Director: Gordon Heath, B.Th., M.Div. (Honours), Ph.D.
Archivist: Melissa Richer, M.T.S., M.Div.
Archivist: Matthew Lowe, M.T.S.
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GRADUAL RESUMPTION OF NEW RESEARCH TASKS:
We are now happily accepting new requests, but the backlog of requests received during a major moving project will take some time to complete. We apologize for the delay and inconvenience, and we remain grateful for your continued patience and patronage.
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McMaster Divinity College provides space for the Canadian Baptist Archives and administers the collection. These archives are now the largest collection of their kind in Canada. The archives and library include records of local churches, organizations and institutions, plus personal papers of prominent Baptists. A library of Baptistiana totaling 3000 volumes is maintained in support of the primary documentation.
An Overview of the Archive's Contents
Several hundred Baptist congregations have deposited their original records in the Archives, which also contains the official records of the Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec, the Baptist Union of Western Canada, Union d’Eglises Baptist Francaises au Canada, and other organizations. Special collections include documents for the John Milton Society for the Blind in Canada, the Plymouth Brethren, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, and British Christianity. Additional materials include theses, pamphlets, periodicals, and personal papers and biographical material of pastors, missionaries and educators.
One of the more recent additions to the Archives are the papers of Norman Dabbs (missionary and martyr in Bolivia).
Baptists in Ontario and Quebec established an historical collection in 1865 when the Canadian Baptist Historical Society was founded. This early society actively solicited memoirs and church records for the next five years before it appears to have ceased its efforts. The mandate for the present collection of the Canadian Baptist Archives is derived directly from the constitution of that early attempt to preserve the history and the records of Canadian Baptists.
By 1912, an Historical Committee was once again seeking records of churches, associations and the BCOQ. Books and pamphlets by Baptists and or, or against, Baptists were sought for the Convention Historical Collection. After World War 2, the Historical Committee saw a need for more deliberate cataloguing of material received. Professor Gaylord P. Albaugh served as curator of the collection from 1947 to 1958. In 1961, the name of the Collection was changed to the Canadian Baptist Historical Collections, and in 1971, it acquired the current designation, Canadian Baptist Archives.
Currently, the collection is supervised by the Director of the Canadian Baptist Archives as an employee of the Divinity College, and staffed with a part-time archivist and student assistants.
Visiting scholars from Canada and beyond are encouraged to utilize the Archives for conducting research on a wide variety of topics . Those with particular research questions should contact the Archives at 905-525-9140 ext. 23511 or cbarch@mcmaster.ca.
Visiting hours at the Archives are from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays (by appointment only).
