Fonds consists of twelve series and twenty-six sub-series of textual material. The inclusive dates of these records are: 1920, 1936-1978, 1981. These diverse records range from documenting Pickersgill's pre-parliamentary years, in a series of that name, to his two periods as Secretary of State, the years during which he was Minister of Citizenship and Immigration and later Transport. The Newspaper Clipping series is particularly useful in conjunction with the Citizenship and Immigration series. Pickersgill's political activities are documented in the Newfoundland series, the Opposition series and the Speech series. The Canadian Transport Commission series, the Post-political series, The Pearson Years series, and the William Lyon Mackenzie King Estate series document the activities of the appointed public servant, author and literary executor. The final series contains index cards that relate to various parts of the fonds. Volumes 280 to 304 are in alphabetical order, "A" to "Z", as are volumes 305 to 310. The latter relates to transportation, particularly the CTC and Canadian railways. Volume 311 relates to the Hungarian files in the Immigration series. Volume 312 dates from 1962-1964 and relates to correspondence with Members of Parliament.
Photographic material depicts the campaign of John W. Pickersgill as the Liberal Party candidate in the riding of Bonavista-Twillingate during the Federal Election campaign, 15-20 June 1953. Also depicted are industrial, merchant shipping, commercial aviation, and telecommunications activity throughout Canada, as documented in photographs acquired by John Pickersgill as Federal Minister of Transport, 1964-1967; passport photographs of J.W. Pickersgill; J.W. Pickersgill and other members of the St. Laurent Cabinets; J.W. Pickersgill at the 1958 Liberal Leadership Convention; Iron Ore Company of Canada operations, 1962; and views of Robert Banks, 1968.
Also included in this fonds are radio broadcasts, talks, interviews and messages accumulated by J.W. Pickersgill while Secretary of State; dialogue between J.W. Pickersgill and J.R. Smallwood at the Canadian Historical Association's annual meeting held in St. John's, Newfoundland; an interview of J.W. Pickersgill by Leo LaClare, recorded in Ottawa; an interview of J.W. Pickersgill by Charles King; and a lecture by J.W. Pickersgill delivered at Carleton University in Ottawa.
Drawings consist of a political cartoon entitled "Rip-Van-Picheksgill" by Bill Werthman, published in the St. John's Newfoundland Evening Telegram, 9 December 1957, and a drawing entitled Mt. Assiniboine (Rockies), by A. Marcher, August 1956.
This fonds also includes a red maple on a white background cloth flag sent to all members of Parliament by Chris Yaneff, 15 June 1964.
In addition, fonds consists of architectural and technical drawings, and maps. Included are two maps of the Village of Cardinal, Ontario; a railway map of Canada; a master plan of Expo '67 in Montreal; and perspectives of: the Dustbane Head Office and Factory, The Church of St. Michael and All Angels, and a proposed twelve classroom school for the Roman Catholic Separate School Board of Ottawa.
