The MT fonds, made up of analyses and commentaries of other authors' works, covers most Western European countries, with emphasis on his four case studies: the UK, France, Germany and Denmark. French and German works were usually noted in their original language. The periods covered are, mainly the latter part of the nineteenth century, the 1930's, and the post-war period up the early 1960's.
For the second edition, sub-titled "Challenge and Response", he extended the historical coverage backwards as well as forwards, in particular giving more attention to the feudal origins of rural structures, some of the notes reflect this. The third edition, with the title "Government and Agriculture in Western Europe, 1880-1988, involved further up-dating. Howver , works on the CAP since the early 1960's are not included in this collection. They are referenced in the third edition and more recently in his book, "Food and Agriculture in the European Union and other Market Economies, (1993), both produced under his own publishing label, "Agricultural Policy Studies".
His notes mainly cover the period from 1880 to the beginnings of the CAP. Michael Tracy collected them for his book "Agriculture in Western Europe - Crisis and Adaptation since 1880" (1964), later works taken into account in the 1982 edition "Agriculture in Western Europe - Challenge and Response" and in the 1989 version of his book, with the new title "Government and Agriculture in Western Europe 1880-1988", are not included in these notes. They are referenced in the bibliographies to the latter two editions. There are also notes intended as a basis for a book on US agricultural policy (see file MT 33), however the publication of Dale Hathaway's book in 1963 entitled "Government and Agriculture" caused Tracy to drop the project and he had to retitle his 1964 edition, it was not until 1989 that Tracy was able to revert to the original title he had planned. In a note made by Tracy on this collection he describes the contents of the collection, which is made up of notes mainly from publications relevant to his reserarch for his book, particulary the first edition (1964), with commentaries on the book by Tracy. At the time Michael Tracy was working in the OECD, Paris, so most of the documentation was obtained from or through libraries in Paris, in particular the Bibliothèque de Documentation Internationale Contemporaine, the Bibliothèque Nationale and the Bibliothèque de la Facultè de Droit.;These notes provide the basis for Tracy's thoughts on the recent impasse in agricultural policy and the historical processes which have caused this impasse.

In a note to the HAEU on depositing this fonds, Michael Tracy stipulated that "he would appreciate if appropriate acknowledgement is made in any publication for which this material has been used".

See also Michael Tracy's book, "Agricultural Policy in the European Union and other Market Economies"
Tracy's book "Government and Agriculture in Western Europe 1880-1988" was used in developing the background material for describing this collection.