Canada Archives and Libraries

This section describes major repositories of Canada’s genealogical and historical records.
 * Archives collect and preserve original documents created by organizations such as churches or governments. Many archives have Websites.
 * Libraries generally collect published books, maps, microfilms, and other sources.

Archives
In Canada, several types of archives have records for genealogical research:
 * Library and Archives Canada (LAC)
 * Provincial archives and county and local museums
 * Municipal local government offices
 * Church archives and parish offices
 * Public and academic libraries
 * Historical and genealogical societies

The Family History Library has digitized or microfilmed records from:
 * the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) (formerly known as the National Archives of Canada (NAC); and earlier known as the Public Archives of Canada (PAC)), *the provincial archives in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario,
 * vital records and probate records from British Columbia,
 * homestead applications from Saskatchewan,
 * land and property and probate records from Newfoundland, and
 * probate records from Manitoba.

Library and Archives Canada, formerly the National Library of Canada

 * Library and Archives Canada 395 Wellington Street Ottawa, ON K1A 0N4 Canada Telephone: 613-995-9481 Fax: 613-943-1112 Website: Library and Archives Canada
 * The Canadian government collects records about Canadian history, culture, and people. Their collection includes census, military records, immigration lists, land records, and some church records.

Interlibrary Loans: Copies of many Library and Archives Canada records are available at public or university libraries in the United States.

Provincial Archives
Each province has its own archives that are separate from those of the national government. These repositories have many records valuable for genealogical research in their particular area.

In eastern Canada, provincial archives have:
 * Some birth, marriage, and death records
 * Some census records
 * Many land records
 * Some probate records
 * Some church records

In western Canada, provincial archives have:
 * Many land records
 * Some probate records
 * Specialized documents about the history of their area

Other Archives and Libraries
Some records are also available in major libraries and special archives in Canada and in the United States. Contact these libraries and archives to ask about their collections, hours, services, and fees.

Many marriage indexes, church records, and vital records for French Canadians in North America are at the Salle Gagnon of the city library of Montreal. That address is:


 * Collection Gagnon Bibliothèque de la Ville de Montréal 1210 rue Sherbrooke est Montreal, QC H2L 1L9 Canada Telephone: 514-872-5923 Fax: 514-872-1626

The Centre d’études acadiennes holds records of French Acadians and their descendants located anywhere in the world. You can visit:


 * Centre d’études acadiennes Université de Moncton Moncton, NB E1A 3E9 Canada Telephone: 506-858-4085

For collections specific to a province, see the Wiki articles for that province.

Some libraries, historical and genealogical societies in the United States and Canada have valuable collections of Canadian records. These include:

New England Historic Genealogical Society 101 Newbury Street Boston, MA 02116-3087 USA Telephone: 617-536-5740 Fax: 617-536-7307 Web site: http://www.americanancestors.org

The State Historical Society of Wisconsin Library Division 816 State Street Madison, WI 53706 USA Telephone: 608-264-6534 Fax: 608-264-6520 Web site: http://www.wisconsinhistory.org

Allen County Public Library 900 Webster Street P. O. Box 2270 Fort Wayne, IN 46801-2270 USA Telephone: 219-421-1200 Fax: 219-422-9688 Web site: http://www.acpl.lib.in.us

Burton Historical Collection Detroit Public Library 5201 Woodward Avenue Detroit, MI 48202-4093 USA Telephone: 313-833-1480 Fax: 313-833-5039 Web site: http://www.detroit.lib.mi.us/featuredcollection/burton-historical-collection

In Britain and France, many archives and libraries have information on Canadians. Records in France about early French Canadian and Acadian families are listed in:

Bernard, Gildas. Guide des recherches sur l’histoire des familles (Guide to Research in Family History). Paris: Archives Nationales, 1981. (Family History Library book )

Inventories, Registers, Catalogs
A few archives have catalogs or guides that describe their records and how to use them. If possible, study these guides before you visit an archive so that you can use your time more effectively.

For names and addresses of provincial, church, and other archives and for brief descriptions of their collections and services, see:

Directory of Canadian Archives. 5th ed. Ottawa: Association of Canadian Archivists, 1990. (Family History Library book ) The Official Directory of Canadian Museums and Related Institutions, 1987–1988. Ottawa: Canadian Museums Association, 1987. (Family History Library book )

For more detailed descriptions of some archive collections, see Genealogist’s Handbook for Atlantic Canada Research, by Terrence M. Punch.

For a list of some 26,000 collections of significant records at national, provincial, and local archives of Canada, see:

Gordon, Robert S., and E. Grace Maurice, eds. Union List of Manuscripts in Canadian Repositories (ULM). 2 vols., rev. Ottawa: Public Archives of Canada, 1975. (Family History Library book ; film 1036731 items 1 and 2) The Family History Library has some of the supplements to this book that have been published since 1975.

A few Canadian and United States libraries with Canadian genealogical collections are named in:

Filby, P. William. Directory of American Libraries with Genealogy or Local History Collections. Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources Inc., 1988. (Family History Library book ) Pages 257 to 284 list Canadian libraries.

The following handbooks describe the collections of many local libraries in Canada.

Baxter, Angus. In Search of Your Canadian Roots. 2nd ed. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994. (Family History Library book Ref )

Barclay-Lapointe, Elizabeth. Sourcing Canada.: Genealogy Addresses. 1997 ed. Buckingham, Que.: Buckingham Press, 1997. (Family History Library book )

Addresses of major archives and libraries in Canada are in:

Canadian Almanac and Directory. Toronto: Canadian Almanac and Directory Publishing Co., annual. (Family History Library book )

Canadian Sourcebook. Don Mills, Ont.: Southam Inc., annual. (Family History Library book ) Editions before 1998 were called:

Corpus Almanac &amp; Canadian Sourcebook. Don Mills, Ont.: Corpus Information Services, annual. (Family History Library book )

Addresses of most Canadian libraries are in:

Franco, Guida, ed. Directory of Libraries in Canada. Toronto: Micromedia Limited, 1996.

Public, academic, government, and special libraries in Canada are also listed in:

American Library Directory. New Providence, N.J.: R. R. Bowker Co., annual. (Family History Library book )

The Family History Library has a few published inventories, guides, and directories to libraries. See the catalog under:

CANADA - ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES

CANADA, [PROVINCE] - ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES

Internet Sources and Bulletin Boards
The Internet can be useful obtaining information from selected archives and libraries. Websites for family history can help:


 * Search collections and information for archives and libraries
 * Search large databases
 * Locate other researchers
 * Post queries
 * Join in computer chat and lecture sessions

You can find computerized research tips and information about ancestors from Canada in many sources at local, provincial, national, and international levels. The list of sources is growing rapidly. Most information is available at no cost.

The web site of the Library and Archives Canada contains the index to the 1871 census of Ontario and the index to the Canadian Expeditionary Force service records from World War I. The address is


 * http://www.collectionscanada.ca

The National Library of Canada Web site at http://www.archives.ca provides access to their online catalog. The Web site links to a list of 2,300 Canadian newspapers in microform. Public libraries can borrow most of these microfilms through interlibrary loan.

The following are a few sites that link to a lot of information on the Internet.

That's My Family


 * http://www.thatsmyfamily.info

Search engine for information on Canadian ancestors across multiple genealogy databases hosted by federal, provincial, and territorial archives and libraries.

Canada GenWeb


 * http://www.geneofun.on.ca/canadagenweb/

A cooperative effort by many volunteers to list genealogical databases, libraries, bulletin boards, and other resources available on the Internet for each province.

Roots-L


 * https://www.ancestry.com/boards/localities.northam.canada/mb.ashx

A wiki article describing this collection is found at:


 * Newfoundland, Vital Statistics - FamilySearch Historical Records