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This collection is made up of 71 items, including 28 letters written by Archibald "Archie" Shields of Detroit, Michigan, to his parents and sisters while serving in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during World War I. Shields served in France on the Western Front and, while on leave, visited friends and family in Scotland. The remaining materials include documents, ephemera, photographs, printed items, and one VHS tape.

This collection is made up of 71 items, including 28 letters written by Archibald "Archie" Shields of Detroit, Michigan, to his parents and sisters while serving in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during World War I. Shields served in France on the Western Front and, while on leave, visited friends and family in Scotland. The remaining materials include documents, ephemera, photographs, printed items, and one VHS tape.

The Correspondence Series is comprised of 28 letters written by Archie to his parents and sisters during his time in the Canadian Infantry during World War I. The correspondence begins when Shields's battalion mobilized in May 1916. He quartered in London, Ontario, Canada, for several weeks before traveling through Toronto, Montreal, and New Brunswick, to board the troop ship Olympic at Halifax, Nova Scotia. After arriving in England in early June, the battalion was stationed at Otterpool Camp in Kent, where Shields applied for a transfer to become a driver and the 99th Battalion dissolved into the 35th. Towards the end of September, Shields went to France as part of the 21st Battalion. Admitted to the hospital in March 1917 for "swollen glands and sore throat," he became a patient in the 16th General Hospital in France, 1st Southern General Hospital in Birmingham, and Hillingdon House Hospital in Uxbridge. Following his recovery, Shields spent time visiting relatives and family friends in Scotland but was punished upon his return for taking longer leave than approved. He took subsequent leaves to Paris and Scotland. The last of the letters is dated November 5, 1918.

Shields's letters include descriptions of camp life and military training (marksmanship, stretcher bearing, trench digging), requests for parcels, requests and comments on news from home (include fundraising efforts), notes on letters and packages received, comments on friends' and relatives' military experiences, and remarks on his own experiences (including censorship, shelling, and life in the trenches). Envelopes are included with most letters, many with an "Opened By Censor" label attached. Shields wrote some of his letters on YMCA "With His Majesty's Canadian Forces on Active Service" stationery.

The Documents and Ephemera Series contains a worn black wallet with two colorful military uniform bars, a small black flip notebook, three Canadian Expeditionary Force pay books, and items commemorating the installation of a memorial window at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, in 2007. Contained in the black wallet are a photograph of Archie Shields in uniform, a 1922 10,000 reichsmark note, and a military pass. The black notebook contains names and addresses of acquaintances, military tactics notes, and brief journal entries respecting Shields's time at the front in France until his admission to the hospital in England; in its pocket is a torn scrap of paper with the header "Plantation Alliance, Suriname, Dutch Guyana." Laid into one of Shields's pay books are assorted papers, including a telegram from his Aunt Effie, railway tickets, calling cards (Clarisse Dalouze and Marie Dalouze of Trazegnies, Belgium, and Armand Loutz of Spy, Namur, Belgium), and a postcard from a watch repair shop.

• Group photograph, "21st Batt. Overseas Border Club 1934
• Photo with inscription "Archie leaving for World War I 1914 from Windsor Ontario"
• Real photo postcard of military personnel, walking
• Portrait photograph of Archie Shields, photograph with inscription "A. Shields, Aunt May? Aird, Off to War 1916"
• A detached album page bearing five photographs:
  • A portrait with the caption "Archie goes to war 1916"
  • A photo of military personnel in formation carrying flags
  • A snapshot captioned "Mich Central Depot- Detroit," showing the façade of the station with several people and an automobile in the foreground
  • A snapshot of a crowd of people in front of Canadian Pacific freight car with people sitting on top
  • A group portrait of buglers in military uniform
• A detached album page bearing nine photographs:
  • A soldier in uniform [Archie Shields?]
  • Michigan Central Station with people and a car in the foreground
  • A military band performing
  • A military procession with a young girl and a man in the foreground, captioned "A Little Child Shall Lead Them, June 3, 1920"
  • Members of the military with flags and bayonets walking under an arch, captioned "Passing into the Armouries, June 3, 1920"
  • Snapshot of a young woman, captioned "May Shields Aird, 1914"
  • Snapshot of three young women, captioned "Ruth, Margaret, Bethia,"
  • Portrait of young man in military uniform, captioned "Jack MacNiven, 1914, Tank Corps"
  • Oval photograph of three young women in a canoe, two at either end facing the camera, captioned "May Shields Aird, Margaret Shields Smart."

• "A Special," What We Know About the War. Uxbridge, Ontario: s.n., 1917.
• Great Britain. Army. Royal Engineers. Field Survey Battn. Wiancourt : Parts of 57c S.E., 57b S.W., 62c N.E., 62b N.W. [London]: s.n., 1918.
• Great Britain. Ordnance Survey. France. Sheet 51B. [London]: Ordnance Survey, 1917.
• Historical Calendar, 21st Canadian Infantry Battalion (Eastern Ontario Regiment) : Belgium, France, Germany, 1915-1919. Portsmouth: Printed by Gale & Polden, Ltd., 1919.
• Nicholson, G. W. L. Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919. Ottawa: Roger Duhamel, 1962.
• The Twenty-First Battalion Communique, no. 26, August 1965.

This item is a bound collection of espionage correspondence from Paris, 1780, that describes the locations and numbers of French and Spanish ships in Gibraltar, New York, Canada, and the West Indies.

This volume is a bound collection of espionage correspondence from Paris, 1780. The 37 reports (65 pages) describe the locations and numbers of French and Spanish ships in Gibraltar, New York, Canada, and the West Indies. Many entries discuss the number of troops stationed at various ports, the conditions of the crew ("They are badly manned and sickly, especially the Spanish who also find it difficult to recruit their navy" p.40), and the outcomes of engagements ("The French had suffered greatly, most of the ship's masts being damaged...100 men have been killed and at least 1,200 wounded" (p.47). The author often provides logistical information such as lists of ships and crew sizes, as well as the names of the ships' captains.

The Robert Johnston papers consist of letters from a Confederate soldier in Virginia and Tennessee, written to his wife living in Albany, New York, between November 1863 and April 1865. The letters describe the difficulties of sending mail between the North and the South, and mention the legal complications of Confederate prisoners of war after the South’s surrender.

The Robert Johnston papers (36 items) consist of letters from November 1863 to April 1865, during Johnston’s time with the Confederate Army; they track his movements around Virginia and Tennessee. The letters were primarily written to his wife Catherine "Kate" S. Johnston (also addressed "Mrs. C.S. Johnston" and "Mrs. Robert Johnston") who lived in Albany, New York, with her father, the retired General John Van Rensselaer.

Johnston's letters often concern his request for news about his young children. He often discussed friends and family members, but mentioned little of military matters, aside from officers with whom he has become friends. His letter of November 24, 1863, noted a recent bout of influenza in the camp and on March 30, 1864, Johnston wrote of being offered a professor's chair. In letters he wrote immediately following major battles, he does not mention them at length. However, some of their letters seem to have gotten lost in the mail, as he sadly noted. In his letter of April 8, 1865, he gave Kate explicit directions on how to address a letter to him and about what the appropriate length should be. The letter of February 20, 1865, contained a message from an unnamed examiner, who noted that the letter was too long and that it was supposed to be only one page in length.

Later letters have interesting content pertaining to the capture of Petersburg and Richmond and the end of the war. In his letter of April 4, 1865, Johnston mentioned his desire to see his mother and sister before the imminent evacuation of Petersburg, and that he had surrendered to Union General [George Henry?] Thomas of the Union and had received parole. Likewise, in his letter of the April 12, 1865, he expressed uncertainty about his legal position following the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox.