- Call Number:
- HIL-MICL FC LPR .Q4P7C6
- Category:
- Quebec
- Creator:
- Quebec and Lower Canada. Provincial and Civil Secretary.
- Material Description:
- 34 microfilm textual records (131 volumes) ; 35 mm
- Background:
From 1764 and civil government established until union in 1841, offices of civil secretary to the governor and clerk to the executive council were held in plurality. The evolution of government structure and plurality of office holding in the early years has given the "S Series" a unique nature.
- Contents:
Some or all of the material is available electronically; see Finding Aids.
The records include: correspondence; petitions; returns; reports; certificates; warrants; commissions; accounts; lists of office holders; and a variety of documents relating to local administration. "S Series" contains records which are more usually found among the files of the Executive Council and the Governor's Civil Secretary as well as the Provincial Secretary. The documents received by the civil secretary on behalf of the governor, with some drafts of replies, are the backbone of the this series. The drafts and copies of minutes of council, petitions and reports submitted to council, and other records created or accumulated by the clerk to the executive council run parallel to the secretary's correspondence.
Arrangement is chronological.
Filed with records of mid-summer 1786 are three little bound "oath registers" compiled between late summer 1784 and late spring 1786. One is for the Gaspe and the other two for the upper part of the province. Series also consists of over 3,000 postal covers covering the period from 1759 which were in most cases mailed from villages in Lower Canada; of particular interest are the first manuscript postal markings for Montreal, 1765-1773.
- Originals:
The original documents are held by Library and Archives Canada.
- Archival Ref. No.:
LAC RG 4, A 1, S Series
- Finding Aids:
Online: This material is available digitally via Canadiana Heritage; this was produced from the microfilm reels and is browsable but not keyword searchable.
A Microfilm Shelf List providing the reel numbers with corresponding volume, date, and page numbers is available.
The card index on microfilm is available in The Loyalist Collection.
- PDF Finding Aid:
- QC-provincial-and-civil-secretary_correspondence_microfilm-shelf-list.pdf Inventory-Description_Correponsdence_Provincial-Civil-Secretary_Quebec.pdf