County of Elgin fonds
https://heritagecollections.elgin.ca/link/archives1575
- Museum / Archive
- Elgin County Archives
- Part Of
- County of Elgin fonds
- Description Level
- Fonds
- GMD
- textual records
- graphic material
- Storage Location
- R3-R4
- Museum / Archive
- Elgin County Archives
- Part Of
- County of Elgin fonds
- Creator
- County of Elgin
- Description Level
- Fonds
- Storage Room
- Archives Storage Rm. 107
- Storage Location
- R3-R4
- GMD
- textual records
- graphic material
- Physical Description
- ca. 40 metres of textual records
- ca. 300 photographs
- History / Biographical
- The Corporation of the County of Elgin was established as a "provisional" county of the County of Middlesex in April 1852. It became a completely separate county by November of 1853. The county was initially comprised of the following constituent municipalities as part of a two-tier system of local government: Townships of Aldborough, Dunwich, Southwold, Yarmouth, Malahide, South Dorchester and Bayham; Villages of St. Thomas and Vienna. St. Thomas separated from the county to become a stand-alone municipality in 1861. Other incorporated villages gained representation on County Council in the following order: Aylmer (1871), Port Stanley (1875), Springfield (1878), Dutton (1891), West Lorne (1908), Rodney (1908), Port Burwell (1949) and Belmont (1961).
- Effective January 1st, 1998, local restructuring created the following seven following municipalities within the county: Municipalities of West Elgin, Dutton-Dunwich, Central Elgin and Bayham; Townships of Southwold and Malahide; Town of Aylmer.
- The county has held a wide range of powers common to upper-tier municipalities under the terms of the Municipal Act. This has included (and in many cases still includes) a system of roads and bridges, court administration, school supervision, library services, homes for the aged, a house of industry, financial services, civic addressing, emergency measures, land division, a museum and archives. Planning is not done at the county-level but is instead a responsibility of the local municipalities. County Council is chaired by a Warden who is elected on an annual basis by secret ballot from the existing members of Council.
- The County's administrative offices have had three principle locations over time: The former Yarmouth Township hall in St. Thomas from 1852 to 1854; the Elgin County Courthouse in St. Thomas from 1854 to 1985; and the Elgin County Administration Building just south of St. Thomas (originally built as the nurses’ residence for the Ontario Psychiatric Hospital), 1985 to the present day.
- Custodial History
- Records were originally stored in the basement of the Elgin County Courthouse in St. Thomas. Elgin County Council authorized a transfer agreement with the Regional Collection at the University of Western Ontario in late 1969. Records were subsequently arranged and catalogued by staff at Regional Collection. In 1988, the records were transferred back to the County of Elgin and stored on the fourth floor of the County's "new" accomodations at the Elgin County Administration Building just south of St. Thomas (the former nurses' residence for the Ontario Psychiatric Hospital). Records were subsequently transferred to the Elgin County Archives within the same building in 2002. A project is on-going to re-box and re-house the records from the original containers provided by the university. A re-description project is also on-going.
- Scope and Content
- Fonds consists of records of all departments from the County's incorporation in 1852 until 2002. The fonds is subdivided into the following sous-fonds: County Council County Clerk/Administrative Services Treasurer/Financial Services Homes for the Aged/Long-Term Care Engineering Services Library Services Human Resources Many departmental records are incorporated into the County Clerk sous-fonds given that office's traditional role as keeper of corporate records and its role in supporting County Council's proceedings. This is especially true for the period prior to the 1970's. As a result, approximately eighty per cent of the fonds was filed and maintained by this one office, although the records document all aspects of the corporation. The proceedings of County Council are also well documented. This includes Council minutes and by-laws beginning in 1852, as well as minutes and reports of standing and ad hoc committees.
- Name Access
- Elgin (Ont.: County)
- Related Material
- House of Industry / Elgin Manor fonds
- Terrace Lodge fonds
- Bobier Villa fonds
- County of Elgin Soldiers' Aid Commission fonds
- County of Elgin Sesquicentennial fonds
- Elgin County Clerk fonds
- Elgin County Council fonds
- Arrangement
- Chronological within a central filing system for all departments until ca. 1970; filing system by department or committee from the 1970's to the present day.
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