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The Fur Trade - General

This section deals with sources which are either alphabetically organized or have name indexes and which cover long periods of time. They are useful for researchers who are not sure where or when an individual was employed, but no researcher should overlook them.

Title: Servants' Contracts

Ref: A.32 / 1 - 19
Microfilm: 387 - 391
Dates: 1780 - 1818
Content: Contracts may give employee age in years and home parish. (Note that the parish recorded on the contract may be where the individual was living at the time he was hired). The employee may be described as coming from Rupert's Land, Hudson's Bay, Indian Country or a native. This means he was 'born in the country' and was most likely of aboriginal descent. Employee occupation - labourer, mariner, sawer, etc. - also appears on the contract, along with terms of employment.
Finding Aids: arranged chronologically, index available at the Archives of Manitoba
Type of Material: textual
Access Conditions: none

Title: Servants' Contracts

Ref: A.32 / 20 - 60
Microfilm: 391 - 419
Dates: ca. 1820 - c. 1925
Content: Contracts may give the employee age in years and home parish. (Note that parish recorded on the contract may be where the individual was living at the time he was hired). The employee may be described as coming from Rupert's Land, Hudson's Bay, Indian Country or a native. This means he was 'born in the country' and was most likely of aboriginal descent. Employee occupation - labourer, mariner, sawer, etc. - also appears on the contract, along with terms of employment.
Finding Aids: arranged alphabetically, index available at the Archives of Manitoba
Type of Material: textual
Access Conditions: none

Title: Officers' & Servants' Wills

Ref: A.36 / 1b - 15
Microfilm: 425 - 431
Dates: 1763 - 1863
Content: Associated with many of the wills are: Letters of Administration; Expenses of the Executor; Legacy Duty Paid at the Stamp Office, Somerset House; Letters respecting Trusts; Affidavits, with papers from the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division; Abstracts of Contents of Settlements, including Inventory items.
Finding Aids: Wills are arranged alphabetically, partial indexes available at the Archives of Manitoba
Type of Material: textual
Access Conditions: none

Title: Register Books of Wills & Administrations of Proprietors

Ref: A.44/1-14
Microfilm: 470 - 471, 930 - 931
Dates: 1717 - 1903
Content: contains information about proprietors (stockholders) and employees
Finding Aids: index available at the Archives of Manitoba
Type of Material: textual
Access Conditions: none

Title: The Beaver Manuscript Files

Ref: RG2 Series 71
Microfilm: not filmed
Dates: ca. 1930 - 1973
Content: Papers consist of approximately one hundred files containing handwritten or typed manuscripts submitted to the editor for publication in The Beaver magazine. Files may include correspondence, notes or background materials. Various other articles exist which shed light on the hardships endured by employees and families whose lives were associated with the Hudson's Bay Company.
Finding Aids: arranged alphabetically, by author's name.
Type of Material: textual
Access Conditions: none

Title: Library Files Re HBC Employees