Subseries - Correspondence and administrative files

44 folders of textual material (56 cm)

The “Correspondence and administrative files” sub-series consists of the body of official correspondence, reports, and other records created during John Graves Simcoe’s tenure as Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada. The records include information relating to the establishment of the legislature and the first years of civil administration in Upper Canada. This includes correspondence relating to the conduct of surveys, problems faced by surveyors and settlers in laying out farming and town lots, and the problems of developing an agricultural and trade economy with limited roads and a small population. These concerns reflect the active role Simcoe took in studying and recording the resources of Upper Canada, including taking extensive inspection tours, ordering the survey and construction of roads, and the improvement of water communications.
This sub-series also reflects Simcoe’s role in the military affairs of Upper Canada and the related topics of Indigenous nations and the United States. During the period, Simcoe’s responsibilities included the military posts retained by Britain in territory ceded to the United States under the Treaty of Paris, 1783. Simcoe’s term of office coincided with the final transfer of these posts to American control under Jay’s Treaty, 1793. It was part of Simcoe’s responsibility to ensure that British political and economic relations with the Shawnee, Waⁿdát (Wyandot), Myaamiaki (Miami), and other nations were not affected by the withdrawal. It was also his responsibility to organize the defense of the province, including maintaining its alliance with First Nations, and to avoid any act that would lead to conflict with the United States.