Deposits

Instructions for Meetings

Excerpt from the CQLA Policy Manual:

4.6.1.1 Template for Agendas and Minutes for Clerks

Archives committee is providing this template as an aid and guideline to agenda and minute writing for clerks and recording clerks of a meeting for worship for business.

“It is earnestly recommended that in conducting the affairs of the Society, we bear in mind always that it is the Lord’s work. Friends should endeavour humbly and reverently to conduct their Meetings in the peaceable spirit and wisdom of Jesus; with dignity, forbearance and love to one another.”

2.1 Organization and Procedure

In the past minutes were written in long hand and kept in a minute book. Now most minutes are written using word processing on a computer. See Organization and Procedure CHAPTER 2: General Procedure in Meetings for Business especially sections 2.7, 2.8 and 2.9 for guidance.

“2.9 Minute books in Organization and Procedure Permanency of minutes and the records of membership, associated members, births, adoptions, marriages and deaths is expected. Regardless of the media utilized for recording minutes, two copies should be written or printed on acid free paper using only permanent ink. One copy will go at once to the Yearly Meeting Office, the other to the Clerk of the Meeting or committee to enter into the Minute/Record Book. Minute books no longer in use, although still the property of the Meeting, should be sent to the CYM Archives for safe keeping and future reference. In writing minutes, a heading with the subject of each item should be set apart for easier location, either made bold, capitalized, underlined or noted in the margin. Indexing if appropriate is also helpful.”

The clerk writes the agenda and the recording clerk writes the minutes using the agenda as outline.

Template for an Agenda:

Agendas have the same six consistent sections. If there is nothing for a section, there is a note in the minutes saying so.

1. Review Minutes (from previous meeting)
2. Business arising (from previous meeting)
3. Reports (these are annual committee reports which are spread through the year according to a schedule. Financial reports are also in Section 3. Reports are attached to minutes for one month so Friends can read the report before they consider it at the next meeting)
4. New business
5. Correspondence and announcements
6. Membership Matters (births, marriages, deaths, and other items to be considered only by members)

Consent Agenda:

Consistent use of a consent agenda reduces lengthy discussion. Consent minutes are printed at the beginning of the agenda with a note saying that the clerk suggests these minutes be approved as written unless someone requests otherwise. This is particularly useful for noting other items that do not need either discussion or decision. The final minutes do not indicate which items were approved from the consent agenda.

Dating format:

It is very helpful if the consistency of dating is followed and the section number is used in the minutes. Minute numbers should also be consistent: four numbers separated by periods:

year.month.section.minute.

All minutes have titles, and if the minute relates to a former minute, that minute number is given in parenthesis so that it is possible to trace an issue backward.

For example:

2021.6.2.5 Report on Representative Meeting held on 15 May 2021 (2021.5.2.7)

Notes:

Minutes and attachments are packaged together into one large PDF. The reason to use PDFs is that the formatting will remain stable under most circumstances and they are easier to email. Subject lines on emails that convey minutes should contain descriptive info on Meeting name and dates.

The pages are numbered throughout and a brief title of the document at the bottom of the page.

For page size use 72-point side margins and 60-point top and bottom margins — the extra two lines help to cut down the number of pages in the minute documents.

Try not to break a minute over a page turn, but sometimes it can’t be avoided.

Click here to see a template for meeting minutes.

Donations to the Library & Archives

What Can I Deposit?

• Canadian Quaker biographies
• Oral and/or transcribed histories with photographs
• Publications by and about Canadian Friends (fiction or non-fiction)
• Music tapes, CDs, scores
• Genealogical records or manuscripts
• Artistic creations by Friends (may be photographed for Archives)

Print materials, including books, booklets, pamphlets, and periodicals, form the bulk of the library’s collection. Additional formats such as DVDs and CDs can be included if they conform to the criteria for the types of materials collected listed in the policy manual (inquire with the archivist). These are shelved in a separate audiovisual section.

Regardless of subject, we accept publications and creations that reflect Canadian Quakers today.

Donations to the Archive

What Can I Deposit?

• Minutes and collateral materials
• Membership records including births, deaths and marriages
• Meeting histories
• Meeting place photographs
• Photographs of events when accompanied by names, places and dates
• Cemetery records
• Letters, diaries, notebooks, certificates

Some examples of records currently held in the Archive:

• Constituent Yearly Meeting records Canada Yearly Meeting (Conservative), Canada Yearly Meeting (Five Years Meeting), and Genesee Yearly Meeting (Friends General Conference) including various committees, photographs of places, persons and events, personal papers of various Canadian Quakers and artifacts from pottery to a traditional Quaker bonnet.
• Records of Canadian Yearly Meeting since reunification in 1955.
• 20th century activities of Friends, particularly CYM committees: Canadian Friends Service Committee, Quaker Committee on Native Concerns, Camp NeeKauNis Committee, Committee on Jails and Justice, Home Mission and Advancement Committee, Religious Education Committee, Discipline Committee, and Canadian Friends Foreign Missionary Board.
• Monthly Meeting records: minutes and other documents.
• Records belonging to Sharon Temple.
• Individual and family records.

Regardless of subject, we accept publications and creations that reflect Canadian Quakers today.