Fonds contains records created and collected primarily by Alexander H. Leighton, with some by Jane Leighton Murphy. Documents span from Leighton's studies at Princeton, Cambridge, and Johns Hopkins univerities, through his government employment in World War II, and his teaching career at Cornell, Dalhousie, and Harvard. The majority of records are related to the 1961 Cornell-Aro Mental Health Research Project and the 1963 Study on the Role of Women, both based in Nigeria, and the Stirling County Study, based in Nova Scotia. Record types include correspondence, manuscripts, grant applications, reports, photographs and slides, medical and academic records, method and guidebooks, reviews, offprints and publications, teaching and course materials, and surveys and interview transcripts.

A sous-fonds contains records documenting the migration of Alexander Leighton's parents from Ireland to the United States and their subsequent life in Philadelphia. The sous-fonds contains extensive correspondence between extended family members over the course of a century, as well as photographs, diaries, wills, family trees, memoirs, and Alexander Leighton's personal correspondence.

File consists of records related to the exhibition 'Silverberg: A Canadian in Japan', an exhibition of batik prints and sketches by David Silverberg organized through the Atlantic Provinces Art Circuit (APAC) and presented at Dalhousie Art Gallery in October 1968.

Records consist mainly of correspondence between Evelyn Holmes (Acting Curator, Dalhousie Art Gallery) and David Silverberg (Artist, Professor, Department of Fine Arts, Mount Allison University), as well as correspondence with other curators in the APAC membership. Additional records consist of a list of artworks, a condition report, room booking confirmation for a lecture by Silverberg, and a catalogue for Silverberg's exhibition at Waddington Gallery in Montréal.

File consists of records related to the exhibition 'Shiryu Morita' organized by Mr. Tetsuo Yamada, Director of the Yamada Art Gallery, Kyoto, Japan, and circulated by the National Gallery of Canada. The Exhibition was presented at Dalhousie Art Gallery from October 13 - November 15, 1970.

Records consist of correspondence between Ernest Smith (Director, Dalhousie Art Gallery) and National Gallery staff, an exhibition agreement contract, a cumulative condition report, shipment invoice, and a packing list.