Records that can be transferred to The United Church of Canada Archives are indicated in The United Church of Canada File Classification Plan and Retention Schedule. Records transferred to the Archives must be accompanied by a Transfer Form, (please contact Archives for a form), and an inventory of records being transferred must be created.
The following are the procedures for the transfer or records to the Archives:
- Records which have fulfilled their retention requirements–specified in the Records Schedule–should be removed from active files; it works well if this is done annually. For Retention requirements see the Classification and Retention Schedule, which controls the life cycle of documents. The Schedule indicates how long a file is to be kept in the department and then, whether the records are to be destroyed, transferred to the Records Centre, or transferred to the Archives for permanent retention.
- Archival records contain non-current information. There are many questions about minutes and correspondence. Please make sure that one official copy of minutes for which your working unit is responsible, is sent to the Archives for permanent retention. Please include appendices and other attachments with minutes. Please do not send duplicates or copies of minutes. Please note that the two-year destruction date for Correspondence is only for routine correspondence of daily chronological files.
- Those wishing to transfer records to the Archives must contact the Assistant Archivist so that a transfer/accession number can be assigned to the transfer. This number will include the year and number of the transfer, e.g. 2011-003.
- Records being transferred to the Records Centre must be listed using the Transfer Form. Here are the procedures for filling out the Transfer List:
- Fill out only the “Box/File No.,” “File Title,” and “Date” columns; leave the Transfer/Accession number blank for the Archives staff to fill in.
- If an electronic format of the list is available, please email it to the Assistant Archivist.
- Have the Executive Minister of the working unit sign off on the form. When transferring legal records, the Legal Counsel must sign off on the form as well.
- Records are to be packed in bankers boxes in the same order as they were in the filing cabinet.
- Files containing sensitive and/or personal information must be indicated as restricted in the listing. The symbol “RR” should be placed beside the file number in the transfer list to denote as such. See below for example:
- All records to be transferred to the Archives must be accompanied with this form. Please remember to number all boxes in the order in which they were packaged.
- Once the Transfer Form is completed and records have been properly boxed and labeled, the records may be transferred to the Archives.
- The Archives Assistant acknowledges receipt of the records by signing the form.