Series consists of material filed alphabetically by Schaefer in an accordion filing case and material filed by him in envelopes or file folders by subject: these two sub-groups have been inter-filed in one alphabetical series.
Series consists of material filed in the accordion filing case includeding the following groups: "A" (including the Art Institute of Chicago, Art Gallery of Toronto, Allied Arts Council and Writers Broadcasters and Artists War Council, and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts); "C" (including the Canadian Group of Painters and the Canadian National Exhibition); "E" (Exhibitions); "F" (Federation of Canadian Artists); "G" (Canadian Society of Graphic Art); "H" (Hudson's Bay Company, Hart House); "M" (Mural Contract Form); "N" (National Gallery of Canada, New York); "O" (Ontario Government, Ontario College of Art); "P" (Personal); "V" (Vancouver Art Gallery); and "W" (Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour).
Series consists of files on the Canadian Arts Council, Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, Central Technical School, Doon School of Fine Arts, Maritime Art, Ontario College of Art, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, Tom Thomson, and other subjects.
Series contains files on artists' societies including constitutions and by-laws, letters patent, correspondence, agendas and minutes of meetings, reports, membership lists, exhibition records and printed material. The files on art schools include teaching materials and notes and correspondence; the O.C.A. material includes a student notebook kept by Schaefer and the Queen's University files include notes on painting techniques.
Series consists of The Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour files: correspondence from Fred Brigden, W.J. Phillips, B.K. Sandwell, Julius Griffith, Charles Comfort. The Canadian Group of Painters files include correspondence from Charles Comfort, Fred Housser, Isabel McLaughlin, A.Y. Jackson, Philip Clark, John Lyman, Alex Panton, Rody Courtice, Yvonne McKague Housser, and texts of C.B.C. talks by Lawren Harris and Arthur Lismer. The file on Schaefer's Honorary Degree includes letters from Spencer Clark, David Partridge, Alan Collier, Robert Ayre, David Blackwood and Will Ogilvie. The Ontario College of Art files include letters from Dennis Burton and Norah Michener. The Hudson's Bay Company file relates to Inuit carvings.
Series also contains files containing correspondence from the following: Henri Masson, LeMoine FitzGerald, Fritz Brandtner (includes constitution of the Contemporary Arts Society), Pegi Nicol MacLeod, Louis Muhlstock, George Pepper, Barker Fairley (1930s); J.S. McLean, Will Ogilvie, Graham McInnes, Louis Muhlstock, Lawren Harris, Donald Buchanan, Caven Atkins, Emanuel Hahn, Walter Abell, Ethel Crouch Brown, André Bieler, Arnold Brigden, Yvonne McKague Housser (1940s); Lawrence Hyde, Jock Macdonald, Will Ogilvie, Caven Atkins, Graham McInnes, Yvonne McKague Housser, Eric Arthur, Fritz Brandtner, Lorne Pierce, D.W. Nichol (re. duck decoys) (1950s); O.J. Firestone, Pearl McCarthy (1960s); and Ray Nash (1970s).