News Release -- Thursday, October 25, 2007
The United Church Archives Finds a New Home
Toronto: In a statement released today, The United Chu rch of Canada is pleased to announce a new location for its archives tha t are housed in Toronto.
In early 2008, The United Church Archives (Toronto) will be moving from the Victoria University campus at the University of Toron to to The United Church of Canada's General Council Office at 3250 Bloor St. West in west-end Toronto.
Currently The United Church of Canada supports a regional network of archives situated in 10 different locations throughout Cana da. In Ontario, the United Church Archives (Toronto) manages the records of the General Council, the antecedent denominations, and the reco rds of Bay of Quinte, London, Hamilton, Manitou, and Toronto Conferences and their respective presbyteries and pastoral charges.
In announcing the decision regarding the new location for the United Church Archives (Toronto), Nora Sanders, General Secretary of the General Council, said, "As General Secretary, I want to assure all those who value the rich heritage of the United Church's arch ives of my personal commitment, along with that of the General Counc il, to the careful stewardship of this unique archival collection."
Public access at this new location will be facilitated by its proximity to major transportation routes, the Islington subway statio n, and on-site parking. The new location will also allow for m ore immediate access and integration of the archives collection into th e life and work of the church's national office and the church's governin g body, the General Council.
The archives will be housed in space vacated by The U nited Church of Canada's television and audiovisual production facility, Berk eley Studio. The studio space becomes available as a result of the decision in June 2007 to cease in-house, on-site audiovisual produ ction effective December 31, 2007. The Berkeley Studio audiovisual collecti on will also be preserved as part of the General Council's archives.
Bernard Granka is the project manager for the archives transition. He and Sharon Larade, The United Church of Canada's General Council Archivist, will oversee the monumental task of moving clo se to 20,000 boxes of records to the new site of the United Church Archives (Toronto). He explains that the church will be contractin g specialized movers for the relocation of the archives collection.
Granka says that the studio space has great potential f or storing archival records. The studio is self-contained, with a se parate, existing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) unit, allowing precise control of the environmental conditions of the storage vault. Immediately adjacent to the archives' new vault ar e offices that will become the new reading room and staff workstations. Compact shelving will be installed to maximize archival storage c apacity in the available floor space in a single vault.
Granka explains that the new location for the United Ch urch Archives (Toronto) will meet the institutional standards set by th e Canadian Council of Archives and all the records of the General Council and the Ontario Conferences will be administered by professional st aff. He says that while there is much work to be done, the General Council Office and the five Ontario Conferences are confident that the new location will serve the purposes of both the General Council Office a nd the five Ontario Conferences.
Granka adds that while planning and preparations are unde rway to move the collection from its current location at Victoria Univ ersity, the collection will be temporarily unavailable for research aft er December 21, 2007. The United Church anticipates reopening its rea ding room to the public by Monday, May 5, 2008 at the 3250 Bloor St. West location.
Granka emphasizes that throughout the United Church Archive s (Toronto) transition, the church remains committed to providing conti nued access to all archival records related to residential schools, a nd will offer full co-operation with all aspects of the Indian Resident ial Schools Settlement Agreement. This includes uninterrupted, open acces s to its archival records for the purposes of the Truth and Reco nciliation Commission.
The Conference archives outside of Ontario are not affect ed by this transition at the United Church Archives (Toronto). For u p-to-date information about their programs, see www.united-church.ca/arch ives.
Additional information with regard to the move of the U nited Church Archives (Toronto) will be posted to the archives website at www.unitedchurcharchives.ca .
Questions and concerns about the transition should be dir ected to: -- the United Church's General Council Archivist, Sharon Larade, at slarade@united-church.ca -- or to the project manager, Bernard Granka, at bgranka@united-church.ca.
Media enquiries should be directed to:
Mary-Frances Denis Communications Officer The United Church of Canada 416-231-7680 ext. 2016 (office)
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