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Documents of historical value often arrive unexpectedly at the Provincial Archives as if by fated to be there.

They can make their way back to New Brunswick by chance or with the aid of modern-day communications and technology, all with the goal of being kept safe for future generations.

“We’ve had items or collections come to us from around the world,” said Marion Beyea, provincial archivist.

“Sometimes they are found in a secondhand bookstore in Vancouver, at an antique dealer’s in the New England states, or at flea market in the British Isles. With the advance of technology, we often receive e-mails about the disposition of an estate or a scanned photograph that needs identification.

We might go online ourselves to see what historical pieces can be found on websites such as EBay. For us, it’s all like finding a buried treasure.”

Pieces of New Brunswick’s history become lost when people leave the province and take their documents with them. During the 19th century, New Brunswick-built ships sailed the seas of the world, bringing some people to port and transporting others to faraway shores. In the late 1860s, British military forces stationed in the capital city returned to England. The start-up of manufacturing plants in the New England during the late 19th and early 20th centuries also added to the migration of people and important information.

“When you think about the time lapse and the distance, it’s remarkable that we have been able to retrieve even a portion of the historical materials we now have,” Beyea said. “The Internet has been a good tool for us. But with it, there has also been increased awareness and competition. We can be outbid by a collector who has no interest in an item’s historical content, but dearly wants the stamp or postmark on it.”

Despite the competition, the Archives has been successful in acquiring several important historical items, such as the dairy of Georgiana Mary Parry, who lived in Fredericton in 1868-69.

Her husband, Frederick William Best Parry, was one of the last British military personnel to be stationed in the capital city. The diary returned to England with the Parrys and was handed down through the family until it was eventually given to the Archives.

The family of Sir Howard Douglas, lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick from 1824-29 and builder of Old Government House, preserved several items documenting one of the most popular lieutenant-governors in the colonial period. These items arrived at the Archives from British Columbia.

The family of Jessie Sutton Flewelling provided her diary on her involvement in the suffragette movement in Saint John between 1908-14. That diary arrived from Ontario.

In 1991, the Archives microfilmed a diary and notebook from the Keillor House Museum in Dorchester. The writings belonged to Phoebe Chandler Racey, daughter of Edward Barron Chandler, who was noted for being the father of responsible government in New Brunswick, a father of Confederation, the first proponent for railways in the province, and for having served in public office in New Brunswick from 1823-80, in positions from county clerk to lieutenant-governor. And 15 years after the microfilming, a relative in Ontario sent an e-mail offering the Archives more material about the Chandler family.

Through the Internet, the Archives has also acquired unique postcards, the records of a lumber company, the records of a general store in Tay Creek, a medical doctor’s ledger from the turn of the century, and a file on the Stonehaven Independent Order of Foresters.

Beyea points out that it is not just people from outside the province who are sending material to the Archives.

Almost daily, New Brunswickers are also approaching the Archives with material containing information on the province’s history.

Members of the public are welcome to visit the Archives to view its acquisitions and collections. The Associates of the Provincial Archives are key supporters in helping the Archives cover the cost of acquisitions and collections available only by purchase.

The Provincial Archives is responsible for identifying, preserving, and making accessible public and privatesector records that are of legal, administrative and historical significance to New Brunswick. The Archives website generates over one million hits per month from researchers and genealogists around the world who want to be in touch with their roots in New Brunswick.