Fonds consists of 4 series: the Frank Sylvester series, ca. 1862-1908; the Cecelia Davies Sylvester series, ca. 1854-1928; Family ephemera series, 1867-1918, and Photographs, ca. 1870-1950. The Frank Sylvester series includes: cannery contracts, legal invoices, lecture manuscripts, and a diary. The Cecelia Davies Sylvester series includes: an autograph book, and scrapbooks containing clippings, photographs and ephemera. The Family ephemera series includes: biographical information, documents, pamphlets and publications. The Photographs series includes: photographs, negatives, and glass plate negatives.

Fonds reflects Wise’s artistic inspirations, philosophical development, research interests, interactions with fellow artists and patrons, and relationships with galleries, art dealers, schools and arts organizations. The fonds consists of correspondence, sales lists, exhibition catalogues and lists, photographs, clippings, sketches, poems and calligraphy, scrapbooks and notebooks, teaching materials, curricula vitae and biographical documents, publications, and seals and other objects used by Wise in his art practice. Correspondents include Robert Amos, Pat Martin Bates, Pat Bovey, Brian Brett, Lin Chien-Shih, Stephen Cummings, Fleming Jorgensen, Stephen Gislason, Colin and Sheila Graham, Robin Hopper, Nick and Karin Koerner, Ramon Kubicek, Lobsang Lhalungpa, Chin-Shik Lin, Brian Longworth, Max Maynard, Avon Neal, Gary Lee Nova, Toni Onley, P.K. Page, Syn Richards, Martin Segger, Doris Shadbolt, Madeleine Shields, Robin Skelton, Huston Smith, Pete Trower, George Woodcock, and Myken Woods. The fonds has been arranged into four series: art practice; biographical; publications and essays by others; and teaching. The art practice series consists of five sub-series: photographs; posters; exhibition catalogues; correspondence; prose, poetry and small works; and notebooks, scrapbooks and clippings.

The fonds consists of correspondence generated in course of business along with invoices and inventories. Some correspondence, such as that of Kathleen Raine, includes extended exchanges beyond that required for business purposes. Additionally, some manuscript material acquired by the business is included: i.e. Patrick Creagh, Derek Mahon, and Patrick McCartan's typescripts of letters from W. B. Yeats and Oliver St. John Gogarty.