Colonial office 221 is divided into four discrete sections: volumes 1-27 contain copies of a number of colonial newspapers (1829-1856); volumes 28-35 include shipping returns (1730-1815); volumes 36-38 provide various special subject items (1748-[?]); volumes 39-76 include the Blue Books of Statistics. Volumes 1-27 were not copied, but all the remaining items from CO 221 are available on microfilm, reels B-1525 to B-1534, B-3228 to B-3231.
The shipping returns cover the periods 1730-1765 and 1811-1820 for Nova Scotia, and 1785-1815 for Cape Breton Island. The entries and clearances for 1766, which should probably have been included in CO 221, will be found in CO 217, volume 22, pages 235-274. Volume 36 provides a "List of Emigrants", 1748-1749, with the following pieces of information: name, quality (i.e., occupation or status), regiment or ship, family and servants brought and their numbers and sex. The arrangement is roughly alphabetical. The list of names under the letter "A" is fragmentary. Volume 37 includes some maps and a printed version of The Memorials of the English and French Commissaries concerning the Limits of Nova Scotia or Acadia (London: 1755), in English and French.
Volume 38 is composed of various survey plans, descriptions and notes prepared by Charles Morris, who was probably the first Charles Morris of the three who were Chief Surveyors or Surveyors General of Nova Scotia. Volume 39 concerns Wilmot Township, Minas Basin, and the road from Partridge Island to Forts Cumberland and Belcher. Volumes 39-76 provide the Blue Book of Statistics for the years 1821-1822, 1826-1827, 1829-1852, 1854, 1857-1866.