Showing posts with label Library and Archives Canada. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Library and Archives Canada. Show all posts

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Pre-1865 Immigration to Canada

Library and Archives Canada has just issued a reminder on pre-1864 immigration to Canada -

Validating your ancestor’s arrival in Canada before 1865

“So you have searched the records, and still no trace of your ancestor? If you didn’t find your ancestor’s arrival before 1865, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has other genealogical resources that can assist in confirming an ancestor’s arrival in Canada.

Where did he or she settle?

Is he or she listed in census returns? LAC’s collection of census databases, which can be searched by a person’s name, can confirm an individual’s presence as early as 1825. Perhaps a reference exists for one of the parents (recorded as the head of the family) or for a sibling.

Many early settlers submitted petitions to obtain land where they could establish their family in Upper Canada or Lower Canada. LAC’s databases provide references to land transactions that give the person’s name, the date of the application and the county or township within a province.

Life events in records

The date of arrival in Canada can be estimated by searching birth, marriage, and death records for first occurrences such as the birth of a child to confirm the presence of the family in a location. Consult our previous blog on how to search for Birth, Marriage and Death Records.

Published sources and the genealogical community

Family histories, historical atlases and other published works can be searched in AMICUS, LAC’s online catalogue. It is also possible that your ancestor lived in a location that published a city directory.

Many genealogical societies have resources specific to where your ancestor settled. Finding aids that describe a location are valuable tools when searching for ancestors”.

Go to the Library and Archives Canada site at http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/Pages/default.aspx

In the end, it all boils down to local records at local archives, local libraries, local museums, local genealogical societies.

Just as a coincidence, I have a column on this very subject in next month’s free magazine In Depth Genealogist at http://www.indepthgenealogist.com .

It will appear in the February issue.

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Kingston Penitentiary: Home to Canada’s most notorious criminals

The four men are Albert McKeowan, James McDonald, Philip Benoit, and George Marles. These photos were taken in 1915.  Credit: Library and Archives Canada, RG73-C-6 

The Library and Archives Canada has just released the ledgers from the Kingston Penitentiary for you to research if your ancestor spent time there when it opened in 1835.   

Located in Portsmouth, now part of Kingston, this institution was designated for the incarceration of prisoners from both Upper Canada and Lower Canada.

Kingston Pen, as it is commonly known, closed its doors on September 30, 2013.

These ledgers, which have been digitized and can be viewed on the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) website at http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=4292048

You will have to know the name of the person you are looking for in this instant.    

The ledgers provide photographs (mug shots) of inmates and information such as name; alias; age; place of birth; physical description; occupation; crime committed; and date, place and length of sentence.


Friday, November 8, 2013

Contribution of Aboriginal Peoples in the First World War (1914-1918)

Above is the Attestation Paper of Private Henry Norwest, a Métis from Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, was one of the most famous snipers.

The Library and Archives Canada has sent this email to me so that I could alert my readers that they have a new post called the Contribution of Aboriginal Peoples in the First World War (1914-1918).

In part, the post says that “Aboriginal peoples have a long tradition of military service in Canada dating back several centuries. Although not legally required to participate in the war, an estimated 4,000 Status Indians, and an unrecorded number of Métis and Inuit enlisted voluntarily and served with the Canadian Corps in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF).

Almost all of the young men on many reserves enlisted for service. For example, approximately half of the eligible Mi’kmaq and Maliseet from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia volunteered for overseas duty. In other provinces, the number was even higher. In the small Saskatchewan community of File Hills, nearly all of the eligible men signed up to fight.

The exact number of Aboriginal soldiers who lost their lives during the First World War is not known. It is estimated that at least 300 men were killed during battles or died from illness, such as tuberculosis”.

Read the full blog post at http://thediscoverblog.com/tag/aboriginal/

Postscript: Am I correct in thinking that the LAC is changing the design of its website again? I am starting to get frustrated as I flip back and forth between the old-old site and the new site. Some records are still at the old-old site, and then some are on the new site, and …

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Top LAC job up for grabs

It appears that the government is starting to look for a person to assume the LAC top archivist and librarian job in the near future. Who will they pick, and more important, what will be the qualifications for the job?

If one looks at the requirements for the job, as people from the archivist and librarian community has done already, the news is not good for the Canadian genealogical community.

It says that it will be an “asset” and not a “requirement” for the successful person to have experience in the library and archivist field.

So, does this leave us with another person like the former LAC head Daniel Caron who was a career bureaucrat and not an archivist or librarian?

To read the story, here is a newspaper article, and a statement by The Canadian Association of Law Libraries -

Joint Statement on Qualities of a Successful Librarian and Archivist of Canada
http://www.callacbd.ca/en/content/joint-statement-qualities-successful-librarian-and-archivist-canada

Top librarian job up for grabs; head of Library and Archives Canada could bag a $226,500 salary http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/national/librarian+grabs+head+Library+Archives+Canada+could/9034221/story.html

Postscript: I would like to thank two of my readers for sending me the news story and the job description.

Saturday, August 31, 2013

Library and Archives Canada and Canadiana.org announces partnership

Last week, I reported on the new digitization partnership between the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and Canadian.org (see blog posting of Aug 23rd  “Some land records are being digitized”), and now it has been made official.

The LAC has agreed to a “large-scale digitization partnership involving about 60 million images from numerous collections”.   

A couple of things caught my eye –

This will be a ”10-year agreement with this longstanding partner (which) covers the digitization, indexing and description of millions of personal, administrative and government documents, as well as land grants, war diaries and photographs. There will be no change for those Canadians who wish to access these collections at LAC.

The go on to further say that “Canadiana.org also will also transcribe millions of handwritten pages, and create related descriptions. Enhanced search tools facilitating access to these records will be available to Canadians free of charge at LAC, as well as at hundreds of subscribing libraries in regions across Canada. For a small monthly fee, Canadians will also be able to use the enhanced tools online to conduct advanced searches without leaving home

Notice that the press release says nothing about newspapers. And what will be the fee? And when will this take place?

It also sounds as if you want to see these records free of charge, you will have to visit them at the LAC in Ottawa.


Sunday, August 25, 2013

Find your Ukrainian ancestor at the LAC



The LAC site says "Do you ever wonder who your first Ukrainian ancestor was and when he or she left the Ukraine and arrived in Canada? Are you curious about your family’s Ukrainian heritage? 

If so, the Library and Archives Canada is a great place to begin your research. 

For instance, you will find a page specific to genealogical research at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-905.010-e.html

It provides you with historical background information, archival and published material from the collection, as well as links to other websites and records".

Toronto Ukrainian Genealogy Group http://www.torugg.org

Friday, August 2, 2013

LAC Update: 1861 Canada Census available online

Once again, the Library and Archives Canada has released a census – this time, its the 1861 census. Information was collected for people living in Canada East, Canada West, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

You can search this new database by nominal information, such as the surname, given name(s) and age of an individual, as well as by geographical information such as district and sub-district names.
This wasn’t a uniform census – the questionnaires were different in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and in the Canadas (Canada West – Ontario and Canada East – Quebec).

Also, the enumeration day in the Canadas was January the 14th, March 30th in Nova Scotia, and August the 15th in Prince Edward Island.

The census was also divided among rural and urban centres of the country.

So if an ancestor lived in Toronto (an urban centre), the enumerator would drop off the form for the inhabitants to fill out themselves, and then they would stop by a couple of days later to pick up the form, or if your ancestor lived in a rural area, the enumerator would fill out the form.

Districts and sub-districts did not all survive. To see which district survived, go to www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1861/Pages/census-districts-sub-districts.aspx



Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Lower Canada Census 1831

The Library and Archives Canada has just sent this notice out –

“The LAC is pleased to announce that the Census for Lower Canada, 1831 database is now available online. The Census for Lower Canada, 1831 is partly nominal and therefore only contains the names of heads of family, their occupation, and the number of residents for each family.

Users can search this new database by the name of heads of family, as well as by geographical information such as district and sub-district names”.


Thursday, May 16, 2013

Head of Library and Archives Canada resigns

Daniel Caron, the head archivist of the Library and Archives Canada, resigned Wednesday. He had billed taxpayers nearly $4,500 for personal Spanish lessons.

Caron was appointed head librarian and archivist of Canada in 2009.

To read the complete story, go to www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2013/05/15/pol-library-archives-daniel-caron-resigns-spanish.html

Friday, May 10, 2013

UPDATE: Ancestry.ca - Canada, Soldiers of the First World War, 1914-1918



R.F.C. Canada. Machine Gun Practice, Camp Mohawk, Desoronto, Ont. 1918 Credit: Canada. Dept. of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada

Ancestry.ca has updated this database which contains an index to the Attestation papers of men enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) of the First World War.

Information contained in the database includes:

•Name of enlistee

•Address

•Birthplace

•Birth date

•Age

•Name of next of kin

•Relationship to next of kin

•Regimental number

Additional information about the enlistee, such as their occupation, marital status, religion, and/or physical description may be found on the original record. Be sure to view the corresponding image in order to obtain all possible information about the individual.

The website is at http://search.ancestry.ca/search/db.aspx?dbid=1086

There are now 598,682 images online.

For more information about the collection, please see the follow page on the Library and Archives Canada website at www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/cef/index-e.html

Sunday, April 28, 2013

LAC issues a report on itself

Late Friday afternoon, on April the 26th, the LAC put on its website a report entitled Library and Archives Canada makes Canada’s documentary heritage more accessible than ever.

Through this report, it expresses how the LAC is helping Canadians to access their heritage through different programs that have been instituted by the LAC.

For instance, it says that “To this end, LAC has developed a suite of tools that have efficiently contributed to this unparalleled access to Canada’s heritage. In fact, Canadians showed great interest in accessing LAC’s collections on their computer screens and handheld devices, as observed by the popularity of its Flickr sets (over 350,000 views), its podcasts (over 149,000 listens) and the size of the readership of its blog (over 63,000 views). In addition to these new tools, LAC’s website receives an average of 500,000 visits monthly. The popularity of these channels, enabled by modern technology, demonstrates how promising LAC’s approach is in reaching Canadians, regardless of where they live”.

So what do you think? Is the LAC fulfilling its mandate?

To read the full report, go to http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/news/news_releases/Pages/2013/documentary-heritage-more-accessible.aspx

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Cosy Homesteads: The Life and Lore of Traditional Irish Dwellings

The next monthly meeting will be held on Saturday March 9, 2013 at the Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.

There will be a pre-meeting that will start at 9:00 to 9:30, and it will be a Before BIFHSGO Educational Talk on Tracing Your House History by Dr Bruce Elliott.

The Discovery Tables – Ireland will be open from 9:15 to 10:00 am, and Keith Hanton and the Irish Society of the National Capital Region will be there to answer your questions about Ireland, and the monthly meeting will take place at 10:00, and will end at 11:30.

The speaker will be Dr. Rhona Richman Kenneally, and she will talk about Cosy Homesteads: The Life and Lore of Traditional Irish Dwellings.

The aim of this presentation is to overlay the experience of the Irish “cottage” as a physical space, with the symbolic associations it has been granted over time.

Dr. Richman Kenneally talks about cozy cottages, architecture and food in an interview with Brian Glenn at www.bifhsgo.ca/cpage.php?pt=106

If you wish to go the website at BIFHSGO, you  may go to www.bifhsgo.ca

Saturday, February 9, 2013

UPDATE: 1921 Canada Census


We are starting to get release information on the 1921 Canada Census bit by bit.

Apparently, it is going to be released by Statistics Canada to the Library and Archives Canada on June 2, 2013, and then to us sometime after that date.

‘Sometime after that’ could mean months, not days, after the LAC receives it, but it will be in the system June 2, 2013.

The population of the country was 8,788,483 in 1921, and the census was taken on 1 June .

The Library and Archives Canada plan to digitize the microfilmed population schedules and make them available online with a nominal index as soon as it is possible.

Stay tuned!

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Reflection on Archivists and Genealogists

A paper in the winter 2013 issue of Families I thought warranted a special post of its own since it was the Houston Memorial Lecture called Reflection on Archivists and Genealogists at last year conference of the OGS in Kingston, Ontario given by Dr. Ian E. Wilson, former chief archivist of the Library and Archives of Canada.

Besides giving a brief history of the LAC, in the last paragraphs of his paper, he talks about the “New challenges to archival services and genealogical research are becoming painfully apparent, as federal budget decisions work their way through to the local level”.

It is clear to genealogists and genealogy societies as they try to do genealogy research at the building at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa, that they are becoming less and less welcome by Public Works – the department who ones and operates the building.

One only has to read that the Ottawa Branch of the OGS has cancelled their conference because the costs were too high, BISFHGO has had to look for a new place to hold their Saturday meeting and conference next year because the costs are too high (and they worked closely with the LAC) and there are a number of other groups in Ottawa that I am aware of that have had to ceased to meet at the LA because the costs are out of this world. So what are we to do?

So if you get a chance, read his paper because it does shed a light on the LAC as it was in his tenure as Chief Archivists and what it is today – a shell of its former shelf.

The site for the OGS is www.ogs.on.ca

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Library and Archives Canada Update: Census of the Prairie Provinces, 1916 Database

The Library and Archives Canada has just released this piece of news –

“In 1916, the Canadian government enumerated, for the second time, the Prairie Provinces (Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta) in order to track the high rates of population growth in western Canada.

Previously, users could search only by geographical information such as province, district and sub-district. It is now possible to also search by nominal information such as name, given name(s) and age for an individual.

Previously, users could search only by geographical information such as province, district and sub-district. It is now possible to also search by nominal information such as name, given name(s) and age for an individual”.

Go to www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1916/Pages/1916.aspx

Sunday, December 23, 2012

OGS President Shirley Sturdevant Has an Update on the LAC

There has been an update on the termination and replacement of the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Services at the Library and Archives Canada‏ from OGS President Shirley Sturdevant. 

You can read the full update on their blog at www.ogs.on.ca/ogsblog/?p=2794, but it more or less says that although she offered to be a part of the discussion, that offer wasn’t accepted. This is rather unfortunate, since Shirley might have been able to present the “genealogical point of view”, which has been missing from the discussion so far.

The answer that she received from the LAC said, in part, that “Although my offer was not accepted, I was promised by M. Grandmaitre (of the LAC) hat we would receive the same documentation as the other participating parties for further discussion with or distribution to our members”.

In the meantime, she says that “The Ontario Genealogical Society shall stay its course in advocating for open and equal access to our Canadian archival documents”.

© Elizabeth Lapointe All Rights Reserved

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Library and Archives Canada’s Travelling Exhibitions

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is on the road!

With four travelling exhibitions on display in different venues across Canada, including one in the National Capital Region, LAC is showcasing the richness and diversity of its collections. This is an excellent example of LAC’s commitment to making the country’s heritage and history accessible to all Canadians—regardless of where they live.

The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, in British Columbia, is hosting the exhibition Beyond Likeness: Contemporary Works from Library and Archives Canada until January 6, 2013. Through the works of 23 contemporary artists, the exhibition explores the evolving concept of portraiture from more traditional representations of likeness to works that challenge the conventions of the genre.

The New Brunswick Museum in Saint John is presenting the exhibition I Know You by Heart: Portrait Miniatures until December 31, 2012. Showcasing 35 recently restored portraits, the exhibition highlights the intimate, personal nature of portrait miniatures, and the reasons that such images are commissioned, created and carried. In March 2013, the exhibition will make its way to the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon.

The McMichael Art Gallery in Kleinburg, Ontario, is showcasing LAC’s most recent exhibition Double Take: Portraits of Intriguing Canadians until January 20, 2013. Double Take presents 50 Canadians who have left—and are leaving—their mark on our country and our culture.

Finally, the exhibition Faces of 1812 is on display at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa until January 6, 2013. A commemorative exhibition, Faces of 1812 presents some of the men and women who experienced the War of 1812. LAC’s curatorial YouTube video and Faces of 1812 podcast will introduce you to the selected works that document this significant historical event.

Keep following this blog to find out where these exhibitions will travel next. It could be your hometown!

The website of the LAC is at www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Pages/home.aspx

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Anglo-Celtic Roots Winter 2012 Edition


A rather hefty issue of the Anglo-Celtic Roots arrived in the mail last week from the British Isles Family History Society of Great Ottawa (BIFHSGO) in Ottawa with the news that the group is going to continue to use the facilities of the Library and Archives Canada (LAC) as its monthly meeting place, and where it holds its yearly conference.

Of course this comes with a price (as the LAC is now charging for the use of it’s facility), but at a cost the BIFHSGO is willing to live with, so let’s hope that Public Works and Government Services Canada (the government department that looks after the LAC) keeps the costs at a reasonable rate in the future.

There are three articles in this issue – "Mamie Weir, a Scot" by Carolyn Emblem; "Life in Saskatoon, 1914" by Andrew Frowd; and 'Tracking Great-Uncle Stan' by Brooke Broadbent.

But the article that interested me the most (since my husband was born in Quebec City) was the trip in July that took genealogists from Ottawa to Quebec City and Grosse Ile on a research trip.

The article written by Irene Kellow Ip, is a most descriptive article telling of their time in Quebec City where they visited Artillery Park, Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, and Dufferin Terrace. And on to Grosse-Île where they visited the Hospital Sector, the Irish Cemetery, and the Hotel Sector on the quarantine island.

If you wish to check the database of Immigrants at Grosse-Île www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/grosse-ile-immigration/index-e.html, or Quebec City Passenger Lists Index 1865-1900 at www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/passengers-quebec-1865-1900/index-e.html

You are invited to go to the website of BIFHSGO at www.bifhsgo.ca. You will find lots to read, and do while you are there.

NOTE: The 2013 conference from September 20 - 22, 2013 will be held at the Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa. The focus for 2013 will be on Ireland.

Friday, December 7, 2012

LAC is on Facebook


The Library and Archives Canada is on Facebook, and I read quite a few postings this morning, so that I could get a feeling of what the LAC has done with it.

They have a lot of pictures taken from their holding on the pages, and there were photos I have never seen before eg photos of Home Children, Danish Immigration, and you can read Sir Winston Churchill first speech to the House of Commons as prime minister on 13 May 1940.

They have 262 “likes” right now, and comments on the page, some of which are about the closing of interlibrary loan on December 11 – next Tuesday!

The Facebook page is on www.facebook.com/LibraryArchives

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Halifax Explosion, 1917

To add to my post I did yesterday morning on the Haliax Explosion, the Library and Archives Canada Flickr website now has put photos on the Internet.

The LAC says that the explosion was a “tragedy on a massive scale (which) happened on Canadian shores on December 6, 1917 when the French cargo ship, the SS Mont Blanc, and the Norwegian SS Imo, collided in the harbour at Halifax, Nova Scotia.’

The photos are at http://www.flickr.com/photos/lac-bac/sets/72157627774733594