The collection consists of copies and a small number of photographs of political cartoons dealing with Canadian and international events that took place from 1759 to 2006. Canadian topics include conscription, immigration, French-language rights, native self-government, imperialism, nationalism, labour conditions, women’s suffrage, and prohibition. The cartoons deal with, among many other topics, the Sino-Japanese War of 1894, the French conquest of Algeria, the Cold War, the war in Vietnam, and World Wars I and II. Publication dates of the newspapers and magazines from which the collection was copied range from 1846 to 2006. Dates of the events covered by the cartoons range from the mid-eighteenth century to 2006.
Collection consists of research material gathered by Johnston for his book "The Voyage of the Komagata Maru: The Sikh Challenge to Canada's Colour Bar" (1979; 1989) and subsequent articles and books about Sikhs in Canada, including (with Tara Singh Bains) "The Four Quarters of the Night: The Life-Journey of an Emigrant Sikh" (1995) and "Jewels of the Qila: The Remarkable Story of an Indo-Canadian Family" (2011). Records in the collection are primarily of photocopied and microfilmed material from archival material held by institutions, newspapers and journals, and notes and drafts.
Collection is divided into the following eleven series: Articles (1988–2016); "The voyage of the Komagata Maru" draft manuscripts (1977–1978); Finding aids, bibliography and essays on sources (1975–1991); Archival documents and research notes ([197-–before 2011]); Official sources files ([1975–after 1996]); Biographical and autobiographical sources files ([197-–198-?]); Individual files (1988–1993); Research studies files ([ca. 1980]–1988); Scholarly articles ([197-]–2000); Periodicals and pamphlets ([198-?]–2014); and Newspaper clippings ([197-]–2014).
The collection consists of photographic images and printed materials relating to the life and death of E. Pauline Johnson. Some of the material is associated with her sister, Evelyn Johnson, but the provenance and nature of compilation is largely unknown.
