This fonds consists mainly of correspondence among members of the various branches of Pollok and Gilmour, especially to and from Alexander Rankin of Rankin and Gilmour.

It also includes personal financial records of Alexander and Robert Rankin and North American travel diaries of Allen Gilmour, Jr. and Sr. and William Ritchie, dating from 1828 to 1829, and a report on the proceedings at the Prince of Wales' Challenge Cup competition (1862).

The collection consists of genealogical information and family letters. There are original letters with transcriptions, written by Mary Spurr Harding from Shippegan and Chatham, N.B., in 1851-1852, to her mother Amelia deWolf Spurr in Bridgetown, Nova Scotia. The letters discuss: children; childhood conditions, including remedies for worms; mid-19th century everyday life for women; relatives; preserving food, particularly fruit; family friends; travel within the province; and the slow delivery of mail. There is also some discussion of Mary Harding's husband John's lumber and shipping business.

There is also a modern hand-drawn map showing the places in northern New Brunswick and Nova Scotia where Spurr and Harding families lived; photocopies of photographs of Mary Harding (1850 -1901); newsclippings of family obituaries; a photograph of the Harding house in Miramichi; and genealogical material including a printed form showing Spurr family lineage.