New Brunswick Archives, Societies and Museums (National Institute)

Other Regional Libraries
To find a full list of New Brunswick library and catalogues, go to Library and Archives Canada - Canadian Library Gateway website (archived content).

It is to local libraries that you must turn for help in locating locally published, and unpublished research. The regional librarians will probably have the best information about local writers, know who has transcribed grave stones, perhaps even have the transcripts in manuscript form, as well as having scrapbooks or vertical files on prominent citizens and early settlers.

Most cities and large towns in New Brunswick have libraries which have material relating to local families and businesses. Some hold the papers of the county historical society, or the card indexes made by a local historian. If you are working in a specific region, do contact the local library. You can find addresses and other information Library and Archives Canada’s website or your local library almost certainly has a copy of the Directory of Libraries in Canada.

County Historical Societies and Museums
Almost every county or region has an historical society and many have local museums. In many cases the two are associated, probably because the same small group of interested volunteers belong to both and do all the work. Like the regional libraries, these can be sources of local and family history, private documents and manuscripts, obscure publications, and often include useful material in their newsletters or other publications.

Association Museums
The Association Museums New Brunswick has a webpage with a directory of members arranged alphabetically or by region. Many entries have links to webpages with even fuller information. Some of the long-established institutions with genealogical holdings that you will find in this list include:


 * Carleton County Historical Society
 * Queens County Historical Society and Museum, Inc.
 * York Sunbury Historical Society Museum
 * Beaverbrook House (formerly The Old Manse Library)
 * Mirimichi Natural History Museum in Mirimichi City
 * (formerly Newcastle)
 * Charlotte County Museum (and Historical Society)
 * Quaco Museum in St. Martins (a 19th century shipbuilding centre)
 * Kings County Museum, Hampton, New Brunswick
 * Lutz Mountain Heritage Museum, on route 126 outside Moncton
 * Moncton Museum and Free Meeting House
 * Keillor House and Coach House Museum, Dorchester
 * Westmorland County Historical Society
 * Fort Beauséjour (Fort Cumberland) the documents and genealogical material once held here are now in Mount Allison University Archives
 * Restigouche Regional Museum, Dalhousie, New Brunswick

Genealogical Society

 * New Brunswick Genealogical Society P.O. Box 3235, Station B, Fredericton, New Brunswick E3A 5G9

The society has seven regional branches: Capital Branch; Carleton County Branch; Charlotte County Branch; Miramichi Branch; Restigouche County Branch; Saint John Branch; and Southeastern Branch. Information on membership fees, addresses, contacts etc. is posted on the NBGS website.

The society sponsors genealogical seminars, and since 1979 has published the quarterly journal Generations. Every issue includes valuable data: a cemetery transcript, marriage register, extensive family histories, and the usual queries. Throughout the 1990s, the articles have been getting better and better, transcripts of documents and gravestones more plentiful, and by 1995 special pages devoted to books and services make these easier to find.

In 1998, the first 74 issues, 1979-1997, were microfilmed and are available at the PANB, MC 1389. The first item on the first reel is the Table of Contents for all 74 issues, listing all articles by title/name, by author or contributor if known, the issue number, year and page number. The reel nos. are F18852 (table of Contents and issues 1-18), F18853 (19-30), F18854 (31-42), F18855 (43-54), F18856 (55-72) &amp; F18857 (73-74, Fall and Winter 1997). The NBGS (address above) offersGenerations “Table of Contents 1979-1999”..

The Saint John Branch has published surname indexes to Volumes 1-10 and Volumes 11-20, some 215 pages each. Contact the branch for price and availability.

Newsletters
The Southeastern Branch of the NBGS published a quarterly Newsletter from September 1980 until May 1986, after which local members had to join the NBGS and would receive Generations. Looking through the issues I saw small local cemetery transcripts, voters lists, long family pedigrees, census indexes, a wealth of material—and no way to access it; there is no general index. Most issues do not even have a list of contents. The Moncton Public Library probably has a set, Wayne Gillcash, the sometimes editor, ditto, and perhaps Mount Allison Library and/or archives. From time to time, most of the other branches have also published newsletters with the work of members relating to local families. The individual branch, or the local libraries may be your only source of information.

Resources Outside the Province

 * Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management (NSARM) 6016 University Avenue Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 1W4

Before 1784 New Brunswick was part of Nova Scotia, so some records are held by the Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management. They do not lend microfilm, so some of these must be searched in Halifax. Most, however, are also available on microfilm either in Fredericton or at Library and Archives Canada in Ottawa.


 * Planters Studies Centre c/o Department of History, Acadia University Wolfville, Nova Scotia B4P 2R6

Planters Studies
Planters Studies Committee publishes Planter Notes twice a year and have now held four Planter Conferences. The proceedings of all four conferences have been edited by Margaret Conrad and published by Acadiensis Press in Fredericton New Brunswick.

As well, A Checklist of Secondary Sources for Planter Studies, was compiled by Daniel Godwin and Steven McNutt for the Planter Study Centre in 1990, listing books, articles and theses as well as genealogical publications on Planter families. A bibliography of primary sources,The New England Planters in the Maritime Provinces of Canada, 1759-1800, comp. Judith Norton, was published in 1994 by the University of Toronto Press. This can be searched as a database on their website.

Library and Archives Canada

 * Library and Archives Canada (LAC) 395 Wellington Street Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0N4

The Department of Agriculture had an Archives Branch as early as 1872. The Public Archives of Canada (PAC), established in 1912, became the National Archives of Canada (NA) in 1987 and in 2002 it amalgamated with the National Library of Canada to become Library and Archives Canada.

The military and naval records, census records and citizenship and immigration holdings are all explained in Tracing Your Ancestors in Canada, free from Library and Archives Canada and on the Library and Archives Canada website. You are also able to search online for soldiers who served in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces in World War I, Home Children and, Post Offices and Postmasters. A number of special federal government records are discussed later in the course.

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