Fonds consists of records created and accumulated by the Canadian Speakers' and Writers' Service Ltd. over the course of over 50 years as a literary agency and management company for writers, public speakers, and actors.
The bulk of the records consist of client files which includes correspondence to and from clients; correspondence with publishers, media, sponsors of talks, radio and television producers; publicity material relating to clients including resumes, headshot photographs, schedules, travel arrangements; newspaper clippings; reader's reports; royalty statements; and contracts. There are also audio cassettes and video cassettes of interviews and recordings of the work of some CSWS clients. Notable clients include: Earle Birney, Arthur Black, Harry Boyle, Adrienne Clarkson, Sorel Etrog, Don Harron, Lynn Johnston, Paul Kligman, Mavor Moore, Lister Sinclair, Harry Somers, Ben Wicks, and Chris Wiggins.
There are also general correspondence files, business records (including office diaries for the period, 1951-1965), manuscripts (from clients and unsolicited), and print materials (publishers' catalogues, anthologies of plays, newsletters, copies of labour agreements between the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and ACTRA, and clippings). There is a series of records related to CSWS Ltd. founder, Matie Molinaro, documenting her early life in New York and her work as a war correspondent during the Second World War. Also included is a series devoted to records related to Marshall McLuhan and his estate, long-time clients of CSWS Ltd, which includes correspondence, contracts, notes, drafts, clippings, offprints, photographs, and ephemera.
