Fonds comprises correspondence and questionnaires for merchant seamen completed by Leo Corkum and Harry Delah [?]. The questionnaires were completed in response to an appeal for research data in conjunction with Miller's project with the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England.

The records in this accession include notes and photocopied primary materials relating to Judith Fingard's research on seamen in 19th-century Eastern Canada, the Halifax retail liquor trade in the 19th and early 20th centuries, James Robinson Johnston, George Liston and Isaac Sallis. Also included is one folder of professional correspondence and Fingard's MPhil and PhD diplomas from the University of London.

The fonds consists predominantly of correspondence and vessel papers. The fonds also contains records that document the family's business activity, particularly that of Joseph O’Brien.