Fonds consists of tracings and original drawings of property surveys and plot plans for the town of Windsor NS and nearby communities showing gypsum quarries, rail lines and landowners’ plots (1853-1938 and undated); original topographical survey drawings of the Avon and St. Croix Rivers showing low and high tide marks for Windsor-Hantsport-Summerville area (1940-1944); and blueprints and copies on linen of technical plans for barge ships including the DANIEL M. MUNRO, and the MUMFORD, as well as technical plans for a ship’s marine engine from Johnson Iron Co. Ltd. of Yarmouth (1919-1942). Companies represented include Wentworth Gypsum Co., Newport Plaster Mining and Manufacturing Co., the Canadian Gypsum Co., and its parent the United States Gypsum Co.

Fonds also includes a 1922 map of the world showing trade routes between Canadian and Foreign ports published by the Canadian Department of the Interior (1922); black & white photographic copies of geology maps of Avondale, Hantsport, Miller Creek, St. Croix, Upper Falmouth, and Windsor (1948); and undated topographical maps of Windsor area quarries.

The material documents the mining management activities of Canadian Gypsum Company and its parent United States Gypsum Co. as they created topographical survey plans of their quarries and other assets for mining gypsum rock; studied water levels and ships’ drafts to calculate their loading capacities; and built or retrofitted ships to transport the rock to the United States and elsewhere.

Fonds consists of correspondence (1906-1955), mine leases (1903-1919), sales agreements (1908-1948), gold return memos from U.S. and Royal Canadian Mints (1903-1912, 1938-1940), monthly summaries of mine operations (1938-1942) and expense statements (1938-1941), geologists’ reports (1927, 1935-1938), prospectus reports (1903, 1928, 1935-1940), stock certificates (or shares 1903, 1935), plans of mine workings and lease holders (1891-1940), mineral maps of Nova Scotia (ca1901, 1912, 1935), and some photographs of mining machinery and above-ground buildings (1930s). The files are arranged by company name in roughly chronological order by the archivist.

Correspondence is addressed mostly to Arthur Brennan, and includes his correspondence with company representatives (1924-1949); the Department of Public Works and Mines (1921-1949); with mine managers Frank Reeves (1921-1945), N.O. Lawton (1939-1940), and R.W. Sweet (1940-1941); with his brother C. Victor Brennan, a mining engineer in British Columbia (1922-1948); with his lawyers (1922-1949); and with other prospective buyers (1921-1924, 1929-1934). Fonds also includes early correspondence of W.A. Brennan (1906-1915) and one file of correspondence to Arthur Brennan’s son Bill Brennan regarding closing the mine (1943-1955).

Fonds consists of two images of ships burning in Halifax Harbour after the explosion of 1917. They are unusual in that they are taken from the water.

Fonds consists of two letters written to members of Mr. Brown's family in the United States describing the situation in Halifax in the aftermath of the Halifax Harbour Explosion of 1917.

Fonds consists of a pass for access for the devastated area issued by the City of Halifax and a sixteen page hand-written letter by Ethel Jean Bond to her uncle, Murray Kellough, of Winnipeg, Manitoba. In her letter she describes the devastation of the Halifax Explosion, the death of her father, and the injuries that her sister Bertha sustained, and discusses the impact on various neighbours in the vicinity of Kaye Street in Halifax, including the Swetnams, Killams, and Theakstons, among others.

Fonds consists of 146 scrapbook albums (ca1919-1974) assembled by David E. Lewis, containing his personal and business correspondence; clippings of articles written by or about him; book reviews; personal, family and work-related photographs; legal documents such as teaching contracts; and memorabilia including plane tickets and pay stubs from stories sold. These are interspersed among clippings of newspaper and magazine articles, printed jokes, comic nude cartoons, and images of entertainers, selected for their relevance to Lewis’ life experiences and/or emotional state at the time.

Arrangement is roughly chronological, with some albums covering 1 month in a year and others cover a range from the 1940s to 1970s.

Fonds also includes a diary of his trip to McClelland and Stewart publishers in Toronto (1972), a sketchbook of portraits (1948?), a cash book of personal and bookstore expenses in Montreal (1956-1961), a file of teaching aids for high school English Literature (1950s?), and his university degrees (1940, 1951).

Fonds also includes a notebook of proverbs and lists of books read and movies seen (with annotations) belonging to David E. Lewis’ mother Isabelle Jean (Laing) Lewis (1939-1947) and a typescript of a thesis about David E. Lewis written by Andrea Robbins (2000).

Fonds consists mainly of photographs of church services, church members, Willard and Jean Clayton through the years and their family and friends including Jean’s Aunt Viola Desmond and Rev. Dr. William P. Oliver and his wife Pearleen Oliver (1925-2019). The fonds also includes biographical documents on education and employment (1946-2005), newspaper clippings, manuscript and published writings and poetry (1947?-2021); speeches and sermons; correspondence with employers, church members, and family (1946-2019); church service programs for Emmanuel, Beechville and Cornwallis Street (now called New Horizons) Baptist Churches among others (1924-2000); minutes of the Annual Sessions of The African United Baptist Association of Nova Scotia (1869, 1913-1987); and audio and video recordings of special events in the lives of Willard and Jean Clayton including their wedding (audio), Jean’s graduation ceremony from Christopher Course, and Willard’s funeral (1954-2007). The fonds also includes a small collection of books on the history of black people in North America (published 1895-2006). Organized by activity in roughly chronological order, these records document the lives of these African Nova Scotians before, during, and after the Black Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and the beginning of the Black Lives Matter Movement of the 2010s.