The William MacDonald archival collection contains accompanying material to the Mount's rare book collection. This includes correspondence between Head Librarians Sister Francis de Sales and Sister Francis Delores with William MacDonald, inventory books of books received at the Mount, research and work done with the collection by Mount Librarians, and information on a high-profile theft that took place in the Reading Room of the collection. Finally, the collection also contains damaged books that have been removed from the main reading room for conservation purposes.

The collection comprises the Mount Saint Vincent University-related audio and visual material collected for the Mount Archives. Of significance to the collection is the Distance University Education via Television (DUET) series, which includes recordings of Convocation and other unique programming, like the the literary Off the Page subseries and the Alumnae Special subseries. Also included in this collection are audio and visual recordings pertaining to women's roles in education, religion, and employment.