Collection search - Miscellaneous records retained in the Clerk's Office including the Blue Books of Statistics [textual record]

Record information – Brief
1
Miscellaneous records retained in the Clerk's Office including the Blue Books of Statistics [textual record]

Hierarchical level:

Sub-series

Date:

1670-1867, predominant 1841-1866.

Reference:

R11250-7-3-E, RG1-E13, RG1-E12, RG1-E9, RG1-L7, RG1-L6B, RG1-L6E

Type of material:

Textual material

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

205388

Context of this record:

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Executive Council Office of the Province of Canada fonds

Office records of the Clerk of the Executive Council

Miscellaneous records retained in the Clerk's Office including the Blue Books of Statistics
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Record information – Details

Date(s):

1670-1867, predominant 1841-1866.

Place of creation:

Canada

Extent:

ca. 1.367 of textual records.

Language of material:

English

Scope and content:

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Sub-series consists of a miscellany of records apparently accumulated by the Clerk of the Council and retained in the Executive Council Office. In his function as librarian and records keeper for the Council, the Clerk collected and maintained an assortment of miscellaneous records for reference purposes. The Blue Books of Statistics, the field survey notebook for Amabel Township, 1856, certified by Charles Rankin, and the "Report on the North West Territories of Canada, the Hudson's Bay and Indian Territories, with the Questions of Boundary and Jurisdiction connected therewith" by Joseph Cauchon, 1857, are examples of such records. A small quantity of the material in the letter book of the Customs Officers at Montreal (RG 1, E12, vol. 9) dates from the pre-Union period.

In accordance with Royal Instructions on Trade, a wide range of statistics were reported for the information of the Colonial Office under cover of the Governor's despatches. From 1821 onward, these annual reports on the Civil Establishment, trade, population and other aspects of the state of the colony were consolidated as the Blue Books of Statistics, in which the data were entered manually on pre-printed forms and bound up with a table of contents. Copies were made for the reference of the Governor, the Executive Council and Parliament. The sequence of Blue Books in this sub-series is broken, with gaps between 1856 and1866. Copies of the missing Blue Books can generally be found with the set forwarded to the Colonial Office.

The copies of selected treaties, proclamations, commissions, instructions, acts and other significant documents relating to the constitutional development of Canada (RG 1, E9, vols. 1-4) were prepared for reference purposes and bound as four volumes. The date and nature of some copies suggests that they were prepared in the 1860s or later, probably after 1867 in the Privy Council Office of the Dominion of Canada.

Finding aid:

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Textual records (Paper) The CAB RG 1 Shelf List (see RG 1, E9, E12, E13, L6B, L6E and L7 sections) is a typed volume-level description which provides volume titles, pages numbers where applicable, and inclusive dates. That portion of the Shelf List which relates to the Blue Books of Statistics also provides references to the specific Colonial Office fonds volumes and microfilm reel numbers where contemporary copies can be found both of those Blue Books which are in the present sub-series and those for the years not covered in the present sub-series. CAB RG1 Shelf List (90: Open)

Additional information:

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Physical description note:

Extent includes 20 cm. in E9, vols. 1-4.

Custodial history:

Most of the records in this sub-series were received in 1907 from the Privy Council Office. However, the Accession Registers show that two items were acquired from other sources and, evidently, placed at some point in the past with the Executive Council records, presumably on the basis of subject similarity. The letter book of the Customs Officers at Montreal (RG 1, E12, vol. 9) was presented to Sir Joseph Pope for the Public Archives by Robert White, Collector of Customs, Montreal, November 1913. The photographic copies of documents relating to the expenses for members of the Executive Council, 1866 (RG 1, L7, vol. 109) was acquired in 1968-1969 (see ACR 68/246).

Arrangement note:

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The arrangement of the Blue Books of Statistics was revised in 1973, when each Blue Book was designated a separate volume. The obsolete volume references are provided in the CAB RG 1 Shelf List to permit tracing old citations. A number of duplicates were removed from the records at that time but several drafts and duplicates were retained among the records to demonstrate the methods used as well as the exactitude with which copies were prepared for various offices.

As noted, the creation of the copies of selected treaties, proclamations, commissions, instructions, acts and other significant documents relating to the constitutional development of Canada (RG 1, E9, vols. 1-4) probably dates from the post-Confederation period. As such, their inclusion within the present sub-series is artificial and they may more properly belong linked to records of the Privy Council Office fonds (R165, formerly RG 2). Historically, these records have been considered part of RG 1 within the record group arrangement schema in place for many years at Library and Archives Canada. Their inclusion within the present sub-series and fonds is simply a matter of convenience and their intellectual arrangement may in future be changed.

Availability of other formats note:

A set of Blue Books of Statistics is also available in the Colonial Office fonds, series CO 47, Canada, formerly British North America, Miscellanea (MG11-CO47), vols. 156-194, microfilm reels B-2909 to B-2915 and B-1478 to B-1486.

Related material:

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As regards the Blue Books of Statistics, local officials reported to the Provincial Secretary and Registrar, who in turn compiled the summary returns. Correspondence and reports used by the Provincial Secretary and Registrar in compiling the Blue Books have been identified elsewhere within National Archives holdings, notably in RG 5 (Records of the Civil and Provincial Secretaries, Upper Canada and Canada West), series B26. Circular despatches from the Colonial Office providing instructions for the compilation of the Blue Books (albeit from the
Upper Canada period) can be found in the Office of the Governor General of Canada fonds (R178, formerly RG 7), notably in the Despatches from the Colonial Office sub-series within the Correspondence with the Colonial Office series (see vol. 15, pp. 192-195 for 1826 and vol. 22, pp. 39-43 for 1831); similar instructions may also exist from the Province of Canada period.

The relationships between three registers of municipal by-laws, 1842-1850 (RG 1, E12, vols. 4-6) and records in RG 4 (Records of the Civil and Provincial Secretaries, Quebec, Lower Canada and Canada East), series B36 are under investigation. The letter book from the Montreal Customs Office (RG 1, E12, vol. 9) bears strong relations to records in RG 4 (Records of the Civil and Provincial Secretaries, Quebec, Lower Canada and Canada East), series B58 and in the Department of National Revenue fonds (R192, formerly RG 16). The relationship between two registers of Bills introduced in Parliament, 1849 and 1861 (RG 1 E12, vols. 7-8) and similar records in RG 14 (Records of Parliament) is under investigation.

Source:

Private

Former archival reference no.:

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RG1-E13
RG1-E12
RG1-E9
RG1-L7
RG1-L6B
RG1-L6E
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

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Textual records

[Consultation95 Open, no copying]
Copying from the originals is not permitted. Copies should be obtained from the version available in the Colonial Office records.

Volume [RG1 L 7] 109

[Consultation 90 Open]

Volume [RG1 E 9] 1--4

[Consultation 90 Open]

Volume [RG1 E 13] 16--43

[Consultation 95 Open, no copying]

Volume [RG1 L 6 B] 20

[Consultation 90 Open]

Volume [RG1 L 6 E] 3

[Consultation 90 Open]

Volume [RG1 E 12] 4--9

[Consultation 95 Open, no copying]

Terms of use:

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In order to protect the fragile originals, copying restrictions have been placed on some records in this sub-series. Where contemporary copies of such records exist on microfilm in other National Archives holdings, the microfilm should be used for consultation and copying.

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Date modified:: 2024-07-24