CANADIAN ARCHIVES, 1787. NOTE. In the Report on the Archives it is shown that our collection of documents at present consists of 3155 volumes. When all the papers in Ottawa are assembled and classified the total number of volumes will probably reach 10,000. Our Archives Branch will then contain only a small portion of the records concerning Canadian history which are to be found in Canada, in the United States and in Europe. Many years must intervene before the student can obtain access to these documents. In the meantime it appears to be desirable that the historical investigator should be placed in the possession of information concerning the location and the nature of these papers. I have therefore arranged to prepare a guide to the sources of information concerning Canadian history. In this work it is proposed to show (1) the location of public and private collections of papers, (2) the nature and condition of the papers, (3) the terms under which they may be examined or copied. In connection with this subject I have thought it desirable to publish the proceedings of the Committee appointed to inquire into the state of the Archives in 1787. From the Report made in 1790, and from additional papers to 1799 it is apparent that a very valuable collection was left in the country by the French. In the 12th, 43rd, 44th and 45th articles of the Capitulation of Montreal, we find that General Amherst took particular care to secure these records, and Lord Dorchester was equally zealous in his endeavors to preserve them. Many of the papers which were sent to France, however, did not reach their destination. In 1765 when the affairs of the Colony were being settled, it was found that a vessel containing the records of the year 1758 had been captured by the British, and the documents were deposited in the Admiralty Building in Ireland. Whether they were ever restored to France, has not yet been ascertained. It is interesting to note at the present time when the government is constructing a suitable building for the preservation of our Archives, that as early as 1731 the Intendant Hocquart asked for the means to enable him to erect a safe building for the protection of the records which had been collected up to that date. QUEBEC, 5th Ser 1731. MY LORD,-It has frequently been represented to me since my arrival in Canada, that the minutes of the notarial deeds, the registers of the Superior Council and of the Prévosté are exposed to risk from fire in the private houses of the Clerks, where such minutes and registers are now deposited, and that the titles of all individuals in this colony might be destroyed. These representations appeared to me, my Lord, so important that I thought it my duty to acquaint you with them, and to propose to you, for the sake of public security, to have a fireproof building erected to contain all papers. I find no place more suitable for the construction of such a building than the courtyard of the Palais. I got Mr. DeLéry to make a plan and an estimate of the cost, which I annex to this letter, amounting to 9941 7. 10s. I beg you, my Lord, to approve of this expenditure and cause it to be paid by the farmer of the Domain, the one half to be charged to the year 1732 and the other half to 1733. I am with very deep respect, my Lord, Your very humble and very obedient servant, HOCQUART. 4-5 EDWARD VII., A. 1905 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE OF QUEBEC ON THE ANCIENT ARCHIVES. To His Excellency the Right Honorable Guy, Lord Dorchester, Governor in-Chief, &c., &c., &c. The Committee for the District of Quebec, consisting of Messrs. Dunn, Mabane, De Léry and Grant, appointed by Your Excellency to enquire into the state and condition of the Ancient Records of the Province, having gone through the examination of all such as have come to their knowledge, humbly lay before Your Lordship a fair copy of the Journals of their Proceedings, which they pray may be taken as their Report thereon; and the Committee humbly suggest that in their opinion to compleat this work it will be necessary to employ one or more skilful and careful Persons, to make out lists of all the Decrets, Arrêts and Ordinances of the King, the Superior Council and the Intendants, with a reference therein to the Books and Pages where they are entered. All which is nevertheless most humbly submitted to Your Lordship's great wisdom. By order of the Committee, QUEBEC, 17th March, 1790. THOMAS DUNN, Chairman. COUNCIL CHAMBER, 20th July, 1789. At a meeting of a Committee of Council appointed to examine into the state of the ancient Public Records in the District of Quebec. Present: Messrs. Dunn, Read the order of reference of the 27th December, 1787, in the following words. "It is ordered by His Lordship with the advice of the Council that Messrs. Dunn, Mabane, De Lery and Grant at Quebec, and the Gentlemen of the Board at Montreal or any three of them in each District, be a Committee to enquire into the state and "condition of the Ancient Records of the Province, and in what places they are deposited, "and to report thereupon to His Lordship with all convenient speed." Read likewise the order of the 19th June, 1788, as follows. "Ordered by His Lordship, with the advice of the Council, respecting the ancient "Records and Papers in Public Offices, that the Committees charged to report their "state and condition, extend their enquiries to the nature of the contents of the several "books, the period each volume includes, its folios or pages, its blanks, its index and "external marks and distinctions, its actual condition or state of preservation, its "authenticity and to what office it appertained, and its present place of deposite, and "to all such other enquiries as may occur to the Committees to be pertinent, relative "to all Public papers prior to the Conquest." Then the order of the 23rd July, 1788, was read in the following words. "Upon reading the former orders of the Board for Reports upon the state of the "Public Records and the Report of the Committee respecting those in the District of "Montreal. "It is further ordered by His Lordship with the advice of the Council, to facilitate "and quicken the Reports upon this subject, that all Clerks of all Offices, and others having the custody of any public records do without delay form lists of such books of |