The series comprises the Christie family papers and philatelic material donated by Ms. Gael Eakin. This material includes correspondence of Dr. Alexander James Christie and his wife Jane Christie (nee Turner); correspondence and business papers of their son Alexander Christie and his wife Susan Christie (nee Strachan); and manuscripts and philatelic items of other members of the Christie family. Dr. Christie's correspondence (22 letters) primarily documents the period of his emigration from Scotland to Canada, 1815-1819, and the period of his most active involvement in the public life of Bytown, 1831-1839. Jane Christie's correspondence (4 letters) provides another perspective on their family life in Bytown. The series is richest for Alexander Christie, the contractor, for whom it holds 41 letters, including 22 letters from his wife during periods of separation when he was doing contracting work in the United States in the 1840s and 1850s while his family remained at home in Ottawa. Susan Christie's letters describe domestic life in his absence, raising the children, their progress in school, her fears for his well-being and hopes for his return, the trials of renting quarters in Bytown, news of family and friends, and happenings in the town at large, from a fire that started in a local workshop to a rise in taxes after the city's incorporation. Some of his other correspondents include Allan P. Cameron, John Gourlay, Duncan Logan, and Charles Tait. Cameron often relates news of railway and canal construction while Tait describes the latest developments in phrenology in Scotland. Gourlay tells of the advantages of theological study at Princeton seminary in New Jersey. The Alexander Christie papers also include invoices, promissory notes, and City of Ottawa property tax bills.
The records of other Christie family members in this series include two Law Society of Upper Canada certificates awarded to Alexander James Christie (1865, 1868); four letters to John Christie (1871-1909); an obituary of James Christie, engineer, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (1911); four postcards and letters to Harry Christie (1890-1948); a card photograph of Ulrichsville, Ohio (1867); two Valentine's letters to Fanny MacDonald (1843-1845); and other printed items preserved by the family. The series also holds 59 postal covers, including mourning covers and airgraphs, as well as 20 postal stationery items, including envelopes, postal cards and letter cards. A sub-series description offers more detail on these philatelic records.
