Collection contains a manuscript of Ballads and Sea Songs from Nova Scotia and related material, including page proofs, research notes, off-print, and correspondence. Material primarily documents Mackenzie's interest in ballads from Nova Scotia.

Item is a notebook containing 20 sailors' ballads, one popular song and two song fragments written in at least two different hands. There is also a brief diary entry outlining Hatt's movements between 1883 and 1885.