Series consists of a miscellany of records attributed to the Clerk of the Council and relating to both state and land activities of his office. The surviving records rarely form complete series and some bear only a tenuous association with the Clerk's stated duties. The records include: correspondence received and sent; oaths of allegiance and of office; registers and logs or diaries of work performed and registers of documents referred to Council; reports submitted to Council; and records relating to the administration of Jesuit Estates lands.
In the conduct of his duties, the Clerk of the Council prepared and preserved certain records on behalf of the Council and others on his own behalf. Among the latter were entry books of letters and orders sent to other government officials, correspondence received, and registers or logs of work performed and information gathered. The inventories of records preserved and the daily or weekly logs demonstrate the range of responsibilities assumed by the Clerk over time and the nature of assistance provided by his staff in performing those duties. The Clerk or his deputy served as Secretary to committees of Council and special commissions, ensuring a degree of consistency for the record-keeping associated with those bodies.
As regards the records of oath and allegiance (former archival reference RG1-E11, vol.1), all government officials were obliged to take an oath of allegiance and an oath for the faithful discharge of their duties. The form of these oaths was generally written out on parchment and signatures were affixed at formal ceremonies. For reports of the oath-taking by the Governor and his Council, see 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, both found elsewhere within this fonds. When oaths of allegiance were required of recipients of land grants, the oaths were generally recorded on paper in bound registers, in chronological sequence. The surviving records found here are by no means complete.
As regards the reports and registers (former archival references RG1-E12, vols. 1 and 10 and RG4-A3, vol. 2), the documents in this series consist of a 1787 Report of the merchants of Quebec on commercial affairs (transcribed in 1938 from the original in the Archives du Séminaire de Québec), a register of bills sent from the post office at Montreal, 1772-1775, and two registers of documents referred to Council, dated 1786-1788 and 1789-1791. These records appear to have been retained in the Executive Council Office for reference purposes. There is little indication of why they were kept there and in what order.
As regards the correspondence (former archival reference RG1-E14, vols. 1-4), the Clerk of the Executive Council maintained several series of correspondence received and registers and copies of correspondence and documents sent, in his own right. These have survived in part for the years 1768-1791. It should be noted that both land and state matters appear in these records and that they overlap series found elsewhere within this fonds.
This series also includes records which, in previous arrangement schemas, had been grouped together as part of a series of "miscellaneous records" (former archival reference RG1-L7, vols. 1, 35-38 and 40A), records created in various government offices and possibly accumulated by the Clerk of the Executive Council in fulfilment of his duties relating to the land granting system. Included are: a register of warrants for survey and warrants for land grants, 1765-1772; and records relating to an inquiry conducted into Jesuit Estates lands, 1788-1790.
