XII EOTAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 



OflSee in London ; this, after lengthened correspondence and personal negotiation, was transferred in 

 1873 to the Archives Branch at Ottawa. The correspondence when received was found to be cai-e- 

 fully tied together by years, but no attempt had been made to arrange the documents systematically, 

 so as to make them accessible and useful. 



The thoroughly efficient manner in which the task of collating and arranging this collection, 

 stated in the report on archives to have weighed eight tons, is shown by the acknowledgments of so 

 many-writers of Canadian and United States History. Several, in fact, state in their works that 

 they have been obliged to rewrite history whose correctness has been as.'^med for years, but which 

 now, from the evidence found in the Canadian documents, was found to be erroneous and misleading. 

 Besides this official correspondence, much valuable information is to be obtained from papers de- 

 posited among the ai'chives by the descendants of men who took a part in the early history of Canada. 

 It is such collections as these that give so great a value to the documents in the British museum, and 

 without which the merely political records would be of comparatively small worth. The researches 

 of the Historical Manuscripts Commission in Great Britain have been of inestimable value in bringing 

 to light the documents preserved by old families, but unknown and inaccessible until the appointment 

 of the. Commission. In Canada this care has only with difficulty been exercised for the preservation 

 of the most important documents, and when it has been shown by one generation, the second, or at 

 the furthest, the third generation too frequently frustrates the intentions of the collector of the family 

 records and ruthlessly destroys them, causing a gap in history which can never be supplied. Had 

 the original collector who devoted care and thought to a task which he believed would be of benefit 

 to his posterity, or had his descendants transmitted the collection to the Archives Branch at Ottawa, 

 this destruction would have been avoided and the papers placed in such relation to other documents 

 as to bi'ing out their full worth, the value of documents amounting, as a general rule, to very little, 

 BO long as they are detached and separate from the series in which, under intelligent supervision, they 

 would naturally be placed. The appai'ent worthlessness due to this detached condition no doubt ac- 

 counts to a considerable extent for the wilful destruction of so many family records. 



The acquisition of copies of the British State papers is another important part of the work. The 

 history of Canada, from its cession to Great Britain, has hitherto been very obscure, the absence of 

 full and authentic records leaving room for great doubt and uncertainty respecting the real cause of 

 events. The reports of the Archivist show that the duty of securing the official records has been 

 carefully attended to, and that every precaution has been taken to secure accurate transcripts and to 

 guard against errors. Details of the operations of the Archives Branch are to bo found in the annual 

 rejjorts to which attention may be directed. 



It appears necessary only to refer, without enlarging on the subject, to the imjjortance of having 

 the records of the country preserved and made accessible in one centi'al place of dejjosit, not scattered, 

 and, if not inaccessible, certainly very difficult of access. The Archives Branch of the Dojmrtmentof 

 Agriculture affords such a place of security, besides, which is a most important consideration, a dis- 

 tinct classification and easy reference, the documents received being arranged, bound and indexed 

 immediately after receipt. 



Before leaving this important and interesting subject of historic research, v^hich falls naturally 

 under the purview of the Eoyal Society, and its affiliated bodies, the Council thinks it a duty also 

 to refer to the necessity of preserving as far as possible such memorials as may remain in historic 

 towns of the old days of Canada. It would be a pity if every old building that exists in cities like 

 Quebec, Montreal and Halifax, and has some special significance in history, should entirely disappear 

 under the dominant influences of enterprise and improvement, so characteristic of these modern times. 

 Such buildings as are essentially illustrative of some epoch in ouv history should, when practicable, 

 be preserved for a useful purpose. The old South Church in Boston is one of the monuments that the 

 people of that interesting city have preserved to revive their historic past. Mount Vernon is another 



