Preserving the Bits and Bytes of History: Lessons from the Government Electronic Records Programme at the National Archives of Canada

When the Public Archives of Canada (PAC) was created in 1872, little did its founders know that one hundred years later, their successors would be faced with preserving records that were unreadable by human eyes. Likewise, the drafters of the Public Archives Act of 1912, which served as the legislative basis of the PAC until the passage of the National Archives of Canada Act in 1987 created the National Archives of Canada, could not have imagined the remarkable changes that modern technology would bring to the institution. This article examines the history of the electronic records programme at the National Archives of Canada (NA), with emphasis on government records, and offer observations which may be of value to those archives and archivists just embarking upon a similar programme. ESARBICA Journal Vol.20 2001: 43-5