Canadian.org and Local Histories (National Institute)

Héritage Project
In 2013 LAC and Canadiana made a 10-year commitment to digitize, index and describe millions of personal, administrative and government documents, including land grants, war diaries and photographs, in the Héritage Project. For more information about the collections see their website. These digital images will be available online free-of-charge as they are created and will include documents from the 1600s to mid-1900s. However, Canadiana.org will also create an optional premium site with an enhanced search facility. This will allow name and keyword searches of transcriptions of millions of handwritten pages, and related descriptions. These search tools will be available to Canadians free of charge at LAC and subscribing libraries across Canada. Or, for a small monthly fee, Canadians will also be able to use these enhanced tools online at home. All revenue will go into the digitization project (remember Canadiana.org is a non-profit and charitable organization).

Canadiana Discovery Portal
A final aspect of Canadiana.org is the Canadiana Discovery Portal. It is “a free service that enables users to search across the valuable and diverse digital collections of Canada’s libraries, museums and archives. It provides Canadians with access to a “wealth of digital material such as books, journals, newspapers, government documents, photographs, maps, post cards, sheet music, audio and video files about our nation’s heritage.” Canadiana Discovery Portal can be accessed at their website.

Local and Family Histories
Canadiana is also venturing into the realm of local and family histories. Currently, the collection is limited to Ontario but future plans include expanding into Québec, the Maritimes and Western Canada.

Our Roots, Canada’s Local Histories Online
Another initiative, the Canadian Initiative on Digital Libraries (CIDL), was started in 1997 to “promote, coordinate and develop Canadian digital collections and services.” The University of Calgary Press, l'Université Laval Library and CIDL led a digitization project, Our Roots / Nos racines which strives to make available online as many Canadian local histories as possible. According to its website, by June 2012 close to 5685 digital texts (1.3 million pages) about small towns, rural areas or large cities were accessible through its site. Cross-collection searches are available by family, place names and events. Features include saving personalized collections and adding tags, and a map of Canada allows targeting searches to specific provinces. Canada’s Local Histories Online is accessed at their website. Please be sure to read the copyright restrictions for the use of this wonderful resource as, for example, “you may not download, reproduce, alter or transmit files/images without written permission from the copyright holder.”

In 2007 the steering committee dissolved CIDL and endorsed AlouetteCanada as its successor but the unique coast-to-coast record of Canada’s Local Histories Online lives on.

So, what does all of this mean to the genealogist? Now, instead of just your local library being conveniently available to you, there is an entire collection of early Canadian documents and sources from the early European explorers to the early twentieth century, as well as a collection of local histories, available. Furthermore, not only are they available to you but they can be also available to you in your own house via the Internet.

So, why are the Canadiana website and Canada’s Local Histories Online so important to a genealogist? That’s like trying to explain what books the National Library has. It’s impossible to list all of the number of ways these books and documents can be of service to a researcher. There are so many resources available through Canadiana, and all, in some way, could be of use to a genealogist.

Of course, Canadiana also has preserved a number of books that would otherwise be lost to us, including a number of local histories. Other local histories can be found at Canada’s Local Histories Online or, sometimes within the provincial archival records. For example, the Prince Edward Island archives have a section of their website dedicated to local histories. Not only do these books tell me about the world my ancestors lived in, but they also tell me about the people they might have known. Getting to know about the world my ancestors lived in gives me an idea of the type of life they led, and can also give me clues about where I can also look for more family information. Was it customary for children in this area to go to school? If so, are school records available at the Provincial Archives? Maybe the book mentions that it was common for all children to take singing lessons from a famous singer who was living in the town. Are any of her records still around? Wouldn’t it be exciting to find out that a great-grandmother or aunt at one time studied under a famous opera singer? Was it a common practice at the time for all the ladies in town to keep a diary? If so, is it possible to find a copy of that diary somewhere? Although my relatives might not have had the time or forethought to keep a diary, one of their neighbours might have. And, whom do people write about in their diaries? Of course, their friends, relatives, and neighbours. It would be wonderful to find an old gossipy diary all about what my ancestors were doing from a neighbour’s point of view!

One word of caution—many local history books are written to celebrate an anniversary—such as the 50th or 100th anniversary of the incorporation of the town. In these cases, families are asked to contribute memories or family stories. You’ve probably heard it many times before, but it’s worth repeating: anything presented as fact should be double-checked. Over time, people’s memories fade, and stories are changed or enhanced. This is true of all books, not just family histories.

In any case, even though local histories can contain some inaccuracies, they are still wonderful sources of information. Of course, local histories are just the tip of the iceberg of the books and documents that are available in the Canadiana’s collection. If your ancestor was a doctor, lawyer or any other sort of professional, chances are that they will be mentioned in one of the publications here. You can also find Church histories, directories, periodicals, legal documents, etc. The list is massive. From the Illustrated price list, Davis and Laurence Co. Limited, manufacturing chemists: general agents and exporters of proprietary medicines, pharmaceutical preparations, perfumes, toilet goods, medicinal and surgical plasters, etc., in the year 1900 (if you’re interested in the price of a particular medicine in 1900) to Purcell’s railroad pocket book and memoranda : giving the business sizes and distances of cities, towns, villages and stopping places on railroads in the United States and Canada: a ready reference in designing business routes and prospecting for business, just about every possible topic is covered here. Have fun checking out Canadiana material. It’s a never-ending source of wondrous material.