Anglican Diocese of Toronto Archives

Anglican Diocese of Toronto Archives

• Religious Organization

The Anglican Diocese of Toronto was formally established in 1839 with John Strachan appointed the first Bishop of Toronto. It is the oldest Diocese in the Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario. The first professional archivist was appointed in 1983 by the Diocese Executive Committee.

The Diocese of Toronto is the most populous of the 30 dioceses in the Anglican Church of Canada. Our geographical area extends over 26,000 square kilometres, stretching from Mississauga to Brighton and north to Haliburton. Some 230 congregations in 183 parishes are located here.

The Diocese is home to many culturally diverse and language-based congregations, including Chinese, Filipino, French, Hispanic, Japanese and Tamil.

The Diocesan Archives acts as a records centre and maintains the central filing system for active and semi-active files of the Diocese. Some of the records that are maintained in the archives include parish and diocesan property, correspondence, deanery minutes and correspondence, and diocesan boards and committees.

The Diocesan Archives provides safe, secure and controlled storage for non-current parish records, including baptism, marriage and burial records, proof of status for legal purposes as well as genealogical purposes. The Archives also acts as a repository for Synod Records of the Diocese and parish history records.

Our collections include:

• Parish registers (the earliest dating back to 1819)
• Parish vestry books
• Meeting minutes of various Parish organizations.
• Anglican Church Women records
• Parish histories/newsletters/pamphlets
• Synod Journals
• Annual reports
• Architectural plans
• Deeds and titles
• Photographs
• Correspondence
• Church newspapers

'Guide to Ecclesiastical Province of Ontario', 1990

Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 9:00am to 4:00pm. Please contact us before your visit to confirm that we have the records and facilities to assist you.

Records deposited in the Archives are normally on open access but there are some records that are subject to access restrictions. These include:

• Records containing personal information, such as payroll or personnel records.
• Vital statistics (Baptism, burial and marriage records) that are still closed in line with the Government of Ontario’s guidelines.
• Surrogate copies, such as microfilm, may be given out (if available) if the original record is in a very fragile condition.

The archives is wheelchair accessible.

Enquiries are welcomed by mail, email and telephone. However, only limited research can be undertaken on behalf of patrons. Fees may apply for more extensive research requests.

The archives offers photocopying, copies of personal records, and certified copies of personal records.

Persons making a request for personal records will be required to identify their relationship to those named in the records and the purpose for which the record is being requested. Fees apply for certified copies.

Please see the full fee schedule here: https://www.toronto.anglican.ca/uploads.php?id=4d79185424aa3

Free wifi is available to researchers.

• Genealogical (Thematic area)
• Religion (Thematic area)
• Toronto (Geographic subregion)