The fonds consists of correspondence, course material, research and interview notes, articles, speeches, transcripts, grant applications, and other records pertaining to Dale Thomson's activities as a researcher, professor, journalist and Liberal Party activist from the 1940s to 1999 in Canada, The United States and other parts of the world. There is also a considerable amount of original, primary source material collected by Dale Thomson for his books. The fonds is composed of the following series:
Research Activities
Teaching and Administrative Activities
Political Activities
Although there are three separate series, it must be noted that some information contained in series files is often relevant to more than that area of activity. This is especially true of correspondence files.
Murray's pocket diaries for 1883-1934 provide a brief record of his activities, social engagements, letters, visits and the weather. The earliest volumes, covering his last years as an undergraduate at Dalhousie and the final ones written after his retirement are the most detailed.
Letters and papers relating to employment with the Hudson’s Bay Company. These include letters of appointment, official announcements, lists of officers of the Hudson’s Bay Company, and an inventory the posts and officers in the Albany River district.
Fonds contains a transcript of Keys' radio broadcast on "Radio in the Mammoth Cave of Kentucky" (1931) and files of correspondence with university, military, and government officials concerning the McGill Radio Mechanics Training Course (1941-1945). There are also a few teaching materials from this course.
Fonds consists of papers (originals and photocopies) comprising the drafts, both English and French, of the Report of the Royal Committee of Enquiry on Education in Québec (the "Parent Commission"), 1962. Also included is a file of notes, transcriptions of printed articles and archival documents, as well as some original material pertaining to the history of the McGill Normal School (1881-1943).
"Architectural Drawings, 1903-10, 45 drawings." The archive's collection includes student drawings of a design for a secondary school; plans, elevations, and details of St. Machar's Cathedral, West Church and Harthill Castle in Aberdeen; drawings for the intermediate exam of the Royal Institute of British Architects and miscellaneous drawings of details of historical European architecture.
"Dessins architecturaux, 1903-1910, 45 dessins." La collection comprend des dessins d'étudiant pour une école secondaire; les plans, les élévations et les détails de la cathédrale St. Machar, de la West Church et de Harthill Castle à Aberdeen; des dessins pour l'examen intermédiaire du Royal Institute of British Architects et des dessins divers d'immeubles historiques d'architecture européenne.
The David Hume Collection contains letters and other ephemera brought together from multiple acquisitions. The principal manuscripts are found in is the bound volume containing letters from David Hume to the Comtesse de Boufflers. There are also letters from Jean-Jacques Rousseau and others for a total of 59 letters. This collection of letters was the basis for the anonymously edited Private Correspondence of David Hume with Several Distinguished Persons, Between the Years 1761 and 1776. Now First Published From the Originals. (London: Printed for Henry Colburn and Co., 1820.) One of the McGill copies of this book belonged to the Montreal lawyer and book collector Frederick Griffin (1798-1877). In addition to this volume there are eight other Hume letters. Some of these have been published by Professor Klibansky and Ernest C. Mosser in New Letters of David Hume. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1954). Finally, there are photographic copies of Hume manuscripts held by the Royal Society of Edinburgh and typed copies of official letters on Canada from the manuscripts of Sir Mark Dalrymple.
