Fonds consists of records made or received by Michael Fellman's in the course of activities relating to his teaching activity, research, scholarship, journalism, as well as his family and personal relationships. Records include correspondence, photographs, research notes, working papers, and teaching materials; offprints, lectures, and copies of newspaper articles authored by Fellman; and draft manuscripts of Fellman's published books, as well as two unpublished book projects – a study of "individuals fallen from respectability" in Victoria England (Uneminent Victorians), and a novel of the US Civil War (Dirty Civil War).

The fonds is a hybrid of paper records, analog media and born-digital materials. The digital records comprise email correspondence and files from Fellman's working computer.

The fonds has been arranged by the archivist into eight series:

• Personal and family correspondence (series 1)
• Teaching records and lectures (series 2)
• University service and career records (series 3)
• Research files and publications (series 4)
• Journalism and media publications (series 5)
• Email records (series 6)
• Desktop correspondence and working documents (series 7)
• Digital photographs (series 8)

Fonds consists of records reflecting the academic and personal life of Douglas Cole. The correspondence series consists primarily of the personal views of Dr. Cole on matters of historical scholarship, university affairs and his own career as a professor. A few letters were made or received by Dr. Cole in his capacity as a University employee performing his official duties –– for example, marking students' work and providing reference letters. Fonds also includes some unpublished articles, conference papers, research notes and lectures.