• The fonds consists of constitution and rules (1911); minutes (1913-1924, 1927-1928, 1947-1957, 1959-1964, 1970-1999); correspondence (1913-1921); office files (1952-1958, 1978-2007); financial records (1954-1990); scrapbooks (1950-1983); and photographs (1921-1970).

The fonds consists of articles of association and bylaws (1882-1964); minutes (1882-1965); annual reports (1883-1968); legal documents and agreements (1882-1914); shareholders' records (1882-1966); records of townsite sales (1882-1910); records of farmland sales (1882-1968); applications and contracts with individual purchasers (1917-1934); registers of deeds transfers (1883-1977); some land examination records (1913-1927); correspondence of the Land Commissioner, especially Virginie Smith (1887-1977); financial records including cashbooks, journals and ledgers (1882-1968); and records related to mineral rights and oil and gas leases (1930-1969). Includes records of the company's affiliate, Western Provinces Land Company (1925-1969).

These land examination reports were prepared by CPR's Land Inspectors, and include the following elements (not necessarily all of them in any single report), which helped the railway determine the value of the land, and what price they should charge for it: average grade; nearest railway station; elevators; nationality of nearest settlers; type of farming in district; nearest creamery, post office, school, church; average rainfall; area of arable land; soil type; timber cover; surface water and well depth; grass and hay cover; stone and coal in district; improvements made; and general remarks.

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 family papers: invoices from Fort Macleod firms (1892-1901); property documents; and Augustus Cowdry's diary (1906), correspondence with his father (1920-1925), miscellaneous business records (1913-1934), and photographs. Also consists of Cowdry Brothers records: bank pass books, deposit slips and cheques (1886-1904).

The fonds consists of newspaper clippings about his life (1912-1955); his articles and reports on the Peace River country and the fur trade; photographs of the north, natives and Cornwall; and miscellaneous personal papers. Includes Fort Resolution post diaries (1861-1862, 1880-1883), profit statements and list of goods (1881).