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Taking Care: Managing Your Heritage Environment

Taking Care: Managing Your Heritage Environment is a practical guide to preserving records, books and historical materials in Anglican parishes, dioceses and ministries. It explains how environmental conditions, handling practices and storage methods can affect paper, photographs and other archival materials, and offers clear steps to protect them for future generations.

Originally developed to support custodians, clergy, volunteers and parish administrators responsible for church records, the resource is designed for anyone caring for a heritage environment. It provides accessible guidance on topics such as temperature and humidity control, light exposure, air quality, safe storage and security. Its two main sections — “Products of the Environment” and “Protective Custody” — outline the most common risks and how to reduce them.

The full PDF can be downloaded for study, reference and parish training sessions.

Suggested uses

  • Orientation tool for parish administrators, wardens and volunteers responsible for records
  • Training resource for diocesan archives and heritage committees
  • Reference document when planning or updating storage rooms and archival practices
  • Guide for assessing risks to books, paper files and historical objects in parish spaces

Key themes

  • Environmental factors affecting the preservation of paper and records
  • Safe storage, handling and custodial practices in church settings
  • Preventive conservation approaches that reduce damage over time
  • Awareness of risk factors such as humidity, light, pests, pollutants and security gaps

Best suited for: parish administrators, wardens, clergy, archival volunteers, diocesan archives staff, property committees and anyone caring for Anglican records or historical materials.

Acknowledging the land and God’s creation

This acknowledgement is crafted in light of the Principles of Reconciliation by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, as we seek to live faithfully in Christ and in right relationship with all. 

We give thanks to the Creator for this land, its waters, forests and all living beings, and for the abiding presence of Christ among us. From coast to coast to coast, these have been cared for and nurtured by First Nations, Inuit and Métis through countless generations. 

We honour the enduring relationship Indigenous Peoples have cultivated with these lands and waters, and the treaties and agreements that reflect these sacred bonds. We acknowledge the harms caused by colonial expansion, through frameworks like the Doctrine of Discovery and structures like the residential school system. We recognize our past failures as a Church, including disruption of connections to the land and suppression of Indigenous spiritualities. 

Guided by the gospel of Jesus Christ, we confess our need for healing. We commit ourselves to seeking truth, pursuing reconciliation and nurturing harmony with all creation. We place our trust in Christ, through whom all things are reconciled to God. 

May God strengthen us to live faithfully as stewards of the Earth. Let us walk in love, justice and reconciliation, joining in God’s work to restore all creation.