The Rev. Canon Dr. J. Douglas Leighton Archives — the institutional memory of the Diocese of Huron — is relocating to a permanent new home at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, Ontario.
For more than fifty years, the Archives has safeguarded the records of Anglican life in Southwestern Ontario: parish registers, letters, photographs, maps, and documents that carry the history of this region and the communities within it. Now, as the Archives moves to St. Paul’s, we are investing in a purpose-built home worthy of that inheritance — a climate-controlled Vault, a public reading room, a digitization suite, and consolidated storage that reunites the entire collection for the first time.
This project is named in memory of Dr. J. Douglas Leighton — historian, clergyman, and professor at Huron University College — who founded the Archives in 1976 and spent his career at the intersection of Canadian history and Indigenous-settler relations. The Archives that bears his name holds exactly the kind of history he spent his life bringing to light.
We are now in a campaign planning study, and your perspective is essential. We are not asking for a gift — we are asking for your honest view of these plans: what this project means to you, what questions it raises, and what you hope the Leighton Archives will become.
Join us at one of our upcoming community Town Halls:
Town Hall — Evening Session
Monday, May 11 · 7:00–8:00 PM | Online via Zoom
Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85409868866
Meeting ID: 854 0986 8866 · Passcode: 762069
Town Hall — Lunch Hour Session
Tuesday, May 12 · 12:00–1:00 PM | Online via Zoom
Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87047129111
Meeting ID: 870 4712 9111 · Passcode: 298971
Can’t attend but want to share your thoughts? Please fill out the survey here.
Contact us at leightonarchives@huron.anglican.ca
The Incorporated Synod of the Diocese of Huron | 190 Queens Avenue, London, Ontario
Charitable Registration No. 118967728RR0001