Custodial history:
With respect to the 1785-1786 "Register of Homologations" (former archival reference MG8-A17, vol. 3), the date and circumstances of its archival acquisition and its custodial history between the time that it left the hands of its creator and came into Library and Archives Canada control remain to be investigated. The submissions (former archival reference RG1-E17, vols. 2 and 3) were part of the 1906 transfer of records from the Office of the Secretary of State of Canada.
Arrangement note:
The submissions to the Governor and Council, acquired by the Library and Archives Canada in 1906 from the Office of the Secretary of State of Canada, were described from 1950 to 1975 within the Department of Public Works fonds (R182, formerly RG 11, series I8). In 1975 they were attached to RG 1 (Records of the Executive Council, Quebec, Lower Canada, Upper Canada and Canada). Under the Record Group schema adopted at the National Archives in 1950, the minute book, 1785-1791, was described within RG 1, series L7, as vol. 54. In 1980 it was attached to RG 1, series E17. Prior to the most recent intellectual re-arrangement, the minutes, 1785-1786, had formed a series, titled "Reports of the Grand Voyers", within the Executive Council fonds (MG8-A17). This "artificial" fonds brought together miscellaneous records of varied provenance, relating to the activities of the Executive Councils of the Province of Quebec and the Province of Lower Canada.
Language note:
Some documents are written in French.
Associated material note:
The Archives nationales du Québec holds extensive records of the grand voyers. The inventory of the procès-verbaux held there (published by Pierre-Georges Roy, 1923-1931) indicates that neither those records nor the ones found in this series is complete; rather, the records complement one another.
Related material:
In that a separate minute book dedicated to the activities of the Board of Homologation was begun only in July 1785, one can expect to find earlier record of the Executive Council's discussion of matters brought to its attention by the grands voyers and others concerned with the construction and maintenance of roads and bridges in the Minute Books of the Council (1764-1775) of the Province of Quebec series and the State Minute Books of the Executive Council (1775-1791) of the Province of Quebec series, elsewhere within this fonds. Related records have also been found with the public accounts (see the Submissions to and Reports of the Councils of the Province of Quebec relating to the Audit of Provincial Public Accounts series, elsewhere within this fonds) and in series A1 of Record Group 4 (Records of the Civil and Provincial Secretaries, Quebec, Lower Canada and Canada East). Extensive microfilm copies of records the originals of which are in the Archives nationales du Quebec are found in the Fonds des procès-verbaux des grands voyers (MG8-A13).
