Fonds consists of correspondence, articles, diaries, subject files, news clippings, scrapbooks, photographs, manuscript notes, notebooks, cartoons, watercolours, and medals. Adam Shortt's involvement with Queen's University, his work as Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, his work as first Chairman of the Board of Historical Publications of the Public Archives, his active career as a public speaker, and his creative output are all reflected in the papers. There is also a large series of autographs that Shortt collected over the course of his life.
