As someone who researched some of the Police archives for this project, I can attest to the painful bureaucratic process. When I was finally granted access to the 1933-34 Commissioners Minutes, I was not only watched by a librarian but also specifically told that I could not look at reports itemized under “communism activity.”

In trying to find Detective Nursey’s notes on the actual performance of Eight Men Speak, my only hope was to befriend the librarians–I had them on speed dial–who then explained how the process worked: they quite consciously shuffled researchers between the two archive buildings (the Toronto Police Museum and the Ontario Archives). Many of the archives also consisted of boxes of unsorted papers that seemed to be randomly sorted by either date, police officer, or type of offense.

The librarians, however, proved to be quite generous with their time in the end–I was, after all, talking to them on a daily basis–and one librarian even helped to speed up the Freedom of Information’s grant of access (to photocopy the Commissioner’s Reports). For any future researchers, I would recommend this strategy of “relentlessness”: once it is more work for them not to help you, they might just be more willing to find what you’re looking for.

Another issue with researching the Police records is the change in titles and terms over the years: so, an electronic search would not only need to know the different key terms appropriate to time the reports were made (e.g. “commissioner” versus “chief”), but also the terms that were popular at the time the information was filed. Moreover, I was told that detective’s notebooks are being destroyed every year due to limited library space.

In short, thanks to the first “blogger” for this update on the Eight Men Speak project! It seems that the research in itself has become a type of drama.

Fascinating read. Thanks for sharing, and good luck with the good fight.