The series includes albums of photographs relating to J. Walton Groves' family members; an 19th century album entitled 1898 Canoe Trip to Lake Temagami, documenting various points seen along the trip, including natives, Hudson's Bay Company store, canoeing, and the scenery; 4 albums from the early 20th century (including the period from about 1910 to 1930, but concentrating on the 1920s) which are generally unidentified. They appear, however, to include documentation on J. W. Groves school and university studies as they show a large number of what appear to be students and friends, as well as one album titled "Pakenham" which appears to relate to people, activities and events in that town. It also includes 1 large album consisting of 526 black and white prints covering, in a general sense, activities and personalities in and around Bear Island from the 1920s until the 1940s, as well as some people and places in Ottawa in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Some of the images are unusual: several photographs of Grey Owl's wife; a number of images of women with their babies on packboards; various Indian games and dances; hunting deer in deep snow; an early snowmobile; views of some early amphibious aircraft. Negatives relating to this album are also found in the series.
The series includes colour slides, mainly Kodachrome, dating from the late 1940s to the 1960s, with the majority having been taken before 1958. Groves' European tour of 1950 (Britain and the Continent) was well documented and includes over a quarter of all the slides. In general his interests were primarily in places (buildings, landscapes), plants and animals rather than in people, and this is also reflected in the photographs he took on this trip.
The remaining photographs divide primarily into trips around Canada and Groves' interests as a botanist and natural historian. There are relatively few photographs of friends of family, although one group called "Best of Jackson and Groves" includes 64 photographs relating to these two families, and there are a few other photographs of individuals or events such as a marriage.
There are 6 Dufaycolour slides dating from the mid-1930s.
