One handbill advertising the publication of James Redpath's "The Public Life of Capt John Brown." Redpath and Brown were contemporaries and abolitionists and Redpath wrote this work the year after Brown's execution.

Collection consists of 169 19th century American photographs. Included are 115 carte-de-visites, 40 cabinet portraits, 2 albums, 11 miscellaneous photographs and 1 envelope of miscellaneous business and greeting cards.

Most are albumen type photographs depicting various people including infants, children, and adults. The photographs come from various studios across the United States though the majority come from studios in New York, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Illinois. The photographs, since rehoused, were originally housed in two albums decorated with an intricate relief on the cover and a metal clasp lock.

The Sims family collection encompasses records of the Sims and Cook, Davidson and Garden families retained by members of the two family branches that came together when Harvey James Sims and Florence Katherine Roos married in 1902. Their Sims and Davidson forbears were equally significant in the history of the Waterloo-Wellington area and in the growth and development of agriculture, education, business and government. Harvey James Sims and Florence Katherine Roos were deeply involved in their local community of Berlin, (later Kitchener) Ontario and their own records contain significant additions to our knowledge of local personalities and affairs. Harvey was a childhood and lifelong friend of William Lyon Mackenzie King; they wrote and visited each other regularly. King's sister Bella was also a close friend of Florence from school days on.

One scrapbook kept by an unknown theatre goer. The book is specially made for theatre performances and features in index of the plays, and a two page spread devoted to each play. The left hand side of the page allows for written comments on the title, date and location of the play as well as impressions, and criticisms of the actors and performance. The right hand side of the page is intended to be used to paste in the playbill. In many entries newspaper clippings about the performance are also present. All of the productions were held at the Castle Square Theatre in Boston by the Boston Stage Society in 1904 and 1905. There are records for 80 plays. Some of the playbills also include advertisements.

A collection of food circulars distributed during the First World War in both Canada and the United States. The circulars provide information on food nutrition, rationing and recipes.