The collection consists of records from a wide variety of sources that are all related to progressive movements and the Canadian left. There are particularly large amounts of records from the Alberta New Democrats and the Strathcona NDP constituency association as well as material from the Alberta Federation of Labour, the Woodsworth-Irvine Socialist Fellowship, and the Edmonton Women's Coalition.
The NDP material consists of committee files from the Edmonton NDP Anti-War Committee, the Women's Committee, and the Environment Committee; scrapbooks and documents created by Franklin Foster related to his 1975 NDP campaign for the Bonnyville MLA seat; Alberta New Democrat publications, magazines, and reports; and minutes and administrative files from the Strathcona NDP constituency.
In addition to the Franklin Foster NDP material, there is also a copy of an abridged version of Foster's PhD dissertation on John E. Brownlee.
The non-NDP material consists of a conference packet from the 1965 Summer Seminar of the Woodsworth-Irvine Socialist Fellowship; several papers and research documents published by leftist and progressive organizations such as the Revolutionary Marxist Group (Saskatchewan), the Woodsworth-Irvine Socialist Fellowship, and the Edmonton Women's Coalition; newsletters and pamphlets from the Edmonton Women's Coalition; several issues of The Other Alberta Report, a progressive compendium of Alberta-focused news analysis; and Alberta Federation of Labour publications.