Fonds consists primarily of incoming correspondence addressed to Hawthornthwaite in his capacity as a Member of the Legislative Assembly from his constituents and other residents of British Columbia. The fonds contains a file consisting of legislative bills, resolutions, and acts tabled during Hawthornthwaite's tenure in the Provincial Parliament and other records that Hawthornthwaite made or received in the course of his service to the people of Nanaimo, as well as published records of the legislative assembly of British Columbia for the years 1909 and 1910. The fonds also contains: a certificate for Hawthornthwaite's share in the Western Socialist Publishing Company which published The Western Clarion, the newspaper of the Socialist Party of British Columbia; a postcard depicting Joseph Mairs, one of Hawthornthwaite's contemporaries in the Socialist Party of Canada; and a copy of a book titled The changing order: A study of democracy, given to Hawthornthwaite by his friend Harry Sibble.
