Developed to support teaching, research and scholarship, its holdings reflect fonds and collections pertaining to Canadian literature, politics, popular culture and business history, in addition to war and peace in the 20th century with an emphasis on the Holocaust and Resistance.

Having read and enjoyed The Hobbit, Ready asked a London-based book dealer to contact J. R. R. Tolkien about acquiring his works for Marquette University.

[9][10] As University Librarian at McMaster he played an instrumental role in securing numerous high-profile collections, most notably the archives of philosopher and political activist Bertrand Russell.

Included are writers Louise Bennett-Coverley,[15] Pierre Berton,[16] Austin Clarke,[17] Marian Engel,[18] Basil H. Johnston[19] and Farley Mowat[20] and singer-songwriters Bruce Cockburn,[21][22] Ian Thomas[23] and Jackie Washington.

[27] Personal papers and research collections of non-Canadian figures are equally well represented by holdings pertaining to Samuel Beckett,[28] Vera Brittain, Thomas Carlyle and Sir George Catlin.

The manuscript, along with several of Burgess' early works, was acquired by McMaster as a result of Ready's persistence and eventual friendship with the author.

Manuscripts, correspondence, newspaper clippings and other textual records, in addition to photographs and audio visual resources, make up the more than 140 meters of material held by the Archives.

[34] Russell's letters, totalling approximately 50,000,[35] provide insight about his personal and political dealings addressing topics such as his love life, his thoughts on teaching and pacifism, and his experiences in prison.

Eliot, Nikita Khrushchev, Lady Constance Malleson, Ho Chi Minh, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Dorothy Maud Wrinch are among Russell's numerous correspondents.