How Things are Organized
Inside the Diocesan Archives
Part Two by Twila Buttimer, Provincial Archives of New Brunswick
& Harvey Malmberg, Diocesan Archivist
Research hours are 10am - 5pm Monday to Friday; 8:30 am to 5 pm Saturdays
In the January issue of The New Brunswick Anglican, we introduced readers to the Diocesan Archives, housed in the Provincial Archives on the University of New Brunswick Campus in Fredericton. As we noted, there are about 80 meters (close to 300 feet) of documents in the Diocesan Archives. Most of these records have been arranged and described and are available to researchers.
The organization of the Diocesan Archives reflects the organization of the Diocese -- so includes records of the Parishes, the Deaneries, the Diocesan Synod and the Bishops. The fundamental notion upon which the Diocesan Archives (and any archives, for that matter) is based is that records are organized by their creating body (whether that be an office, an individual or a group) rather than by subject matter. Therefore, records created by any one Parish or Deanery or Bishop are kept together as a unit and then that unit is arranged and described.
Records of the Parishes, which account for approximately half of the collection, are first arranged alphabetically by the name of the Parish and within each parish the records usually fall under one of the 35 pre-determined headings. These headings were selected and used in the Diocesan Archives when it was located downtown. Before the Diocesan Archives was moved to the Provincial Archives in 1988, many of these records were already organized under these headings. Since the transfer, we have maintained the original organization and worked diligently to place all of the records held by the Archives within this organization.
Similarly, the records of the Deaneries (and the Bishops and the Diocesan Synod itself) are arranged first by Deanery and listed under the above predetermined headings, as appropriate. Though many of these headings were really developed specifically for the Parish Records, we also use them for the records of the Deaneries, the Synod and the Bishops.
At the Provincial Archives, all of the Anglican Records, which were originally at the Cathedral Memorial Hall and then transferred in 1988, are together as Manuscript Collection 223 (i.e. MC223). Similarly, all of the records which have been transferred to the Archives since 1988 -- by Parishes, the Synod Office and the Bishop's Office -- have been added to this Collection. At the same time, researchers should be aware that Diocesan records also appear in other collections at the Archives.
Occasionally, records are grouped under the name of the individual or group which has collected the records rather than the name of the creator. Large Collections, such as the York-Sunbury Historical Society Collection (MC300) and the Louise Manny Collection (MC1307), contain some Anglican Records. Archival collections of individuals who just happened to be Anglican may contain some Anglican items. (The R. P. Gorham Collection, (MC211), contains numerous historical articles on the Parish of Kingston and on several Fredericton-area churches.)
Of course, the process of arrangement and description is ongoing; new material arrives almost daily so our Finding Aids -- which list the records available at the Archives -- are continually being updated and newly-arrived records are regularly interfiled with material already in Archives.
Another Finding Aid, this one prepared with federal funding, and outside our institution, has been published and therefore is not easily updated. This is the Guide to the Archives of the Ecclesiastical Province of Canada (in which the Diocese of Fredericton is one of the seven Dioceses), published in 1995. It is dated but still useful and easily circulated.
In our next article, we will describe some of the unique records at the Diocesan Archives and survey recent acquisitions.
Some of the common, pre-determined headings
under which Anglican Church records are organized at the Provincial Archives
Vestry Records
Financial Records
Legal Documents
including deeds of land, deeds of consecration and deconsecretation
Correspondence
described item by item
Service Registers
a record of Sunday services often including comments on weather conditions and local events
Parish Registers
containing records of baptisms, confirmations, marriages and deaths;
Organizations and Committees
including some organizations no longer in existence -- remember the Little Helpers and the AYPA?
Books and Magazines
several Parishes have printed their own magazines over the years
Sunday School Records
these are very rare records at the Diocesan Archives
Architectural Plans
for Churches, halls and rectories
Histories
mostly of parishes, but there are a few of the Deaneries and the Diocese
Photographs
including the two complete sets of church photographs mentioned in the January article;
Programs of Special Services
records of church consecrations, anniversaries and celebrations
Clippings and Scrapbooks
Camps