Hudson's Bay Record Society

Hudson's Bay Record Society

Hudson's Bay Record Society, est 1938 by the HUDSON'S BAY CO to publish selections from its extensive company records accumulated since 1670. Under an agreement with the CHAMPLAIN SOCIETY, 12 volumes appeared, 1938-49. Thereafter the publications became the sole responsibility of the London-based HBC. From 1960 to 1983, volumes were published biennially; they were available only to the approximately 1150 members. The society's headquarters was transferred to Winnipeg in 1974, and the following year Hartwell Bowsfield of York U became the first Canadian general editor. By 1983, 33 volumes of minutes, correspondence and journals of trade and exploration dating from 1671 to 1889 had been published.

In 1983 the society was disbanded. Its successor is the Rupert's Land Record Society, which has since co-published (with McGill-Queen's University Press) a number of documentary volumes of fur trade records pertaining to both the HBC and the North West Company. Based at the U of Winnipeg, it is affiliated with the Rupert's Land Research Centre, which promotes fur trade and northern history through biennial colloquia, a newsletter, and other publications.