Guide to Documents Relating to French and British North America in ...

PREFACE
The National Archives of Canada has always been concerned with protecting religious, or
ecclesiastical, archives. Since the late nineteenth century, this institution has been copying documents
of this type in various archives across the country and even abroad. In 1977, the Archives decided to
conduct, in conjunction with the Research Centre in Religious History of Canada at Saint Paul
University, a systematic Calendar of Documents Relating to French and British North America in the
Archives of the Sacred Congregation "de Propaganda Fide" in Rome, 1622-1799. This finding aid is
the result of the first phase of the project and provides us with a description of all the items related
to the history of French and English North America prior to 1800. Researchers will find it worthwhile
to consult this Calendar, which acquaints us with many previously unknown documents.
Unfortunately, we were unable to publish the entire Calendar on paper. This guide, which serves
as its introduction, provides a history of the Congregation, the organization of its archives, a study of
projects carried out by the archivists and historians using documents conserved by this institution, and
a description of the methodology used to prepare the Calendar. In addition, the guide provides a
bibliography of publications related to the religious history of the period covered and an index to all
the proper names mentioned in the Calendar. The Calendar itself is available on microfiche and must
be acquired separately from this publication.
We would like to express our appreciation to those in charge of the archives of the Sacred
Congregation "de Propaganda Fide," now called the Sacred Congregation for the Evangelization of
Peoples, and particularly to Father Joseph Metzler, aMI, fonnerly responsible for these archives and
now in charge of the Secret Archives of the Vatican, for enabling us to carry out this project We wish
to sincerely thank Mr. Luca Codignola, who carefully went through the series of documents and drew
up the Calendar. We are also grateful to Father Pierre Hurtubise, aMI, Director of the Research Centre
in Religious History of Canada and Rector of Saint Paul University, and Mr. Victorin Chabot, Chief
of the Canadian Society Archives Service, Manuscript Division, at the National Archives of Canada,
for coordinating this project We thank the Public Programs Branch for its assistance in producing this
guide. And finally, we extend our sincere thanks to Father avila Gadouas, aMI, who translated the
Calendar into French.
Jean-Pierre Wallot,
National Archivist
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