It is the record of a young Yorkshire Quaker, of yeoman roots and bourgeois estate, in search of the history, antiquities, folk- lore, customs and other phenomena, both "natural" and "civil," of his native county." (p. 6) Charles Fothergill ...

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

The collection includes correspondence both private and public, diaries, natural history notebooks, a few sketches, and scrapbooks. Much of the material pre-dates Fothergill's arrival in Upper Canada in 1816.