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PREFACE
The House of Assembly of Nova Scotia, on the 30th April, 1857, on the motion of the Honorable Joseph Howe, adopted the following resolution:
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"That His Excellency the Governor be respectfully requested to cause the ancient records and documents illustrative of the history and progress of society in this province, To be examined, preserved and arranged, either "for reference" or publication, as the legislature may hereafter determine, and that this house will provide for the same."
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In the following year the Lieutenant Governor was authorized by the Assembly to "procure from the state paper office, in England, as recommended in the report of the commissioner of Records, copies of any dispatches or documents that may be found necessary to complete our files." In 1859, 4th April, by another vote of the house, he was empowered to procure from the government of Canada, copies of such papers in the archives of Quebec as related to the early history of Acadia.
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In 1864 the work was so far advanced that upwards of 200 volumes of manuscripts had been selected, arranged, catalogued and bound, — comprehending copious selections from the colonial documents in the state paper office in London, and from those at Quebec, orginally obtained from the archives of Paris.
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In 1865 the Assembly referred the annual report of the Commissioner of Records to the Honorable S.L. Shannon, J. Bourinot, and A.G. Archibald. This committee recommended the publication of a "volume of public documents to be selected by the Commissioner of Records, provided the selections be contained in a single octavo volume of
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