Fonds consists of the papers of Charles Comfort including the following series: Diaries, Travel Journals and Notebooks; Financial and Miscellaneous Records; Commissions; Correspondence; Correspondence - Additional Material; Manuscripts; Subject Files: War Art; Subject Files: National Gallery of Canada; Subject Files: Associations and Institutions; Subject Files: Teaching; Subject Files: General; Reference Cards; Clippings and Scrapbooks; Exhibition Catalogues; Publications; Family Papers; Comfort Inventory of Paintings; Charles and Louise Comfort Correspondence; Memorabilia. Includes microfilm of diaries, 1943-1945, describing Dr. Comfort's work, travels, associates and the events of the war, microfilm reel M-825.
Fonds also contains 158 drawings, ten watercolours, six prints, four autographs, three photo-mechancal process reproductions, n.d., 1908-1955, consist of artworks by Charles Comfort, including designs for murals, currency, furniture and heraldic items, etc., miscellaneous sketches, an early sketchbook of flowers (1908-1909) and Christmas cards; and works by others: a portrait sketch of Charles Comfort, sketches of the 1945 Academy dinner in Montreal, an illustrated letter and envelope sent to Charles Comfort, 1955, an illuminated certificate presented to Comfort, 1938, and one print on fabric entitled "The Boar's Head Carol" from the Arts and Letters Club's 1953 Christmas dinner; a portrait by Eric Harrison, sketches by Arthur Lismer and a letter and envelope sent to Comfort by Charles Schaefer.
Fonds also contains 41,867 photographs, one colour filmstrip, one reel of 8 mm film, an Ottawa-Hull street directory booklet (1945), 24 colour postcards, and ten posters, ca. 1919-1983, related to the artistic career and personal life of Charles Comfort, including the following aspects: work as a graphic designer in Winnipeg (1914-1925) at Brigden's Ltd. and in Toronto (1925-1936) in partnership with Will Ogilvie; charter membership (1926) of the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour; work as a teacher of mural painting at the Ontario College of Art (1936-1938); membership of the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Toronto (1938-1943); service with the Canadian Army in Italy as Senior Official War Artist (1943-1945); work as a member of the staff of the department of Art and Archaeology at the University of Toronto (1946-1960); Canadian Government Overseas Fellowship (1955-1956) to investigate the nature of the 17th Century Dutch master techniques; Presidency of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1957-1960); Directorship of the National Gallery of Canada (1960-1965); activities of Charles and Louise Comfort, their family and relatives; portraits of their friends; the photographs mostly by Charles Comfort.
Fonds also contains 235 drawings, 23 watercolours, 28 prints, four oil paintings, 17 photo-mechanical reproductions and three photographs, 1920-1970, which are drawings of Louise Comfort and Ruth and Anne Comfort as children; life drawings and anatomical diagrams; war drawings; sketches of architecture and landscapes throughout North America and sketches of designs for a 5 cent coin; prepatory sketches for mural commissions such as National Library murals; Vancouver mural; Toronto General Hospital; a mural never completed for a medical centre; designs for carved stone medallions for Montreal Central Station; drawings of family friends like Will Ogilvie, Marion Banting, Frank Prendergast, Pegi Nicol, Isobel Staples and Merril Dennison; these works are by Charles Comfort and other artists, including Bertram Brooker, William Ogilvie, Thoreau MacDonald, Fred Varley, Arthur Lismer, Robert Fawcett, Michael Forster, W. Roloff Beny and others; photographic portraits of Frederick Banting and of Charles Comfort; group photograph of the Canadian Officers' Training Corps, University of Toronto; the photographs by Charles Comfort, Arthur Goss, Nicolas Keleman.
Fonds also contains additional graphic materials. A grangerized copy, 1922-1930, of the publication The women of Red River by W.J. Healy (Winnipeg: the Women's Canadian Club, 1923) with eight original drawings by Charles Comfort tipped into the book along with six photographs of the settlement, which depict the walls of the Lower Fort; a Diagram Plan of the Red River Settlement; St. Andrew's Church; John Fraser's Log Home and Miss Davis's School; two woodcut or linocut greeting cards by Pegi Nichol Macleod and a poem illustrated with watercolour, also by Macleod, from the same period as the grangerized publication. 16 photographs, 1922-1971, predominant 1957-1994, are portraits of Dr. Henry Havelock Chown, Dr. Alex Hugh Ferguson, D. McKenzie, Norah Michener and unidentified subjects from manuscripts files (Vol. 15, "Portraiture 1922-1971" and "Portraits: Medical".
Fonds also contains a guest book with 39 drawings and two photographs, 1931-1939, kept by Charles Comfort contains signatures of artists, writers and other visitors along with drawings, mostly portraits, by Comfort and other artists. The drawings in the guest book are by Charles Comfort, Will Oglivie, Pegi Nicol MacLeod, Paraskeva Clark, Sally Creighton, Robert Fawcett, Arthur Lismer; Portraits of: Charles Comfort, Will Oglivie, Robert Ayres, André Lapine, Paraskeva Clark, Leo Kennedy, Pegi Nicol MacLeod, Norman Bethune. Signators include Wyndham Lewis, A.Y. Jackson, Barker Fairley, Douglas Duncan, Carl Schaefer, Graham Campbell McInnes, Peter Haworth, Franklin Carmichael, Yvonne McKague, Fred B. Housser, LAC Panton, C.W. Jefferys, Harry and Frances Adaskin, Bertram Brooker, Morley Callaghan, Elizabeth Wyn Wood.
Fonds also contains 1,349 photographs, 1939-1975, related to the artistic career of Charles Comfort, including service with the Canadian Army in Europe as Senior Official War Artist (1943-1945); work as a member of the Department of Art and Archaeology at the University of Toronto (1946-1960); Presidency of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1957-1960); Directorship of the National Gallery of Canada (1960-1965); activities of Charles and Louise Comfort, their family, relatives, and friends; with photographs by Abitibi Power & Paper Co. Ltd.; Doug Bartlett, Ottawa; Ken Bell Photography, Toronto; Canada Wide, Montreal; Canadian National Railways; Canadian Pacific Railways; Clive Clark, Toronto; Alan Collier, Toronto; Charles Comfort; Department of National Defence; Duke Photo, Banff; John Evans Photography Ltd., Ottawa; Thomas Fall, London, England; The Globe and Mail, Toronto; Richard Harrington, Toronto; Jalmar Banquet Photographers, London; N. Keleman; H.R. MacMillan Export Co. Ltd.; Malak, Ottawa; Manitoba Government; R.H. Marlow, Vancouver; Jack Marshall & Co. Ltd., Toronto; Gilbert A. Milne & Co. Ltd., Toronto; Ministère des affaires culturelles du Québec; National Film Board of Canada; National Museum of Canada; Herbert Nott, Toronto; Desmond O'Neill, Ewell, England; John F. Petrie; Provincial Archives of British Columbia; Charles Lea Rea; Rushart Photographer, Vancouver; Star Newspaper Service, Toronto; Toronto Star Weekly; United Press International; Vancouver City Archives; Vancouver News-Herald; Vancouver Province; Vancouver Sun; Ron Vickers Ltd., Toronto; Williams Brothers Photographers, Vancouver; Windsor Star.
Fonds also contains additional graphic materials. Four watercolours and one drawing, 1966-1967, predominant 1967, are colour sketches of abstract designs 1966-1967; and a pencil sketch of a proposed mural of medical men throughout history, ca. 1967; all by Comfort. One oil painting, n.d., by Charles Comfort, depicts Heritage House on the Aylmer Road, Hull, Quebec, constructed ca. 1825. Heritage House was the former residence of Tiberius Wright, and was later Charles Comfort's home.
Fonds also contains 18 maps and 10 architectural drawings, 1935-1964, consisting of maps relating to the travels of Charles Comfort in Europe and architectural drawings relating to murals designed by Comfort in public buildings. There are also sketches of an unidentified residence. The maps of Canada include street maps of the cities of Montreal, Kitchener-Waterloo, Toronto and Niagara. There are also road maps of London, England, Geneva, Switzerland and Paris, France. The architectural drawings include the Administration Building at the Central Experimental Farm and National Library and Archives Building in Ottawa, Redpath Library Extension, McGill University in Montreal, and the Canadian Pavilion constructed at the Brussels International Exposition in 1958.
Fonds also contains a sculpture and postal covers. One plaster sculpture, 1945, by Florence Wyle, depicts Charles Comfort. Six postal covers, 1972, are privately issued first day covers prepared to commemorate the 90th birthday of Canadian artist A.Y. Jackson, October 3, 1972, with all covers including single examples of the Canada 8 cent "Alaska Highway" definitive postage stamp, issued 02-08-1967, which reproduces a painting by A.Y. Jackson, in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada. Three of the covers also contain a special printed cachet commemorating the artist's 90th birthday. The other three contain single examples of the Canada 6 cent "Isle of Spruce" commemorative postage stamp, issued 18-09-1970, which reproduces a painting by Arthur Lismer; this stamp issue having been prepared to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the "Group of Seven".
Fonds also contains sound recordings of speeches, interviews and dictated notes by Charles Fraser Comfort as well as recordings of Comfort family celebrations and of speeches by contemporary Canadian artists and art historians, 1962-1982.