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Scott Billingsley, HIST 0647, Spring1999
Atherton, Jay. "The Origins of the Public Archives Records Centre,=
1897-1956." Archivaria 8 (Summer 1979): 35-59.
The Origins of the Public Archives Records Centre
Theme: Development of the Canadian public record office following Confederation
of Canada in 1867.
- The "gradual evolution of [the] Treasury Board as overall manager
of the public service provides an important thread for the development
of a= central control over records management in the federal government"
(36).
- The Canadian public records center developed in fits-and-starts for=
nearly 85 years.
Early attempts at centralization
- 1872: Archives Branch in the Department of Agriculture created
- 1873: Keeper of Public Records in the Department of the Secretary of
State created
- Less than ten years after Confederation, "two agencies existed
with responsibilities for archival storage of historical public records.
In= fact, neither office was very active in this field" (36).
- Government departments did not transfer records to either= agency.
Early records management problems.
- 1890: Post Office needed records disposal schedule.
- Government approved a schedule and asked all government departments
to= report to the Treasury Board the condition of their records and which=
should be destroyed.
- Little action was taken by the government to carry through with= plan=97little
done to preserve historical public records.
- 1897: Fire destroyed important records and sparked further government=
interest in centralized records keeping system=97lack of space due to=
document proliferation caused problems and concern.
- New recommendations created for a single Public Record Office but no=
action taken until 1903=97Governor General Lord Minto had had trouble doing=
research because of the "general chaos" and lack of centralization
(42).=
- Positions of Archivist and Keeper of the Records combined into one=
position under Department of Agriculture (Dominion Archivist)=97but system=
had many problems and was ineffective.
Moving toward Public Records Office.
- Arthur Doughty was new Dominion Archivist but not interested in problems=
with current records.
- 1912: Public Archives Act raised the rank and authority of the Dominion=
Archivist to Deputy Minister and this act created an archival organization=
within the government=97control and management of Public Archives= transferred
to Department of Secretary of State=97"the potential for a= serious
public record office operation had been created" (44).
Setbacks for Public Archives.
- 1936: "Treasury Department authorized destruction of records in
a number= of departments, according to definite schedules and subject to
certain= restrictions" (49).
- 1938: Experimental records center opened and departments began= depositing
old records there according to schedules and restrictions=97each= department
retained custody of its records=97departments had to retrieve= their own
records=97little centralized control and experiment= failed
World War II: Canadian government moves into era of modern records= keeping.
- 1945: Public Records Committee created to systematically preserve=
government records and transfer obsolete files from various departments
to= the Public Archives=97no space to store records.
- "The first function of a national archives should be to preserve
the= non-active records of the government. Implementation of this function
would= ensure, almost automatically, that research interests of the historical=
community also would be served" (52).
- Canada based its plans for a centralized record keeping system on the=
United States=92 National Archives and Great Britain=92s Public Record=
Office.
- Massey Commission favored British practice of making individual= departments
responsible for transferring documents to Archives=97similar to= experimental
records farm that failed in late 1930s.
- Dominion Archivist W. Kaye Lamb favored the American practice of letting=
archivists in Public Archives make disposition schedules.
- 1950: Lamb won and Public Archives Records Centre opened in 1956=97feder=
al government became very active in records management.
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