The archives consist of personal and church-related records created or received by James Simpson in his capacity as priest incumbent of St. Peter's Cathedral Church. Series include: correspondence, diaries, speeches, printed communications and addresses, notes and sermons, publications, and records related to personal and life events, along with a file of miscellaneous documents.
Included in the archives are the files summarized below; see also the finding aid.
-- File 1: Miscellaneous correspondence, 1886-1912
-- File 2: Correspondence with newspapers, [1892-1920?] (includes copies of published sermons)
-- File 3: Correspondence with newspapers – letter re: state of Cathedral, March 1906
-- File 4: “DAY BOOK 1917 – Dec 1926”, 1917-1952 - a bound day book recording life events (birth, baptism, marriage, death), organized by day according to the pre-printed pages of the book. There are often multiple entries per day. The book appears to have been used not only by Canon Simpson but also by Canon Malone. The contents span several dates before and after the 1917-1926 dates shown on the label. This kind of book might have been kept as an aide memoire by the minister to help with visits or to remember special events. The book was not intended to replace vital events records.
-- File 5: Rothesay C. Stewart Speech to Leicester Medical Society, 9 November 1904
-- File 6: Printed communications and addresses, including sermons, 1887-1920
-- File 7: Notes and sermons, 1899, n.d.
-- File 8: St. Peter’s Jubilee Celebrations, correspondence, 1919
-- File 9: Memorial service for Queen Victoria – sermon and notes, 1901, n.d.
-- File 10: Canon James Simpson death and memorial records, [1920-1924?] (includes documents related to Simpson’s death and plans for a memorial to his name; also a memorial to Sister Theresa. The records also include information about Simpson’s son Stewart Basil Simpson, who was killed in action in the First World War on 1 October 1916)
-- File 11: Cuthbert Aikman Simpson information, 1969-2004 (documentation related to James Simpson’s son, Cuthbert Aikman Simpson (1892-1969), who was Dean of Christchurch, Oxford, from 1959 to 1969)
-- File 12: Pamphlets, [1899-1918] (pamphlets removed from St. Peter’s Altar Service Book, which was kept at the altar and used during Canon Simpson’s tenure as priest incumbent)
-- File 13: Forms of Prayer for Private and Public Use in Time of War (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1915) (publication removed from St. Peter’s Altar Service Book, which was kept at the altar and used during Canon Simpson’s tenure as priest incumbent)
-- File 14: James Simpson Intersessions and Notes, [1899- ?] (notes, which include references to different parishioners and reasons for providing prayers, removed from St. Peter’s Altar Service Book, which was kept at the altar and used during Canon Simpson’s tenure as priest incumbent)
-- File 15: “Lists of gifts and memorials in St. Peter’s Cathedral from its foundation, so far as can be gathered” 1890; “Names of subscribers to Memorial Chapel to March 1, 1890”; “Collected for memorial: Miss Davies, Miss [R.] Stewart,” (1 sheet) [1890]; loose documents removed from the sacristy to the archives on 25 February 2019 and identified as from James Simpson’s incumbency.
-- File 16: Survey of Clergy, no date, re: a survey of clergy to identify the names of clergy in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and to identify barriers to entering a church career.
-- File 17: Notes re: jurisdiction of Prince Edward Island, no date, re: background to the jurisdiction of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia for the church.
