The fonds consists of colonization files (including those of Department of Natural Resources, Department of Colonization and Development, Canadian Colonization Association, and various colonization boards) (1886-1940); Advisory Committee minutes and reports (1916-1958); Executive Branch files (1911-1952); P.L. Naismith and S.G. Porter correspondence (1912-1957); coal files (1904-1911); and British Columbia Land Department files (1896-1926) as well as land sale maps, building plans, plans and drawings of railway structures & equipment from the CPR Mechanical Department.

The fonds consists of correspondence, contracts and wage agreements, minutes, reports, reference material and financial records; photographs of coal mining operations and conferences, and of individuals prominent in the industry; recorded interviews with L.C. Stevens and Mike Vitalli about the history of coal mining in the west; and an address by Lieutenant-Governor MacEwan to the 24th Canadian Conference on Coal.

• The fonds consists of biographical research on Banff pioneers; miscellaneous correspondence regarding the David Thompson Foundation; and Brinkley's poems and excerpts from her manuscript. Includes photographs of Banff personalities, sports and scenery; and of the building of the Big Bend Highway in British Columbia.