stanley Bamford, and his grandson William Huestis Bamford—as well as to members of the Lasell and Ord families, related by marriage to William Huestis Bamford. Diaries in the fonds include concise “five year” or “line a day” diaries, as well as more detailed daily journals and many cover aspects of the Bamfords’ professional and personal life.

Scrapbooks in the fonds, which contain newspaper clippings, ephemera, correspondence, photographs, notes, and other material, primarily reflect the Bamfords’ personal interests, but also interests their chosen professions and employers, including the Canadian Pacific Railway Company and the Bank of Montreal. Beyond the incoming and outgoing personal and professional correspondence included in the scrapbooks, the Esther Adelina Lasell Bamford series contains incoming correspondence related to a branch of the Ord family living in New Zealand.

The fonds is arranged into four series by family member: William Blackley Bamford; William Blackley Stanley Bamford; William Huestis Bamford; and Esther Adelina Lasell Bamford.

The fonds consists of a photocopied diary recording personal experience, climatic and geographical conditions, and observations about nature written while Elias worked as a trapper on Banks Island, 1959-1966.

The fonds consists of the unpublished manuscript for Verrills book "Never a Dull Moment", and several letters.

The fonds consists of three certificates of graduation from the University of London Slade School of Fine Arts, a photograph (1905) of Davies in her childhood and a manuscript notebook written in the 1930s filled with observations about wildlife in British Columbia.

The fonds consists primarily of Alan Haig-Brown's written and photographic works on the marine industry in Canada and internationally. Photographs document ships and boats, maritime scenes and personalities in fishing and ship-building. The geographical scope of the photographs includes British Columbia, Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii; Southern Coastal US (Texas and Louisiana); Thailand, China, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines; Netherlands; Brazil.

Textual records include annotated drafts for several of Haig-Brown's books, hand-written notes, newspaper clippings, design schematics and correspondence.

The fonds also contains audio recordings of interviews and oral histories with figures in the maritime trades.