Textual records (Paper) The CAB RG 1 Shelf List (see RG 1, L3L, E2, and L7 sections) is a typed volume-level description which provides volume titles, page numbers where applicable, inclusive dates and corresponding microfilm reel numbers. CAB RG 1 Shelf List (90: Open)
Textual records (Paper) Finding Aid MSS1801, commonly called the "Lower Canada Land Index", provides the principal means of access, in the form of a nominal card index, to the records in the Petitions sub-series and the Gaspé Land Commission sub-series of this series. The draft minutes in the Minute Books and Loose Minutes sub-series, however, have not been systematically indexed in this finding aid. The "Lower Canada Land Index" is estimated to be at best 85% accurate and complete. Names of petitioners and claimants were indexed, but those of surveyors and authors of many supporting documents were not. The index entries reflect the spelling of names as they appear on petitions, some of which are scarcely legible.
In 1987, it was noted that records which had formerly constituted series L3L, vols. 10-28 (now found in the two sub-series Minute Books and Loose Minutes, and Miscellaneous Administrative Records) were not represented in this index. As the index was designed chiefly to aid the genealogical researcher, it was presumably considered appropriate not to index administrative records such as statistical reports on lands granted. For genealogical research, many of these administrative records, and the supporting documents with specific petitions, offer little or no biographical information of substance. Certain records in volumes 10-28 relating to seigneurial tenure, exploration and surveying are of particular importance for legal or geographical research questions, however, and may in future be indexed.
Index entries are not specific to the page on which a name appears, but rather identify the first and last pages of the file, within which the name may appear only once or twice. Index entries for individuals who were members of groups will identify all the pages of the petition and associated documents for that group. The name of a particular individual may appear only once, as signatory to the petition or within a list of settlers. To minimize the costs of ordering photocopies, researchers should first examine the records to determine whether or not all pages are of interest.
The alphabetically-arranged nominal index cards which make up Finding Aid MSS1801 have been microfilmed (reels H-1155 to H-1172). The CAB RG 1 Shelf List (see RG 1, L3L section) includes a microfilm shelf list for these reels. This shelf list indicates the range of petitioner names appearing on each reel (e.g., reel H-1155: from Abbitt, Daniel to Beaubien, A. Desauliner).When using the microfilm of the index, researchers should search under possible variant spellings of a surname, and watch for inconsistencies in the filing order of the cards. MSS1801 (90: Open)
Textual records (Electronic) Finding Aid MSS0619, in four parts, preserves a listing of the records which constituted former series RG1, L3L, in the order in which the records were arranged prior to their re-arrangement in the 1960s. That is to say, it describes the records now found in the Minute Books and Loose Minutes sub-series and the Petitions sub-series of the present series, and some of the records now found in the Miscellaneous Administrative Records sub-series of the present series. In the case of the petitions, it describes them by township and seigneury, then chronologically by date of petition.
However, the volume numbers assigned to the records in finding aid MSS619 are no longer relevant. For researchers interested in local history, the finding aid still may have some value for tracing petitions and survey reports relating to a specific area and its first settlers, but only when used in conjunction with finding aid MSS1801. MSS0619 (90: Open)
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000001081.pdf
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000001079.pdf
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000001080.pdf
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000001078.pdf
