Fonds consists of three sous-fonds, as follows:
5751252 : Andrew A. Merrilees Limited (this is primarily business records relating to A.A. Merrilees Limited)
5751254 : Merrilees transportation records (these are primarily textual records relating to the collecting focus of A.A. Merrilees)
5812170 : Merrilees photographic and art collection (these is primarily graphic material relating to the collection focus of A.A. Merrilees).
Within the sous-fonds for textual records, there are the following series: Railways in Canada, 1852-1979; Railways in the United States, 1835-1980, microfilm, 1877-1963; Railways in other countries, 1851, 1904-1970; Railway passes, 1857-1960; Water transport, 1780, 1808-1979; Mossom Boyd Company, 1881-1914; General, 1755-1941, 1965; Personal papers including notebooks, unpublished papers, talks, manuscripts, notes, financial reports, correspondence and personal items, n.d., 1946-1979. Material related to Andrew Merrilees Ltd. Microfilmed material (44 microfilm reels) consists of production drawings of locomotive works of the H.K. Porter Company (relating to volumes 8 to 27 of the Merrilees fonds.) This material is available on microfilm reels M-7503 to M-7546. The sous-fonds also contains technical data, maps, plans, and technical drawings related to railroads and trains, [ca. 1900-1950]; blueprints and reproductions of engineering drawings, primarily of locomotives and rolling stock, [ca. 1867-1969]; and 19 miscellaneous maps and plans pertaining primarily to Ontario and Quebec, [ca. 1884-1902].
Within the sous-fonds for photographs and art, there are eleven six series of ca. 344,051 photographs related to engines, rolling stock, buildings, and operations of railroads, electrical railways, and streetcar lines throughout Canada and the United States; commercial and private horse-drawn vehicles and sleighs, automobiles, buses, trucks, and firefighting equipment in Canada; shipbuilding, ship launchings, ship repairs and drydock activity at various ports in Ontario and Quebec; various types of ships and other vessels, primarily in eastern Canada, and various types of commercial aircraft, particularly those which undertook trans-Atlantic flights from Newfoundland; exterior and interior views of buildings, street scenes, parades, fires, funerals, visits of dignitaries, in and around various cities, towns, and villages in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Ontario; panoramic group photographs of units of the Canadian Expeditionary Force and the Royal Air Force in training at various camps in Ontario; views of hydro dams and power plants; various views, typically involving railways, of South America, Central America, Russia, Europe, and Australia; members of the Bruce family and Merrilees family, and members of the Ontario Legislature and the York Pioneer and Historical Society, n.d., [ca. 1865]-1940.
There are photographs by Blackmore Studio, the Panoramic Camera Company, Notman Studio, Andrew E.Young, Alexander Henderson, Jules-Ernst Livernois, and Frank E. Micklethwaite. Additionally, there are photographic albums in the fonds including; "Victoria Jubilee Bridge 1897-98"; "Canadian Scraps. No. 1", 1858-1895; "Canadian Views and Studies", 1860-1870; "William Notmans Viewbook", [ca. 1870-1890], and "Standard Locomotives and Cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company 1876", 1870-1875.
The fonds contains artistic material collected by Merrilees, including greeting cards, trade cards, posters, etc., which document North American social history, [ca. 1800-1970]; an auction sales poster; watercolours; circus posters, posters depicting Trent Valley Navigation Co. Ltd., tours of the Thousand Islands, music hall attractions, and Russian views, 1861-1945; drawings, prints, and reproductions relating to transportation history in North America, as well as landscapes, historical events, and architectural interiors, [ca. 1760-1960], predominant [ca. 1880-1930]; and an incomplete (pp. 80-110) section of vol. 3 of a publication entitled "The Ceremonies and Religious Customs of Various Nations of the Known World", [ca. 1734-1807]. The fonds also includes four paintings, one by an unknown artist, one by Albert Sheldon Pennoyer (1888-1957) artist and author of a book about the railroad, and two by Eward Melbourne Brindle (1904-after 1948) of the Pennsylvania Railroad yards. The fonds also comprises additional prints and reproductions including a group of large colour lithographs of the Famous Canadian Jubilee Singers, [ca. 1901-1902], produced by the Duncan Litho. Co. Hamilton, a group of miniature vignettes for steel engraving produced by Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson [ca. 1830-1900], a large lithograph by Seth Arca Whipple (1855-1901), of a a fleet of schooners on Lake Huron, an exhibition poster for the 34th Annual Exhibition Western Fair in London [1901], and various additional postcards, calendars, travel and event advertisements, some after original artworks by American artists Walter L. Greene (1870-1956), Howard Fogg (1917-1996), and E. Teller (?).
Thirty-two postcards relating primarily to shipping and train travel in Canada were selected for retention. Of the thirty-two, five are photogravure postcards from the "Daily Mirror Canadian Official Series" with imagery from the Second World War which were printed in Great Britain.