Private archives, and more specifically religious archives, are "the great forgotten ones in the reflection on Quebec's cultural heritage", deplores the Canadian Society of the History of the Catholic Church (SCHEC).
In a brief submitted to Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) during the consultation conducted by this institution on the revision of the Archives Act, the SCHEC considers that there is an urgent need to act since the resources to ensure the preservation and dissemination of religious archives are currently too low, which "endangers the integrity and durability of the documents". These pieces of history are kept in "buildings that are sometimes over a hundred years old" which "do not systematically meet the ventilation, temperature and humidity standards" observed today by recognized and adequately funded archives.
Read Présence Info 'article, by François Gloutnay
The briefs will be published on the BAnQ portal in early February.
The Archives Committee of the Quebec Religious Heritage Council also wished to contribute to the revision of the Archives Act. He considers that religious archives, although private, are of national and public interest because of their age and their participation in civil society over a period of more than 300 years. He is of the opinion that they precede, so to speak, the public archives of the Quiet Revolution and are essential to recognize the different facets linked to the place of women and men who gave up their personal lives in favor of service to the community, in health, education, community and social action, but also in the arts and sciences.
Read the brief submitted by the CPRQ archives committee.
