Library and Archives Canada - International Institute

Library and Archive Canada's website provides access to a variety of information resources related to actual archival holdings.

Here, there are a number of databases that you can consult, all relating to records stored at Library and Archives Canada. The following categories of databases are available for use:

Directory of Resources
Births, Marriages and Deaths including acts of divorce and marriage bonds
Census and Enumerations
Immigration and Citizenship including home children and passenger lists
Land including grants and petitions
Military
People including directories and post offices and postmasters

Everyone will likely find a different database that has something in it for them. For example, as a reference archivist at the Provincial Archives of Alberta, I used the Western Land Grants database on a daily basis. This is because this database lists the names of people who were given land grants in Western Canada, along with the land description. Because the Provincial Archives of Alberta hold microfilmed copies of the original land records, by knowing where a person lived, a patron could then go to look up the original land grant records.

Another researcher might be able to find references to an ancestor in the Prime Ministers’ Fonds, or the records of the Home Children.

Library and Archive Canada’s website is a great starting point for anyone looking for an ancestor in Canada, and even if you don’t know of any relatives who worked, for example, for a Prime Minister, you might want to try typing your family name in the database anyway.

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Information in this Wiki page is excerpted from the online courses Canadian Local Histories and Special Collections offered by The International Institute of Genealogical Studies. To learn more about these courses or other courses available from the Institute, see our website. We can be contacted at wiki@genealogicalstudies.com

We welcome updates and additions to this Wiki page.



The original content for this article was contributed by The International Institute of Genealogical Studies in June 2012. It is an excerpt from their course Canadian Local Histories and Special Collections by Michelle LaBrosse-Purcell, B.Sc., MLIS. The Institute offers over 200 comprehensive genealogy courses for a fee ($).