The fonds consists of correspondence, typescripts, financial records and related material of the Canadian Speakers' and Writers' Service Ltd for the period, 1950-1990. The client files have been arranged in two different ways: alphabetically by name of the client or, chronologically, with an alphabetic sub-division under each year. This includes correspondence to and from clients, as well as correspondence with publishers, the media, sponsors of talks, radio and television producers, and others, publicity, and material relating to CSWS clients. For several of the clients the files also include resumes, photographs (for publicity purposes), schedules, travel arrangements, newspaper clippings, reader's reports, royalty statements, and contracts. The clients include Earle Birney, Harry Boyle, Celia Franca, Larry Henderson, Frank Rasky, McKenzie Porter, Clyde Gilmour, Stanley Burke, sports personalities (Lord Athol Layton, 'Cookie' Gilchrist), Ben Wicks, and Marshall McLuhan, among others. There are also typescripts of works (novels, memoirs, plays, radio scripts, television scripts, musical scores) by several authors, including established writers and unpublished (and unsolicited) novels, articles, short stories, and similar material. Financial records include invoices, cancelled cheques, bank deposit slips, cash books, etc. In addition, there are office diaries for the period, 1951-1965. There are copies of professional publications, publishers' catalogues, anthologies of plays, newsletters, copies of labour agreements between the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and ACTRA, ACTRA documents (constitution, etc), newspaper clippings, correspondence and related material from potential employers of CSWS' clients. There is a separate collection of the correspondence of Marshall McLuhan, which was utilized in a published Correspondence volume, edited by his wife and Matie Molinaro, president of CSWS. In addition, there are galleys of McLuhan works ('Laws of the media,'), correspondence and reports of the Centre for Culture and Technology, lecture invitations, various television and film proposals, scripts, and related correspondence, as well as material about McLuhan (books, articles, newspaper clippings, etc), and the 'Management game,' which includes a sample deck of cards used in the game as well as orders for the game. There are also audio tape cassettes, and video tape cassettes, of recordings and interviews of CSWS clients' work, including, Victor Davies, Allan Gould, Lister Sinclair, and others.
