John Drysdale, the son of William and Flora Drysdale, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in May 1893. When he immigrated to Canada is uncertain. He enlisted at Sydney, Nova Scotia, in September 1915. Drysdale served in France and was killed October 7, 1918. The collection consists of annotated pages of Songs of a Sourdough, a book Drysdale carried with him in France.