• General Assembly has consistently recommended that synods, presbyteries and congregations participate in this important programme and have their records microfilmed
• Records that should be microfilmed include: Session minutes, Baptism, Marriage and Burial registers, Board of Manager's minutes, Congregational Meeting minutes, Trustee documents, Membership/Historic rolls, and Communion rolls/registers. Other records to consider for microfilming include: Annual Reports, Newsletters, Revenue and Expense ledgers, records of Congregational organizations (WMS, Ladies Aid, Youth, Choir etc.).

• Records can be delivered to the Archives in person or sent by courier (please include a list of the records). The filming company we have used successfully for a number of years is Preston Microfilming in Toronto. They film for many other archives and all the newspaper houses in Ontario.
• The total cost with taxes is approximately $175 for the filming of 1,000 pages (the number of pages that can fit on one microfilm reel). This is broken down as follows:
  • the base cost is 8.25 cents per page (for pages in a book); 10 cents for loose sheets of paper.
  • $29 for the positive microfilm reel (duplicate copies of reels can be produced at a cost of $17.25)
  • there is a $15.00 surcharge (or set-up fee) charged by Preston Microfilming
  • the cost to courier the material between the Archives and Preston Microfilming is approximately $24
  • taxes (5% GST and 8% Provincial Sales Tax)
  • additional costs may be charged by Preston based on the fragility or condition of the documents, the number of pull-outs/inserts within a book that need to be filmed, or if there are significant variations in the size of the documents/books being microfilmed.
    
• Turn around time is approximately three weeks - rush orders can be made if needed.
• Microfilm is not the same as microfiche. It is reel film, 35mm in width, wound on a spool and made of silver halide (first positive) or vesicular (second/duplicate positive) film quality.
• Microfilm has been tested under laboratory conditions and proven to last up to 500 years. As such, it is the most inexpensive yet reliable method of preserving the information in your records - paper disintegrates over time and computer records become obsolete, but microfilm offers a permanent, clear record that lasts.
• Microfilming is still the industry standard for vital records preservation, even in this age of computers and digitization.
• Once records are filmed, the originals are returned to the congregation for proper storage. Please call the Archives if you have any questions or concerns about how to store, and care for, your historical records.
• Access to the information on microfilm is open, unless otherwise requested, except in the case of session minutes which are always restricted for 50 years from the current year, i.e. from 1959-2009.
• Matters regarding the management and care of church records (including textual and computer records, photographs, architectural plans and audio-visual recordings) are included in Appendix G, Book of Forms.
  

The Archives staff welcomes and encourages enquiries about managing your church records.