Fonds consists of eleven series comprising the studio and personal archives of renowned portraitist Yousuf Karsh over a period of more than five decades, including studio portraits, commercial assignments and personal explorations, as well as his business and personal records. The fonds contains a variety of photographic formats, textual records, audio-visual records, philatelic projects and art work. The photographic material consists of portraits of the most recognized names from the domains of science, politics, arts, religion and business of the twentieth century, as well as prominent Canadians, captains of industry, society portraits and commissioned portraits of people from all sectors. It also includes various advertising and publicity projects, film still work, the Canadian Cities series for Maclean's magazine, and other magazine and publishing projects. The textual records include documentation of his various businesses, business and personal correspondence over the length of his career, financial and travel records, clippings and scrapbooks, and files documenting his major projects. The fonds also includes Karsh's awards and honours, material accumulated by Karsh on John Garo, whom Karsh apprenticed with, and miscellaneous historical material collected by Karsh over the years. photographs taken during posing sessions with Prince Charles, Prince of Wales; Henry Moore with Yousuf Karsh, October 1972; photo of the exhibition sign of retrospective of 50 years of Photography by Karsh at National Portrait Gallery, London, Feb. 17 - April 8, 1984; Baron showing copy of first Karsh volume of portraits "Faces of Destiny" and their Majesties King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, ca. 1950, photo by Richardby, London; portrait of Field-Marshall Montgomery of Alamein with Yousuf Karsh, August 29th, 1946 taken by Aziz, Crawley Films.
