This thesis conducts an experiment with special diplomatics, applying its techniques to the study
of selected documents of the United Church of Canada. The results of the experiment are
analysed to answer two questions. Does diplomatics make a unique contribution to the archival
tasks of appraisal, arrangement, and description? Is the original purpose to which diplomatics
was directed, that is, the identification of authentic documents, relevant for modern records?
Study of the juridical system of the Church, based on the United Church Manual, demonstrates
that diplomatics requires an understanding of the sources and instruments of authority, because
they determine how acts and documents can be recognized as authentic. Agendas, reports and
minutes of B.C. Conference are then examined from the diplomatic perspective, to identify the
juridical persons of the Conference, their competences, and the acts and documents typical of
each. The result is a detailed description of the administration of Conference. These studies
complement, but do not duplicate, the administrative history typical of archival science.
Diplomatic methods are used to identify the procedures and formal elements of the “Call to a
Minister.” Extrapolation from resulting data demonstrates that diplomatics rediscovers the
Church in the single set of documents.
The thesis concludes that diplomatics does make a useful contribution to the methods of archival
science, because it studies records and records creators from a distinct perspective. It also concludes that since modern society continues to attach great importance to due process and
proper form, as means of protecting the authenticity of acts, the understanding of authority and
authenticity provided by diplomatics is relevant to the study of modern administration.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/5556 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Turner, Janet Elizabeth |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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