About Us

The mission of the Canadian Friends Historical Association is the preservation and communication of the on-going history and faith of Friends (Quakers) in Canada and their contribution to the Canadian Experience. 

The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) arose in England in the 17th century, inspired by the message of George Fox. Early Friends immigrated to America during this period. The first Quakers to settle in Canada came from the United States during the American War of Independence. Friends were early pioneers in frontier areas of Upper Canada, including York, Prince Edward, Grey, and Elgin Counties.

The Quakers came to what is now Canada with a strong sense of religious guidance; they provided for their community by building schools, Meeting Houses, and Burying Grounds. They contributed in many ways to the religious and social life of the communities in which they lived. Though small in numbers today, the Religious Society of Friends is an active faith community in Canada.

Created in 1972, the work of the Canadian Friends Historical Association includes support for the preservation of Quaker records, encouragement of the research, study, and writing of Quaker history, action to document and preserve Quaker Meeting Houses, Burial Grounds, and other sites of significant Quaker heritage, promotion of the significant contributions of Quakers, and the publication of the Canadian Quaker History Journal and the Canadian Friends Historical Association Newsletter.

Managed by an Executive Board that includes university professors, educators, researchers and archivists, the Canadian Friends Historical Association also hosts an annual spring conference, an annual general meeting and conference in the fall, and other special events related to the faith and on-going history of Quakers in Canada.

About our collections

The CFHA works with private and institutional collectors to index and share historical Quaker materials across Canada. This includes borrowing materials to digitize them, transcribing handwritten documents, and collecting digitized materials for sharing in our digital archives.

Note that our publications also frequently include transcriptions of primary sources, including handwritten letters and journals. We will be working to ensure these published articles are cross-included in our transcripts collection in the future, but in the meantime be sure to search both collections with your query.

Note also that our publications contain many photographs and illustrations not yet extracted for separate searching. You may find a useful image in our publications; assume copyright coverage unless explicitly otherwise stated. Fair use and fair dealing guidelines permit you to reuse images in some cases. We would appreciate a citation to the source in all cases that you cannot trace the image further than our publications.

Frequently you will find a digital item in our collection with an external source listed. Our most common partners are the Canadian Quaker Archives and the Swarthmore College Friends Historical Library.

We would love to hear from you if you have heritage materials of interest to Quaker researchers and genealogists, or if you know of some in a collection. We can help you digitize your materials for submission to the digital archives, work with you on identification and description, and assist you with copyright and privacy concerns. Get in touch!