The Canadian Friends Historical Association (CFHA) works to preserve and communicate the on-going history and faith of Friends (Quakers) in Canada and their contribution to the Canadian Experience. CFHA has been in existence since 1972. Over the years it has been very active holding gatherings and soliciting papers for the CFHA Newsletter and Journal. It is not only Friends and not only academics that have been involved with CFHA. Enthusiasts of Quaker history, often non-Quakers are the backbone of the association. People who discover that they have Quaker ancestors are often then enthusiastic about their Quaker history.
I would like Friends to take a look at the website chfa.info. Read the old newsletters and journals that have been digitalized. An ongoing project has been the transcription of early Quaker minutes. These are also posted on the website. It is interesting to try to understand what the writers of these minutes were thinking.
Presently minutes of the three Canada Yearly Meetings leading leading to their union are being transcribed. This union which became known as our present day Canadian Yearly Meeting (CYM) occurred at Pickering College in Newmarket 70 years ago. Sheila Havard is doing this work in conjunction with the Canadian Quaker Library and Archives (CQLA) and Michelle Tolley, the CQLA archivist.
The Minutes of Record which are statements by Canadian Yearly Meeting Friends of their concerns over are also being transcribed. This is a huge project as they are buried in CYM minutes of over 70 years. It will be a very useful document to have all the Minutes of Record in one place. We will know better who we are as Canadian Quakers.
CFHA has a blog on the website where submissions are published. [email protected] is the contact to Sydney Harker, who just recently defended her PHD dissertation in history at Queen’s University. Congratulations Dr. Sydney Harker! She is willing to help with editing submissions and then publishes them on the website.
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Eve Schmitz-Hertzberg Chair CFHA
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