Resources

Online Newspapers in Canada

Gwen Harris Resources ,
Why Toronto Mothers Oppose Daylight Savings - 1923 - vintage ad
From Toronto Telegram, 31 December 1923, posted to Flickr – https://www.flickr.com/photos/jbcurio/14133682628

My favourite research source, bar none,  is the newspaper for that time and place – often  a storehouse of social announcements and background on issues and concerns. My greatest frustration arises from the huge holes in the digitization of Canadian newspapers – parts of Ontario have never been touched, and secondly, in the usually klutzy search interfaces –  access through Proquest  for the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star Archives comes to mind. Putting that aside, there is one major collection site to use as a starting point for online newspapers and one recent news item.

The Ancestor Hunt maintains a page of links to newspapers in the United States and Canada, and links to collections in Australia, Europe, and the Caribbean. It also provides thirteen lessons on best ways to search online newspapers and other informational articles.

John Reid at Canada’s Anglo-Celtic Connections also keeps an eye for announcements concerning digital Canadian newspapers, the latest being Canadian Newspapers on the British Newspaper Archives (14 February 2020). He reminds us that Canadiana Online and Google Newspapers also hold some publications.

Oh – would that we had a Canadian Newspaper Archives online!

Postscript 20 February 2020: The blog entry of The British Newspaper Archive – Hot Off The Press for 17 February – describes more fully their new additions of the Toronto Daily Mail, Hamilton Daily Times, and Saturday Night spanning years 1875 to 1920.  Stated reason was “these newspapers are a useful resource for people with ancestors who emigrated, whilst illuminating a time of great change and growth in the North American country.” Yes – an archive to watch – maybe they’ll add more.

Vernon’s Owen Sound City Directories

Gwen Harris Resources ,
Page from Vernon's Directory for Owen Sound 1917
Page from Vernon’s Directory for Owen Sound 1917

People researching residents and businesses in Owen Sound may now go to Family Search to use digitized copies of Owen Sound Vernon city directories for the years: 1942, 1961, 1964,  1991, 1997/98, 2001/02. Search Family Search > Books (https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/) for owen sound to see the selection. This tremendous project of the Ontario Genealogical Society is described in this announcement –  Vernon Directory Digitization Project (February 18, 2019). Let’s hope that more of the earlier years are added soon.

The 1917 Vernon directory for Owen Sound that is held by the Toronto Public Library directory has been digitized and is at both the Internet Archive and at Toronto Public Library site.

Postscript 23 Nov 2019 – Gail Dever (Genealogy à la carte) in Dozens more Ontario Vernon’s Directories on FamilySearch describes the project and briefly, the search. For example: “a free FamilySearch account is required to view each individual directory. ”

Postscript 28 Dec 2019 – Digitized years now available are: 1928, 1930,1932,1936, 1938,1940,1942, 1958, 1961,1964, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1977,1979, 1981, 1983, 1985,1987, 1989, 1991, 1993/94, 1995/96, 1997/98, 1999/2000, 2001/02, 2003/04, 2005/06.

News about online resources

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New Online Resources
New Online Resources

A few notable news items about resources have come to my inbox from genealogy newsletters.

Continue reading →

Finding historical texts and pictures

Gwen Harris Resources , , , , ,

The richness of resources on local history – and that of Ontario in particular – constantly amazes me. Today I have two starting points to recommend: the University of Calgary’s digitzation project, and a list prepared by the Toronto Public Library of resources for finding photos.

Library and Cultural Resources Digital Collections at the University of Calgary (https://library.ucalgary.ca/digital) has a daunting number of collections – many about Alberta and some about the Arctic – even some about Japan. But the area of particular interest at present is Local Histories and Local Histories (2). Select one or both from the list and enter search terms for the subjects, people or places of interest.  The search interface provides guides to further filtering by date, subject and title.

Ourroots, the service that had digitized many Ontario historical texts, was taken over by the University of Calgary project and gradually all (or nearly all) texts have been remounted on new servers with the improved search interface. Two titles of great interest to us that are now available are: Continue reading →

More maps and drawings at Scotlands People

Gwen Harris Resources ,

National Records of Scotland has released to Scotlands People “more than 2,400 historic maps, plans and drawings”  that show country estates and plans of towns and cities.

See News Article: Maps and Plans Release (June 13, 2018).

Spanning four centuries, the collections cover both manuscript and printed topographical maps and plans. They are particularly strong in estate and railway plans; architectural drawings; and engineering drawings, particularly of ships, railway engines and rolling stock. More maps and plans will be added to the ScotlandsPeople website.

Requires free registration at Scotlands People to access and search

A search on Atholl delivers “Plan of the estates of Fincastle, Borenich, Lick and Duntaulich, Blair Atholl” (RPH6594). Dated 1832, this map shows the lands along the Tummel River.

Speaking of Scottish resources, Ancestral Findings offers this list of  Online Resources for Researching Your Scottish Ancestors.  Scotlands People and five others (including Family Search) are described here, and there are links to other postings related to Scotland.