The Boy Bishop

Archives Summer Intern Kelly Goslin reaches into a gray cardboard box and retrieves a cream-coloured bishop’s mitre. Despite its 100+ year old age and slight signs of wear, the mitre is in excellent shape and once belonged to the first bishop in the newly formed Diocese of Ontario, Bishop John Travers Lewis.

Lewis’ mitre and other personal artifacts are on display in a new museum style Archives exhibit located at the Diocese of Ontario Synod Office titled: ‘The Boy Bishop’—as Lewis was known. He was consecrated bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Ontario at just age 37.

This new exhibit is just one part of ‘The Archives Project’—a sequence of steps the diocese has taken over the last number of years to rejuvenate the Diocese of Ontario Archives and bring it up to speed with modern archival practices. Beginning with the move from 90 Johnson Street to its current home beside the Synod Office at 165 Ontario Street.

Kelly, who is entering into her Master’s degree at Queen’s University and specializes in the Early Modern Period exploring the Arminian Controversy of the Dutch Republic, explains that the project has moved the Archives towards the digitization of records and the creation of digital directories using Microsoft SharePoint.

John Travers Lewis in 1860 prior to his bishopric.

A bible presented to Bishop Lewis by former parishioners at Hawkesbury, 1861.

Silver tea set presented to Lewis by the congregation of St. Peter’s Church in Brockville, 1862.

With provincial COVID-19 restrictions lifted, the Archives is now ready to move forward in offering limited public accessibility. Kelly’s work has been to assist the Archives reach that milestone. “What we want is to have some way of showcasing the archives and bringing exhibits out for the parishioners and the general public” she says, “We have a massive collection of a variety of things, we want that to be well known and available for people to enjoy whether they are researchers or just history enthusiasts.”

In launching the new exhibit, the first decision was what of the Archives collection made sense to profile for the public. Says Kelly: “We produced a total of eight different exhibit possibilities ranging from the history of music in the diocese to architecture to looking at parish documents as a means of tracing social history.” The choice ended up being a profile of John Travers Lewis as a homage to our general history and ties in with the celebration of the dioceses 160th anniversary this year.

The exhibit features a collection of Lewis’ books and personal effects belonging to both he and his second wife, Ada Leigh, along with photos and a biography of Lewis’ 40-year career with the diocese.

Kelly reflects on the need for people to engage with history at a personal level with the items themselves. “History is just like everything else in the present day, it is tactile and multifaceted in every single sensory way. It’s musical, is oral, is through patina, through texture…while you can digitize as much as you can, you can produce images, recordings, documentaries, you are still not getting the fullness of the items themselves. The only way to truly appreciate them is in the physical format.”

Along with producing the John Travers Lewis exhibit this Summer, Kelly worked with Diocesan Communications Officer Mark Hauser to record a series of videos showcasing the more notable items from the Archives collection—rare botanical engravings from the 1700’s to a book titled ‘The Sermons of John Calvin’ published in 1581 to a mystery relic belonging to Ada Leigh Lewis purported to be connected to the doomed Frank Expedition of 1845. These Archives Showcase videos can be viewed on the Diocese of Ontario YouTube Channel and provide greater insight and profile into the unique historical gems contained within the Diocese of Ontario Archives.

Kelly’s hope is that the public and parishioners alike will visit the Diocese of Ontario Synod Office and engage with ‘The Boy Bishop’ exhibit and the living history within our diocese that it represents, exploring the life and legacy of our first bishop, John Travers Lewis. “This exhibit,” she states, “provides insight into Lewis not only as a bishop and religious figurehead, but as a son, a father, a husband and a scholar.” It’s a great introduction to our Archives and will be followed by other future exhibits displaying our rich Anglican history in Eastern Ontario.