Series contains letters between Andrew Merkel and Malcolm MacLeod from the beginning of his career at the Canadian Press, some telegrams and news article drafts.

Series includes correspondence between Merkel and J. F. B. Livesay, Tully, and many others, and various documents relating to Merkel's personal and professional life.

Williams was an influential American literary critic; series includes correspondence between Williams and Merkel discussing their writing and personal matters.

The records in the fonds were created, received or used by the School of Journalism staff and administrators in the course of their work. The School transferred most of the records arranged and described in this project to the Archives in 2010, at the time Kelly Toughill became Director in 2010.

The primary activity of the School of Journalism is to provide education to aspiring and seasoned journalists. By training students in the art, craft and profession of informing the public about matters of public interest, the program equips its students with the abilities to work as reporters and editors in the Canadian news media (from paper to broadcast to online), and provides excellent training for careers where being able to write and speak well, interview people, research topics and puzzle things out are assets.

The records are predominantly textual, including student records, correspondence, reports and promotional materials. Some photographs are included in student records (most appearing between 1987-1991). Some audio/video discs and videocassettes that were submitted as part of some students' portfolios in their admission applications, are in the fonds. In recent years, records have arrived in digital format, e.g., photographs on CDs and magazines created in the Magazine Workshop .

Sub-series contains memos and design plans for a school of journalism that had a brief existence in the 1960s. It also contains correspondence regarding the collapse and dissolution of the school.

Sub-series contains files on School of Journalism professors, their evaluations, training workshops, summer employment, and other documents relating to journalism faculty and their academic activities.

Sub-series contains correspondence and supporting documents between the School of Journalism and external individuals and organizations.

Sub-series contains records on subjects of interest to School of Journalism faculty and administrators.

Sub-series contains Journalism School policies and correspondence regarding internships. There are reports from the 200+ employers who have provided internships for Journalism School students, including over 50 CBC internships. Sub-series includes documents from both employers and student interns: the internship report, internship questionnaire, correspondence with intern, correspondence with employer, internal memos regarding policies relating to internships, fax cover sheets and envelopes between school of journalism and employers. There are also a few documents relating to postgraduate survey offerings from publications around the country.

Series consists of publications that students created as a component of their course work. Many of the publications contain stories relating to campus life or Halifax communities. The newspaper publications are tabloid size and printed in black ink (later issues are often in colour, although the use of colouring is used sporadically from the late 1980s and onward). Some of the publications are in magazine format and printed in colour .

Series contains the journalistic publications of the School of Journalism. The publications represent the culmination of various projects by students working toward certain classes, or else are part of honours projects by fourth-year and one-year BJ students. For the most part they are general-interest newspapers and magazines, but there are also topic- and region- or neighbourhood-focused publications, as well as wire and online services.

The newspapers were distributed around campus, at Dalhousie University, and throughout the city (especially in the case of the North End News) in public libraries, bookstores and magazine shops, and elsewhere. Director George Bain remarked in his five-year report of 1984 to the Board of Governors that the Monitor was distributed to news executives across the country (for the most part in order to gamer favourable comments).

NovaNewsNet, a daily email sent to subscribers, was a synopsis of local, regional, national and international headline stories. Unews is a website that contains articles about metro universities.