The Regional Council Archives holds records of the founding denominations of The United Church of Canada within B.C., up to 1925; the Indigenous Church; the Pacific Mountain Regional Council (formerly BC Conference) of The United Church of Canada. Communities of faith in the Yukon and Banff hold their archives at the Provincial Archives of Alberta.
Holdings date from 1859 to present (1895-2010 predominant). It includes records created by local communities of faith such as registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials; historic membership rolls and communion rolls; minutes of church boards, committees, and organizations (including women’s groups); printed annual reports of local congregations; congregational newsletters; local church histories; correspondence; and photographs.
Material in The Archives
The Archives acquires:
- Records created by the Regional Council, communities of faith, and all other United Church organizations within the Regional Council, including the former BC Conference and presbyteries
- Records of affiliated bodies, such as incorporated ministries, within the Regional Council
- Personal/private papers and manuscripts of individuals active in the United Church or its antecedents, when such records are of clear value to understanding the history of the church within the Regional Council.
- Records of ecumenical or inter-church organizations within the Regional Council, if members of the United Church or antecedent denominations have played a significant role in these organizations
The Archives keeps approximately 790 metres of material, including records from about 500 communities of faith, both active and disbanded.
Remembering Bob Stewart
Bob Stewart's connection with the BC Conference Archives began in the early 1970s when he was a Master of Divinity student at the Vancouver School of Theology. He formally became the Conference Archivist in 1981. Under his guidance, the archives collection grew appreciably and his outreach work raised the profile of the program. The Archives also became a training ground for many of UBC's archival studies students.
Bob's sense of humour, his warmth, his intelligence, and his devotion to the church will long be remembered by all who knew and loved him.
Bob died on November 15, 2005. To recognize his legacy, the BCÂ Conference Archives and History Committee added the "Bob Stewart Archives" as a parallel and honorary form of the name for what is now the Pacific Mountain Regional Council Archives.
Here is the famous archives video he produced in 1990.
