This fonds documents the business, political, and personal activities of Arthur Hill Gillmor; the business activities of his father and brothers, the personal activities of his wife, Hannah; and the business, professional, and personal activities of their children and grandchildren. It sheds light on the A. H. Gillmor family's personal relationships and their relationships with kin, notably, Hannah Gillmor's mother, her sisters, Lucretia, Maria, and Harriet, and their husbands, H. E. Seelye, Henry Beckwith, and J. A. Davidson / Davison respectively.

The fonds also documents, to a more limited extent, the personal activities of Hannah Dawes Howe and her son, Albion Pratt Howe, as a Union Army soldier during the American Civil War. It sheds light on the challenges her sons, daughters, and sons- and daughters-in-laws faced as they rebuilt their lives in the American and Canadian West. Taken collectively, these records explore a variety of themes, including New Brunswick politics, the role of a politician's wife, children and childhood in the colonial era, lumbering in Charlotte County, outmigration, Confederation, tariffs (National Policy), free trade, prohibition, temperance, railway building, and the role of religion in 19th century New Brunswick.

Business records (1846-1894) document the ebb and flow of both the Gillmor enterprises and the economy of Charlotte County and point to periods of financial difficulty for the Gillmor family. Included are administrative, financial, and legal records for the Gillmor family's extensive lumbering, sawmilling, mercantile and trading businesses, such as correspondence, invoices, accounts, bills payable and receivable, cashbooks, daybooks, account ledgers, receipts, bills of lading, survey bills, orders, time books (wages), bank books, tally book, timber licenses, deeds, agreements, and promissory notes, along with insurance papers pertaining to the schooner "Ben Bolt". A very few documents pertaining to the Bonny River Lumber Company are available.

Political records (1857-1897) reflect A. H. Gillmor's activities as a member of the House of Assembly, as provincial secretary in A. J. Smith's short-lived administration, and as a member of the Dominion Parliament. The bulk of these records is comprised of incoming correspondence which, along with discussions on political subjects and issues, contains comments of a personal nature. A very few draft outgoing letters are included. During his political career, Gillmor corresponded with many political leaders and public figures including, Samuel Leonard Tilley, Albert J. Smith, George F. Hill, J. E. Knight, George D. Street, W. H. Chaffey, B. R. Stevenson, James Brown, John McAdam, Edward Jack, Charles Fisher, William Wedderburn, W. B. Kinnear, and T. W. Anglin.

Political records also include notices addressed to the electors of Charlotte County; listings of voters; draft and printed speeches prepared for election campaigns and on political issues (i.e., Confederation, tarrifs, prohibition); draft and printed bills (House of Assembly and House of Commons); petitions addressed to lieutenant governors (J. H. T. Manners Sutton and A. H. Gordon), the Executive Council, the House of Assembly, the House of Commons, A. H. Gillmor, and others (including 5 from widows and family of Revolutionary War veterans); and printed speeches, pamphlets and other material on such subjects as capital punishment (Louis Riel), railways, boundaries, treaties, free trade, protectionism, the Irish question, and the Paris exhibition.

Personal and family records (1859-1899) consist primarily of correspondence. Of particular interest are letters between A. H. Gillmor and his wife, Hannah, and to A. H. Gillmor from his children. Letters from A. H. Gillmor to his wife discuss both personal and political matters. The Gillmor children's letters offer insights into 19th century childhood, their relationship with their father and mother, the education of girls and boys, student life at the Collegiate School in Fredericton (1870s), and social, business, and political activities in Charlotte County. As well, there are a number of letters to A. H. Gillmor from his brother-in-law, Henry E. Seelye which provide details of business, political, and personal matters. Seelye's letters dated after 1861 describe his business and political activities in the American and Canadian West, as well as family matters.

There are also letters between Hannah Gillmor and her children, mother and siblings. Letters from her brother, A. Pratt Howe, provide information about his activities in the Union Army. Letters to Hannah Gillmor from her mother and sisters, Maria Beckwith, Lucretia Seelye, and Harriet Davidson, provide information about family matters and the challenges the Beckwiths, Seelyes, and Davidsons faced constructing new lives in the West.

The fonds includes letters to the Gillmor children -- Adela, Daniel, Henry E., and Percy -- from their father. Several letters between family members, dating to 1878, detail Percy H. Gillmor's experiences and behaviour while attending the Collegiate School. Accounts concerning the cost of Adela, Henry, and Percy's education and training are included. There are also a few letters addressed to A. H. Gillmor's father, Daniel Gillmor; Hannah Howe; Lucretia and Henry E. Seelye; Harriet Davidson; and Aunt Sarah.

Lastly, there is a diary of a voyage by an unnamed traveller from Saint John, N.B. to Liverpool, England, and return (1886); along with a genealogical chart of the Gillmor family; a few newspaper clippings; and manuscript and printed copies of poetry.

This book was originally begun as an exercise book by "Master R. Mowat May 28th 1839" and contains arithmetic exercises. The book has been turned over and the back contains a running account of charges for painting and other work on various ships. The work is specified and the names of the captains and the ships are given.

This fonds consists largely of the financial records of T. H. Swift and Sons businesses. The records of the store include bound ledgers and account books, 1934-1965, and other loose financial records and correspondence, 1926-1973. There are invoices, orders and shipping records as well as inventory records, some customers accounts and banking records. There are also payroll, income tax and insurance records.

The records of Lockowan Coal Company include financial and banking records and some time sheets for workers handling explosives, 1932-1947.

Personal and business records of Rene Swift, 1925-196, include financial and investment records, souvenirs and records of his work with local service clubs and charities. There are also some records of the Peerless Construction Company, 1937-1940. Plans of the general store and the Minto Coal Company office, 1942, are available in the map section.

This fonds consists of the business records of Wheaton Brothers. It includes 2 day books (1855-1864, 1885-1891) and a single account ledger (1854-1864, 1893-1904). The day books provide such detailed information as names of customers, dates of transactions, goods and products sold, services rendered, amounts charged, and payments received. There is also information pertaining to the hiring of workers, particularly, their date of hiring, term of employment, and wage promised.

The account ledger contains individual customer accounts that provide detailed information on goods and services purchased, amounts charged, and payments received. Frequently, the customer's place of residence is noted. The firm's customers lived in Sackville, Shediac, Amherst, Shemague, Salisbury, Petitcodiac, Coverdale, Tignish, Jolicure, Dorchester, and elsewhere.

The fonds also contains Frank Wheaton's accounting exercise book or work book, which provides information on 19th century accounting practices. He may have been a student in the commercial department of Sackville Academy in the 1870s.

Lastly, there are a few household accounts of Hedley Hicks with Sackville merchants dating to the 1930s, along with a very few household accounts of E. A. Wheaton dating to the same period.

The fonds consists of a complete set of minute books for the Sussex Cheese and Butter Company, 1898-1974, and one minute book for the Millstream Creamery, 1949-1966.

This fonds consists of 5 bluepirnts all relating to the Victoria Public Hospital in Fredericton New Brunswick. There is one blueprint each of the north elevation, section, basement floor for the proposed boiler plant, ground floor, and present Fraser Building -- excavation and footings plan for north wing extension.

This fonds consists of a single item, an account book for Lewis Fisher's general store. The names of customers, items purchased, amounts charged, and payments made are recorded. There is also an alphabetical index of customers.

This fonds documents the business activities of John Ward and his sons, John Ward, Jr., Charles Ward, and Caleb Ward, under the firm names John Ward & Son and John Ward & Sons. It includes primarily ship accounts and business correspondence, including communications with agents in Britain, the West Indies, and Quebec; business firms in the United States; master mariners; and New Brunswick politicians.

This fonds consists of a single item -- an account book for Hugh Doherty's grocery store located in Saint John, N.B. The account book contains itemized accounts for each customer, showing the quantity of goods purchased and the amount charged. Often the customer's occupation is given.

This fonds documents the business activities of Martin Lemont, Sr. and his sons William Lemont and Martin Lemont, Jr. It consists of financial records for Lemont & Sons, a daily journal for William Lemont's insurance business, and a file of newspaper and magazine clippings.

There are two ledgers for Lemont & Sons, dating from 1895-1902. The first ledger (1895-1897) offers daily and weekly totals of cash and credit sales, along with the net profit totals for each. The ledger also includes daily and weekly totals for sales and credit transactions by types of merchandise sold (furniture and woodenware, crockery and china, glassware etc.), as well as totals for goods sold at auctions and on bargain Saturdays. The second ledger (1898-1902) records daily and weekly totals for sales and credit transactions by types of merchandise sold (furniture and woodenware, crockery and china, and sundries). There are also monthly and yearly totals for cash and credit sales from "fancy tables upstairs" that include sums for sales, costs, and profits (1901-1902) as well as monthly and yearly totals for general cash sales that include sums for sales, first payment, and balance of accounts (1895-1902).

The fonds also contains William Lemont's daily journal for his insurance business (September 1900-May 1903). He records the names of potential customers, their place of residence, occasionally their occupation, the names of insurance companies holding their policies (if any), the date insurance was taken out, and reasons for refusing to purchase an insurance policy. Beginning in October 1900, Lemont begins using this journal, to some extent, as a personal diary. He records details of business trips, family gatherings, and political rallies attended among other activities and events. The journal also includes a listing of Fredericton voters, for uptown and downtown, dating to 1900, that was clipped from the local press; a listing of fire insurance and accident insurance companies operating in Canada along with the names of agents; and a listing of medical doctors practising in York County about the turn of the 20th century.

Lastly the fonds includes a few clippings from newspapers and magazines on a number of subjects seemingly of personal interest to the collector(s).