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Archival description
UCM-SE7-SU1 · Subseries · 1845/03/01-2011/11/05
Part of The Unitarian Church of Montreal fonds

This sub-series contains the registers of acts of civil service kept by the church from 1845 to present. Acts of civil service recorded include births, baptisms, marriages and burials. Earlier records are more likely to record baptisms, while later are more likely to record just births.

On average, the 30 volumes in this sub-series span roughly 6 years with the shortest being volume 28 (August 21, 1993 to December 26, 1993) and the longest being volume 7 (December 20, 1893 to December 30, 1905).

There is a card catalogue for this sub-series in a locked in a file cabinet in the lay chaplains office. Each card contains the name and details of the act of civil service performed, along with the volume and page number of where the act can be found in the registers.

Calendars
UCM-SE1-SU2 · Subseries · 1905-1953
Part of The Unitarian Church of Montreal fonds

This sub-series contains the calendars created by the Church between 1905 and 1953. Although the earliest calendar exists from 1905, calendars exist on a consistent basis from 1909 to 1925 and then from 1927 to 1953. The pre-1921 calendars tend to have more detailed overview of the activities of the Church, including services, sermons, mariages, baptisms, deaths and other meetings, while the calendars dating after that are more akin to orders of service (see UCM-SE1-SU1 Orders of Service for more details).

Unitarian Church of Montreal
UCM-SE10-SU3 · Subseries · 1947-1970
Part of The Unitarian Church of Montreal fonds

This sub-series contains records related to the building and maintenance of Unitarian House and Channing Hall. It consists mostly of minutes, correspondence, internal reports and financial documents related to the management and maintenance of both buildings, including those related to the remodelling of Channing Hall from 1968 to 1970. It also includes copies of the leases between the Church and the tenants of Unitarian House beginning in 1978. There are also four architectural drawings of Channing Hall from Hugh & Jones Architects, dated June 8, 1914, and a drawing of Unitarian House by Phillip Mason

Music lists
UCM-SE1-SU3 · Subseries · 1947-09-07 - 1953-01-25
Part of The Unitarian Church of Montreal fonds

This sub-series contains the music lists created by the Church in the planning of services. They exist for the years 1947-1952, following a September to June schedule, and include the songs and hymns to be played during service in chronological order. They invariably include a "Prelude", "Introit", "Hymn", "Anthem", "Interlude", a second "Hymn", "Offertory", a third "Hymn" and "Postlude" in that order.

The music lists are typewritten on lined notebook paper. Each page contains two music lists for two Sundays. The pages serving as dividers often have relevant calendars (see UCM-SE1-SU2) glued to them.

Orders of service
UCM-SE1-SU1 · Subseries · 1953-2025
Part of The Unitarian Church of Montreal fonds

This sub-series contains the orders of service created by the Church in the planning of services. The orders of service contain both a chronological list of the events of the service as well as a section for weekly notices. The chronological section details the songs to be played, hymns to be sung with lyrics and litanies, as well as when in the service the sermon and announcements will occur.

Orders of service exist for each Sunday service from February 1953 to present. From that time until June 2004, services ran from September of one year through June of the next. Beginning in September 2004, services run year round. Previous to 1953, there are only orders of service for special services like Christmas and these are sporadic.

From 1951 to June 1983, the orders of service are photocopies of typewritten documents. Between September 1983 and September 1997 they appear to have been printed on a dot matrix printer, after which they begin to be printed on contemporary computer printers.

The sub-series is organized into files chronologically. The pre-2021 files cover September of one year through June of the next. From 2021 to present, each calendar year has its own file. There only exception is that September to December 2020 has its own file.

Unitarian Church of Montreal
Post-fire committee minutes
UCM-SE10-SU4 · Subseries · 1987-1996
Part of The Unitarian Church of Montreal fonds

This sub-series contains the minutes and reports generated by the committees created after the fire. Notably it also includes the results of a congregational survey done by the Building Needs Committee in 1988. The series also contains documents identifying those involved in said committees.

Before the purchase of the de Maisonneuve property in 1995, there were several proposals put forward regarding whether to rebuild on the same property or move to a new one. Many of these committees worked on multiple of these projects. The committees for which there are records are the following:

  • The Options Committee (created January 13, 1988)
    This committee was responsible for recommending a building project to the Board of Management.

  • The Building Needs Committee (created May 11, 1988)
    This committee was mandated to update the 1984 Property Study Committee Report (this can be found in UCM-SE10-SU2) in order to guide any rebuilding project. It also surveyed the congregation on the needs for a new church building.

  • Building Committee (Operated from October 1988 to October 1989)
    This committee was mandated to oversee the design and construction of any new church building. It became the Design Committee in October 1989.

  • Design Committee (created in October 1989)
    This committee oversaw design and use plans for any new church building.

  • The Project Management Committee (created October 3, 1990)
    The series contains two written mandates for this committee. The first tasks it with recommending a building project and the second with acting on behalf of the Board of Management in dealings with developers. It appears that the Options Committee is often retroactively referred to as the Project Management Committee as well.

  • Furniture, Fixings & Equipment Committee (was active 1995-1996)
    This committee was responsible for the internal details of the de Maisonneuve building.

UCM-SE10-SU5 · Subseries · 1987-1992
Part of The Unitarian Church of Montreal fonds

This sub-series contains documents related to the rebuilding and move efforts in the wake of the fire that destroyed the Sherbrooke street church building on May 25, 1987. It includes reports on the state of the church buildings after the fire, as well as internal correspondence between Church officers and external correspondence with various legal, consulting, architectural and construction firms. It also includes calls for and received project proposals, along with financial analyses and draft resolutions to be submitted to the congregation regarding said proposals.

Notably there is also a copy of an ultimately rejected proposal, with drawings, called the "Simpson Project." It aimed to build a mixed use high-rise tower on the site of the Sherbrooke street church, which would’ve included space for the Church. There are also 11 full sized architectural drawings of the project. The project was controversial in the greater local community and the sub-series also contains correspondance from community members and minutes of city consultation meetings.

UCM-SE10-SU1 · Subseries · [after 1908/01/06]-2002/08/19
Part of The Unitarian Church of Montreal fonds

This sub-series contains records related to the construction of the main church building on the property located at the corner of Sherbrooke and Simpson streets. It contains textual records related to the history of the church building, including photocopies of “Montreal then and Now” articles from the Montreal Gazette from the 1980s with pictures, meeting minutes and a photocopy of the lot’s record of purchase from 1905.

The sub-series also contains architectural plans created by the Maxwell Brothers as well as their specifications for construction. Photocopies can be found in Box 10 and originals can be found in Tube 36.

The sub-series also contains articles from 2000 and 2002 about the Maxwell Brothers and their work on the church building.

UCM-SE10-SU2 · Subseries · 1907-1996
Part of The Unitarian Church of Montreal fonds

This sub-series contains records related to the renovation and maintenance of the main church building and property located at the corner of Sherbrooke and Simpson before the fire in 1987. It also contains correspondance and internal reports related to a move proposed in 1983 that never occurred, as well as correspondence and legal documents related to dealings with the neighbouring Port Royal apartments from the 1960s and early 1970s. These include agreements and communication related to maintenance and use of a shared lane between the two properties, as well as the sale of a piece of the Church's lot to Port Royal in the early 1970s.

The majority of the series is comprised of architectural and zoning plans, as well as meeting minutes and internal Church reports, regarding the renovation and maintenance of the main church building. The architectural plans were drawn up by the firm Chadwick Pope & Edge through the 1960’s and early 1970’s. The zoning plans are from 1912, 1954, 1962 and 1972, presenting a good representation of how the lot changed over time. The reports and meeting minutes were generated by the Building Committee and Special Committee of Acoustics, including a survey of the congregation on space needs. There are also a 29 black and white photographs. 26 of these are of the interior of the church, used in a property study and focusing mostly on structural defects. The 3 remaining photographs are external shots of the church building from 1970. Also included is correspondence from la Musée des beaux arts related to the building’s stained glass windows.