United Church of Canada Archives

Identity area

Type of entity

Corporate body

Authorized form of name

United Church of Canada Archives

Parallel form(s) of name

    Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules

      Other form(s) of name

        Identifiers for corporate bodies

        Description area

        Dates of existence

        1925-

        History

        When the Methodist, Presbyterian, and Congregational churches merged in 1925 to form The United Church of Canada, a partial consolidation of their archival records took place. Prior to 1925, Methodist materials had been collected by the Canadian Methodist Historical Society, and similarly in the Presbyterian Church, Colonel Alexander Fraser had over the years assembled a small but valuable collection of its records. The Congregational Church was less well established in Canada, and fewer of its records have survived.
        Due to lack of funding, plans for a Central Archives for the newly-formed Church had to be laid aside, and it was not until Dr. E. C. Kyte was appointed in 1948 that any significant progress was made. He gathered material from numerous sources throughout the country, making possible the formal establishment of the Central Archives in 1953.
        In 1961 the growing collection was moved to the sub-basement of the new E.J. Pratt Library of Victoria University. But within a decade these premises had also become inadequate, especially after the sale of the Ryerson Press and the Wesley Buildings in Toronto, from which the Archives acquired a great deal of material. In 1972 the Archives and staff moved to the Birge-Carnegie Building adjacent to Emmanuel College.
        In 2008 following the decision to dissolve the agreement between Victoria University and The United Church of Canada to run it jointly, the Archives was moved to 40 Oak Street in Toronto.

        Places

        Legal status

        Functions, occupations and activities

        Mandates/sources of authority

        Internal structures/genealogy

        General context

        Relationships area

        Access points area

        Subject access points

        Place access points

        Occupations

        Control area

        Authority record identifier

        Institution identifier

        ON00340

        Rules and/or conventions used

        Status

        Final

        Level of detail

        Full

        Dates of creation, revision and deletion

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            Maintenance notes