GovDocs: Virtual Exhibit "Written in Stone"

Last November, the Literary Review of Canada unveiled its list of the hundred most important Canadian books ever written.

Of course, this being Canada, a number of government and royal commission reports made it to the list, as well as Howie Meeker’s Hockey Basics from 1973 (d'uh!).

The Geological Survey of Canada: Report of Progress from Its Commencement to 1863 was on the list and Libraries and Archives Canada recently launched Written in Stone, a virtual exhibition of the report, considered a work that "changed our country's psychic landscape".

It profiles the life of William E. Logan, founder of the Geological Survey, providing the entire text of the Report, along with Logan's notebooks, daily journals and maps.

Among the other official documents that made the top 100 list are:

• Report on the Affairs of British North America (1839), by Lord Durham
• Report of the Royal Commission to Investigate the Facts Relating to and the Circumstances Surrounding the Communication by Public Officials and Other Persons in Positions of Trust of Secret and Confidential Information to Agents of a Foreign Power (1946) - in other words, the report into the Gouzenko Soviet espionage affair
• Report of the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences (1949–1951), known as the Massey Report
• Report of the Canada Royal Commission on Health Services (1964), known as the Hall Commission Report
• Final Report of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (1967–69), or the Laurendeau-Dunton Commission Report
• Report on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for Canada (1985), known as the Macdonald Commission Report