Fonds consists of textual records in various series, as follows: Van Horne letterbooks, 1882-1902; Shaughnessy letterbooks, 1884-1919; Van Horne letterbooks, [1882-1898. Transcripts 1964-1971]; construction documents, 1879, 1887; hotel registers, 1884-1892; and microfilm, 1897-1910. Of this material, microfilmed documents include a guest register of Glacier House in Glacier Park in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia, 1897-1910; letterbooks of William C. Van Horne, 1882-1902, and of Thomas George Shaughnessy, 1884-1918. Microfilmed material is located on microfilm reels M-1573, M-2247 to M-2291, and M-2983 to M-3069. There is a much larger quantity of photographs in this fonds, much of which has not yet be described and much of which is still housed at the accession level. Photographs show various subjects related to the C.P.R., such as promotional and documentary photographs covering the railway, highway, hotel, and resort activities, facilities, and services of the C.P.R., 1880-1969. There is also a large variety of photos related to Canadian life and events of the 20th century; as well as copies of photographs of radio equipment and a Marconi radio display in a 1937 Exhibition Train. There are also 10 photographs depicting scenes along the Canadian Pacific Railway ca.1900. Included are Mount Hector from Boulder Creek - west of Field; horse ranch in Western Canada; Thompson River near Lytton, B.C.; wheat stacks in menonite settlement, Manitoba; Rocky Mountain Park; Thompson River near Ashcroft, B.C.; apple orchard, near Vernon, B.C.; ploughing in Western Canada; moose hunters camp, Kipawa; wheat delivery into elevators, Western Canada. Also included in the collection is a view of Montreal Harbour ca.1875 taken from Notre-Dame Tower. Photo attributed to William James Notman. Additionally, there are a number of reproductions of vintage promotional travel posters, which have been digitized. Also included in fonds are various travelogues and promotional films on Canadian tourist attractions connected with Canadian Pacific, 1940-1979. Note that most corporate archival material relating to the Canadian Pacific Railway in the late 19th and most of the 20th century is found elsewhere, at the Exporail Archives in St. Constant, Quebec.
Canadian Pacific Railway Company : First incorporated as the Canadian Pacific Railway Company in 1872 (35 Vic., Cap. 73), the Company under new management was reincorporated under its present name by letters patent of 16 February 1881. Upon completion from coast to coast in 1885 it became the first transcontinental railway in Canada. Sir William C. Van Horne (1843-1915) was general manager of the C.P.R., 1882-1884, vice-president, 1884-1888, president, 1888-1898 and chairman of the board, 1898-1910. Sir Thomas Shaughnessy (1853-1923) was president of the C.P.R., 1898-1918. The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) is owned by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001. Headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, it owns approximately 20,100 kilometres (12,500 mi) of track all across Canada and into the United States, stretching from Montreal to Vancouver, and as far north as Edmonton. Its rail network also serves Minneapolis-St. Paul, Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, and New York City in the United States. The railway was first built between eastern Canada and British Columbia between 1881 and 1885 (connecting with Ottawa Valley and Georgian Bay area lines built earlier), fulfilling a trusty extended to British Columbia when it entered Confederation in 1871. It was Canada's first transcontinental railway, but no longer reaches the Atlantic coast. Primarily a freight railway, the CPR was for decades the only practical means of long-distance passenger transport in most regions of Canada, and was instrumental in the settlement and development of Western Canada. The CPR became one of the largest and most powerful companies in Canada, a position it held as late as 1975. Its primary passenger services were eliminated in 1986, after being assumed by Via Rail Canada in 1978. A beaver was chosen as the railway's logo in honour of Sir Donald A Smith (1st. Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal) who had risen from Factor to Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company over a lengthy career in the beaver fur trade. Smith was a principal financier of the C.P.R. staking much of his personal wealth. In 1885, he drove the last spike to complete the transcontinental line
