The Long Reach of War: Canadian Records Management and the Public Archives by Kathryn Rose A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2012 © Kathryn Rose 2012 Author’s Declaration I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract This thesis explores why the Public Archives of Canada, which was established in 1872, did not have the full authority or capability to collect the government records of Canada until 1966. The Archives started as an institution focused on collecting historical records, and for decades was largely indifferent to protecting government records. Royal Commissions, particularly those that reported in 1914 and 1962 played a central role in identifying the problems of records management within the growing Canadian civil service. Changing notions of archival theory were also important, as was the influence of professional academics, particularly those historians mandated to write official wartime histories of various federal departments. This thesis argues that the Second World War and the Cold War finally motivated politicians and bureaucrats to address records concerns that senior government officials had first identified during the time of Sir Wilfrid Laurier. iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my advisor, Dr. Geoffrey Hayes, for his enthusiasm, honesty and dedication to this process. I am grateful for all that he has done. I am also indebted to my committee members for offering their time and energy to my project. I thoroughly enjoyed engaging in this dialogue. Thank you. The research for this dissertation involved the use of several libraries and archives that deserve mention. The Dana Porter Library at the University of Waterloo and the Library at Wilfrid Laurier University provided many of the resources required for this dissertation. The Archives at the University of Toronto, and their collection of George Brown’s correspondence during his time at the university, provided the necessary context for the 1944 CHA publication. The staff and faculty at the Queen Elizabeth II Library at Memorial University of Newfoundland deserve special mention. My colleagues, particularly in Information Services and Collections Divisions, have been incredibly supportive during the final stages of this process. Given the topic, this project would not have been possible without the assistance of the staff of Library and Archives Canada. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting with a number of archivists and interested parties during long hours in the reading room. Mr. Ian Wilson, Glenn Wright, Terry Cook, Paulette Dozois, Tim Dube, Jason Bennett, Owen Cooke and Paul Marsden provided invaluable insight to the archival collections. Stephen Harris of the Directorate of History and Heritage was also extremely helpful locating sources for the chapter on the Department of National Defence. The Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies has vastly enriched my academic experience. Working with Terry Copp has been a iv wonderful learning experience, and I grateful for that opportunity. Terry’s skill as an educator has influenced my own approach to teaching in academic and athletic environments. I am also thankful to Roger Sarty, who, despite his hectic schedule, was always available for a chat about government and process of governing. To all those I worked with while at the centre, thank you. I could not imagine my graduate days without the Centre and those within it. My mother and father have been a source of constant encouragement and emotional support. Their cabin on Lake Superior, filled with laughter of family and friends, surrounded by the beauty of Algoma, was a wonderful retreat that eased the long hours of reading, researching and writing. The family cabin oasis is the result of Mom and Dad’s focus and labour. They have always encouraged a similar work ethic in my siblings and I, and for this, I am grateful. Hard work pays off. v To my family, who dare to think of six impossible things before breakfast. (Apologies to Lewis Carroll) vi Table of Contents Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 Origins of the Dominion Archives, 1867 – 1939: Searching for a Mandate ........... 23 The Second World War Experience: King, his Record and his Boys...................... 53 Department of National Defence................................................................................. 72 Department of Munitions and Supply...................................................................... 101 Department of External Affairs.................................................................................. 121 The Archives in the Postwar Years, 1945-1949 ........................................................ 140 Building the foundation: Culture, War and W. Kaye Lamb, 1949-1954 .............. 149 Working for Change, 1955-1966: the RMA, the Glassco Commission and the Public Record Order of 1966....................................................................................... 169 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 194 Bibliography ................................................................................................................. 215 vii Introduction The purpose of this study is to examine how the Public Archives of Canada acquired its status as a public record office, from its origins in 1872 to the implementation of a comprehensive records management policy in 1983. The thesis argues that the transformation of the Public Archives into a fully professional records management institution began in earnest with the expansion of government activities during the Second World War. Both departmental civil servants and archivists came to recognize the need for an institution that possessed the expertise necessary to manage records related to the history and governance of Canada. This experience was not unique. Both the American Archives and the Public Records Office in the United Kingdom were the results of sustained lobbying efforts.1 While the Canadian experience started well before the American Archives was formed in 1934, the process of consolidating the Canadian mandate took longer. In this way, the Canadian experience resembled that of the British institution, 100 years prior. Both British and the American institutions had an influence on the growth and idea of the Canadian Public Archives. To discuss the growth of the Canadian Public Archives and the expansion of its mandate beyond the war years, a discussion of the factors that motivated its creation is necessary. Chapter one addresses the development of the Public Archives, then known as the Dominion Archives, from the period of Confederation to 1939. The Public Archives stemmed from confused beginnings when the Cabinet of Sir John A. 1 John D. Cantwell, The Public Records Office, 1838-1958 (London: HMSO, 1991); Phillippa Levine, The Amateur and the Professinal: Antiquarians, Historians and Archaeologists in Victorian England, 1838-1886 (London: Cambridge University Press, 1986); G.H. Martin and Peter Spufford, The Records of the Nation: The Public Records Office, 1838-1988, the British Record Society, 1888-1988 (Woodbridge, Suffolk: Boydell Press, 1990); Sarah Quigley, “Cultural Record Keepers: The National Archives of the United States,” Libraries and the Culture Record 42, no. 1 (2007): 80- 83; Donald R. McCoy, The National Archives: America’s Ministry of Documents, 1943-1968 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1978). 1 Macdonald created the Archives Branch of the Department of Agriculture in 1872. In 1873, the Secretary of State appointed a Keeper of the Records, creating two bodies within the federal government that held claims to historical public records.2 In 1897, a departmental commission on government records, led by the Under Secretary of State of External Affairs, Joseph Pope, “examine[d] and report[ed] on the state of records in departments, safe-keeping, which would be permanently preserved and which should be destroyed after an interval.”3 Known as the Canadian Records Commission, the report highlighted the need for better protection of government records and recommended an integrated archive that included historic, public and cultural records. The recommendations of the commission were not all implemented, but the government merged the two archival institutions under one archivist in 1903. Arthur Doughty was appointed as Canada’s Dominion Archivist in 1904, and remained in this position until 1936. Doughty showed considerable energy to establish and maintain an institution that supported the study of Canadian history, which greatly contributed to the professionalization of Canadian history. To do so, Doughty argued that he needed a stronger mandate than what he received in 1904. In 1912, the Public Archives Act strengthened the mandate of the Public Archives, and gave the Dominion Archivist some authority over government records. But the Act did not give the Dominion Archivist any way to enforce his recommendations, nor the space to store valuable documentation. The Archives Act also left significant confusion