General Archive Policy

formerly the Archives and Collections Society

General Archive Policy

"Archive - a place where public records or historic documents are kept. Historical record or document so preserved."

"Collection - a group of things collected or gathered together, e.g. of literary materials, works of art etc."

The overall policy, defined at the time of our founding under the name of “The Archives and Collections Society” (see our name change in the Canada Gazette) in 1999 and still valid today, is:

To establish a library and academic resource centre as a non profit organization with all activities to be carried out on an exclusively charitable basis.
To preserve the collections of material about yachting, the boats, the waters and the men who were a part of the last two hundred years of sail and pleasure boating.
To promote a broader understanding of certain aspects of local, regional and world history.
To facilitate academic research in a resource centre that would be open to the public by appointment and available, for example, to scholars, students and journalists.
To educate in the area of history with specific reference to water transport.
To assist other archives in cataloguing resources and making such resources available on a broader basis.

Two main collections of yachting books and magazines are: the "Robert Davis Collection" and the "Stormy Weather Collection". The directors of the Naval Marine Archive – The Canadian Collection are proud to recognize Mr. Davis as a resident of exceptional historical importance in Prince Edward County; the sailing yawl Stormy Weather's place in history is also deserving of a permanent memorial. Both these collections have been gathered over half a century with a general focus on sailing vessels.

For Federal and Provincial grant purposes, it is proposed to orientate the purposes of the Naval Marine Archive – The Canadian Collection towards the preservation of historical documents and related artifacts concerning:

Maritime, nautical, marine and aeronautical subjects
A time period of 1700 to the present time
A geographic region covering generally North America, the North Atlantic and Europe.

Specifically, matters concerning:

Sail and other pleasure craft
Prince Edward County, Ontario

will take some precedence, but certainly not limit the scope of the Naval Marine Archive – The Canadian Collection which now includes the “Ross Richardson Aeronautical Collection” and is complemented by many fonds which support our main goals.

In 2003, the Naval Marine Archive – The Canadian Collection became the home of the Canadian Society of Marine Artists and each organization enhances the other.

Revised: 3 December 2011