Volume 23 - Section XII - ElectricCanadian.com

MANUSCRIPT SOURCES OF THE HISTORY OFCANADA UNDER BRITISH RULE IN THEPUBLIC ARCHIVES, OTTAWATHE following are in the Public Archives of Canada at Ottawa. They are originals or transcriptsof originals in London. Most of them are calendared in various Reports on the Canadian Archives.It should be remembered that these calendars are neither detailed nor complete. A summary ofthese collections is to be found in Guide to the Documents in the Manuscript Room at the PublicArchives of Canada.ORIGINALSSeriesThis series (489 portfolios) extends from 1786 to 1873. It consists of original dispatches fromthe Colonial Office to governors-general of Canada, lieutenant-governors of the provinces andvarious officials ;letter-books containing replies and letters ; interprovincial dispatches corre;spondence with the British minister at Washington and a few ;dispatches to and from the Treasury.The series embraces all subjects relating to the political, economic, and educational developmentof the different provinces.About one-third of the collection is indexed. A brief summary of it is to be found in theGuide to the Canadian Archives, pp. 7-66, as follows : Lower Canada, pp. 8-20 ; Upper Canada,pp. 20-8 ; Canada, pp. 29-41 ;British Minister at Washington, pp. 41-4 ; InterprovinoialCorrespondence, pp. 44-6 ; Prince Edward Island, pp. 47-57 ; Vancouver Island and BritishColumbia, pp. 57-62 ; Treasury Correspondence, p. 62 ; Letter Books and Entry Books, pp. 62-6.SeriesThis series (1853 vols., 1786-1879) is a collection of Canadian military records. It consists ofmilitary correspondence with enclosures, returns, and miscellaneous documents ;also letterbooks,entry-books and original papers. It contains items of every description, ranging fromtrivial matters and petty details of military life to momentous dispatches from the Admiraltyand the War Office. With important reports from high commanders are mixed interesting statements of confidential agents, spies, deserters and prisoners. Though relating mainly to militaryaffairs, these papers often give valuable information on civil administration, immigration, publicworks, Indian affairs, and contemporaneous political feeling and events.A summary with index of Series C will be found in the Inventory of the Military Documents inthe Canadian Archives, by Lieutenant-Colonel Cruikshank. It is Publication No. 2 of the PublicArchives.*GCTRANSCRIPTSPUBLIC RECORD OFFICESeriesThis series (431 vole., 1760-1841) comprises the official correspondence addressed to the ColonialOffice by the governors, lieutenant-governors, and administrators of Quebec (later Lower Canadaand Upper Canada) from 1760 to 1841. It relates to all subjects concerned with the political,social, economic, religious and military life of Canada. It includes miscellaneous correspondencefrom various officials and other persons ; minutes and journals of the councils, memorials,petitions, returns, statistics, land grants, military reports, clergy questions and Indian affairs.It is the basis of contemporaneous Canadian history.This series is calendared in various reports on the Canadian Archives as follows :Quebec and Lower Canada :1760-1799, in the Report for 1890, pp. 1-235 ; 1791-1800, inmQ