Category Archives: Our Collection and Facilities

Did you know that not everything is available online?

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In an age when more and more information is available on the Internet, it is easy to assume that if you can’t find what you’re looking for online, it probably doesn’t exist. But this may not always be the case. For instance, at Library and Archives Canada (LAC), we have a vast collection of historical material. Yet most of this collection predates the digital era, which means that it just doesn’t exist in digital format.

It also means that not everything at LAC is indexed or discoverable online, and that you may not find something described in our online tools even though we have it.

So, if, after starting your research, using our major online tools, you cannot find what you are looking for, but suspect it is in LAC’s collection, make sure to ask us about it. Our knowledgeable reference librarians and archivists can help identify tools and resources to guide you in your research.

Stay tuned for our upcoming blog post on preliminary research and preparing for your reference appointment.

Summary of comments received in French up to September 30th, 2013

  • A user asked how to obtain the recording of an interview done in 1975 at the University of Moncton. LAC suggested to consult the Film, Video and Sound database. LAC also has recordings that are not described at the item level. For those, research needs to be done on premises to consult finding aids.

The Receiver General Buy Button (RGBB): What is it and how does it work?

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Library and Archives Canada (LAC) clients can use their credit or debit cards to purchase digital copies of textual material* through the Government of Canada’s Receiver General Buy Button (RGBB). The RGBB is a safe and secure service that provides convenient, reliable and secure payment services to clients and businesses during their online dealings with the federal government.

The RGBB is much safer than other methods of payment such as mailing or faxing a credit card number, or even providing it over the phone, as your personal information is protected throughout the entire payment process. When using the RGBB, your credit card number is immediately encrypted, then placed in secure transaction storage and no longer retrievable in an unencrypted format.

When you order copies and reproductions from LAC, a link to the RGBB will be sent to the email address you have provided. The link will be sent to you after LAC has completed the processing of your order. You may then pay the Receiver General by credit or debit card.

The Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS) and the Office of the Privacy Commission (OPC) have studied the safety and security aspects of the RGBB. They published their research in a report entitled “Receiver General Buy Button Privacy Impact Assessment”, which concludes that privacy, safety and security concerns are low since the RGBB appropriately addresses any such concerns.

* Please note that clients who purchase photographic prints, videos, sound recordings or microfilm reels will continue to be contacted by our third-party suppliers for payment. LAC price lists and service standards are all available online.

How to retrieve a Canadian newspaper when visiting LAC on site

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Thanks to our article on “How to Find a Canadian Newspaper on Microfilm” you may now know how to easily access our Geographical List and how to read a newspaper entry. But how can you access these newspapers while you are on site at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa?

Some of our newspapers on microfilm are available in the self-serve section on the third floor, but most need to be requested via AMICUS, our library catalogue. Once you have located your AMICUS number, you can make a retrieval request in AMICUS by following the steps below:

To access our AMICUS catalogue, go to one of our computer workstations and open the Internet browser. You can access the catalogue by selecting the “Library Catalogue – AMICUS OPAC” link from the workstation homepage.

Use the AMICUS number to get to the correct record by selecting the “AMICUS No.” option from the drop-down menu.

Remember:

Not all the AMICUS records have been updated to show all the newspaper dates available. If you don’t see your date listed in the AMICUS record, don’t worry! You can trust the dates given in the Geographical List even if you don’t see them in the AMICUS record.

Once you have found the right record for your date range, press the “Retrieve” button. Enter your date in the first space provided and don’t forget to enter your user card barcode number.

Your retrieval request will take 2 to 3 hours to process. You can then retrieve your microfilm reels in the third floor Consultation Room. Make sure to search for them under the first letter of your last name. You will find microfilm readers available in the same room. For more information on using these microfilm readers, consult our article “Tips and tricks on how to use a microform reader”.

Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you!

Tips on How to Search for Companies’ Archival Records

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Have you come upon an old stock certificate and wondered if the company is still in existence?

A very good starting point is the FP Survey, Predecessor & Defunct. This book provides information on changes to companies, as well as on those that are no longer in existence. It is also helpful in determining the date of incorporation of a company, the jurisdiction of incorporation (i.e. federal or provincial) and the status of a company (e.g. dissolved).

The actual stock certificate often indicates whether the company was incorporated under federal or provincial legislation.

If the company in question was incorporated under federal legislation, you can use Library and Archives Canada’s Archives Search to see if we have files on the company as part of the Corporations Branch (RG95) records. These records consist of files relating to companies which were incorporated, amalgamated, and dissolved between 1867 and 1973. It is possible to order copies of these files, but keep in mind that some of these can be voluminous.

You can also search Industry Canada’s Corporations Canada database for more recent company information. If your company was incorporated at the provincial level, Industry Canada provides a handy list of provincial registrars. A few jurisdictions offer free company databases (others may charge a fee) that provide information on the status of a company.

If your certificate is from a mining or oil company, you could ask your local library about these sources:

• Canadian Mines Register of Dormant and Defunct Companies, compiled, printed and published by Northern Miner Press Limited. Toronto: Northern Miner Press, c1960. 419 p. AMICUS No. 1715558
• Canadian Mines Register of Dormant and Defunct Companies. Supplement, compiled, printed and published by Northern Miner Press Limited. Toronto: Northern Miner Press, 1966- . ISSN 0068-9300. AMICUS No. 13231254
• Canadian Mines Handbook. Toronto: Northern Miner Press. Maps. 19 cm. ISSN 0068-9289. AMICUS No. 89851
• The Financial Post Survey of Mines. Toronto: Maclean-Hunter. ISSN 0071-5085. AMICUS No. 104992
• The Financial Post Survey of Oils. Toronto: Maclean-Hunter. ISSN 0071-5093. AMICUS No. 34629
• FP Survey, Mines & Energy. Toronto: Financial Post. ISSN 1486-4266. AMICUS No. 18927856

Good luck with your research!

How to find photographs that are not yet available online – part two

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Our previous article “How to find photographs that are not yet available online—part one” explained the best-case scenario for finding photographs that are not yet available online. But what happens when things don’t go that smoothly?

What if I find items that are close but not what I want?

If there are items in your search results that aren’t quite what you’re looking for, don’t despair. It’s quite possible that we have what you want, but that it hasn’t been described yet. The items that have already been described offer you a useful clue as to where those non-described items might be.

First, note the fonds, collection, or accession where each item is from and look at the field labelled “extent.” How many other photographs make up that collection? Perhaps there are more images relating to your topic.

Does the item have:

– an item number?
– a particular photographer?
– certain keywords?

Use variations of those keywords, item number and photographer’s name to do other online searches in Archives Search. If those don’t yield any results, try the finding aid related to each item, either online or on paper. See “How to find photographs that are not yet available online—part one” for tips on using the finding aid.

What if the finding aid is not online or the finding aid is only available in paper?

If you find a fonds, collection, or accession that seems relevant to your research but that doesn’t have an electronic finding aid, look to see if it has a paper one. If it does, you can visit us at 395 Wellington Street in Ottawa, to have a closer look at it. If there is no reference to a paper finding aid, then you have to search through the boxes from that collection. If you cannot come to Ottawa, you can contact our reference staff for guidance, or you may wish to hire a freelance researcher.

With more than 25 million images, chances are we have your “perfect shot.” You just have to find it!

Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you!

Did your ancestors come from China?

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Do you ever wonder who your first Chinese ancestor was and when he or she left China and arrived in Canada? Are you curious about your family’s Chinese heritage?

If so, our website is a great place to begin your research. For instance, you will find a page specific to genealogical research for the Chinese people. It provides you with historical background information, archival and published material from our collection, as well as links to other websites and institutions. This page also contains a link to the Immigrants from China database which provides access to more than 98,000 references to Chinese immigrants who arrived in Canada.

If your ancestor came to Canada between 1865 and 1935, you might find his or her name on the passenger lists.

Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you!

Did your ancestors come from Scotland?

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Do you ever wonder who your first Scottish ancestor was and when he or she left Scotland and arrived in Canada? Are you curious about your family’s Scottish heritage?

If so, our website is a great place to begin your research. For instance, you will find a page specific to genealogical research about Scots.

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

If your ancestor came to Canada between 1865 and 1935, you might find his or her name on passenger lists.

Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you!

Library and Archives Canada acquires the first Bible printed in Canada

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Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is now home to the first complete and authorized version of the Bible to be printed in Canada. This Bible consists of two volumes and was published around 1832 or 1833 by John Henry White in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

This acquisition was made possible by a generous gift from the Friends of Library and Archives Canada, a non-profit organization that supports LAC and its
work.

To learn more, consult our website and our Facebook page.

Toys and Games in Canada

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Photograph of a girl sitting on a mattress, holding a doll.

Girl with doll, Piper family. Source

The joyful holiday season is the perfect time to introduce you to the Library and Archives Canada collection of photographs related to games and toys.

Although toys and games have existed since the dawn of time, it was only in the 19th century that the ‟toy” really came into its own in Canada. It was also
during the Victorian era that toys and diversion were deemed beneficial to children, thereby kick-starting the mass production of playthings. At first,
toys mainly came from England, Germany and the United States, but between 1860 and 1915, some 20 Canadian companies began to manufacture them as well. They
were made of wood and generally mimicked miniature furniture, cars or horses.

The First World War slowed toy production in Europe, giving the Canadian toy industry the opportunity to flourish. New toys were produced, particularly
battleships and construction sets. This is also when manufacturers started using a wider variety of materials, which resulted in copper, tin, iron, lead,
and rubber toys. Plush dolls and animals, small lead soldiers, bugles and trumpets, rubber balls, hockey pucks and even humming tops could also be found.

In the 1940s, plastic was introduced in toy manufacturing; it was used to make rattles, beach toys, tractors, trucks and construction sets, as well as an
array of tools. In subsequent years, large multinational companies emerged and completely diversified the toy-making industry.

Various outdoor games, such as croquet and lawn bowling have become popular. Children also enjoy games of strength, string, and chance, which are featured
in our new Flickr album.

Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you!

Join the dance! – Dance Archives at LAC

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Did you know that Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has fonds and collections related to dance in Canada? These include fascinating documents in a variety of formats on many aspects of this major component of the performing arts.

These fonds illustrate the careers of the founder of the National Ballet of Canada, Celia Franca, and a few of its principal dancers, including Veronica Tennant and Karen Kain.

Other fonds focus on the achievements of companies and artists in the field of modern dance, including the Groupe de la Place Royale, co-founded in 1966 by choreographers and dancers Jeanne Renaud and Peter Boneham. LAC also holds the fonds for the Toronto Dance Theatre and the Margie Gillis Dance Foundation, which are among the leading institutions in modern dance.

The collection also includes archives from schools of dance and of dance pioneers in Canada, including the Lacasse-Morenoff, the Gina Vaubois and the Ottawa Ballet Company, founded by Nesta Toumine in 1947, and Alex Pereima, ballet dancer and arts administrator.

At the same time, there are a certain number of fonds related to institutions that support dance companies and artists in Canada, including the Canada Council for the Arts, the 
National Arts Centre Corporation, the Canadian Conference of the Arts and the Dance in Canada Association.

Many dance-related posters and photographs can be found through our Archives Image Search tool, using the keywords “dance” or “ballet.” You are also invited to consult our Flickr album.

Keep in mind that not all of our documents are available online. However, you can order archived documents through our online Request for Retrieval of Documents form. Please consult our article on How to consult material that is not yet available online for more information.

Questions or comments? We would love to hear from you!