Tag Archives: canadian history

Summer Student Experience at the Archives

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By Valentina Donato

I have always had an interest in artefacts that share a story. Throughout my undergraduate studies at the University of Ottawa, I surrounded myself with history by working at different museums. As a student working at Library and Archives Canada (LAC), I have learned a remarkable amount about archives and preserving the documentary heritage of Canada. I first found the student archival assistant position through the Federal Student Work Experience Program and thought it would be an engaging summer job. The LAC student program has been full of opportunities to gain experience and learn more about LAC itself and other archives in Ottawa. One of my goals coming into this position was to decide if a career in archives was the right path for me, and I focused on networking and learning as much as possible about municipal and federal archives. Additionally, I had the opportunity to participate in many tours of LAC facilities, as well as other archives like the City of Ottawa Archives and the Canadian War Museum Archive. Not only have the tours been interesting and educational, but I also discovered a new side to historical field I had not known about.

Currently, I am working in the Reappraisal team within the Government Records Initiative Division. In this position, I’ve learned a great deal about how reappraisal plays a critical role in the delivery of LAC’s mandate by supporting discoverability of our holdings and by improving access to government records. One focus of the Reappraisal team is to process backlogged material to identify non-archival records, such as duplicate records, and remove them. In doing so, the team processes archival material and incorporates it into the appropriate place in our collection. Another aim of reappraisal work is to improve the quality of existing records by ensuring that they’re accurately described and documented so that researchers can find what they’re looking for. Both priorities improve how accessible LAC’s government archives are for Canadians and those with an interest in Canadian history. This has been extremely interesting to me because of my interest in making Canada’s history more discoverable and accessible to the public.

As a history student, I believe this is crucial to understanding our past, and I was happily surprised to learn how hands-on my job would be. In the first few months of my summer position, I focused on cataloguing, arranging, and writing descriptions of archival records. It was so rewarding to be able to organize and create finding aids because it allowed for me to aid in making the Government of Canada archives far more accessible to people. I have also had the opportunity to work on the Undiscovered Specialized Media Holdings pilot project with senior archivist Geneviève Morin and archivist Emily Soldera, where I have been looking through boxes of textual documents from the Department of Agriculture. This project has helped me put into practice the skills and knowledge I have acquired through my online assessment of records; I’ve seen first-hand the kinds of files I have been cataloguing.

The goal of the Undiscovered Specialized Media Project was to find whether specialized media (such as photographs, posters, or objects) have gone unseen in boxes that were marked as being exclusively textual. The targeted boxes of textual records did reveal many interesting, specialized media finds! To make these finds more discoverable to the public, we tracked our findings and met with the Collection Manager of Government Records, Elise Rowsome. She discussed with us how our new discoveries could be safely stored and preserved.

Side by side of a long rectangular poster in green and yellow that reads “Use Ontario Onions with MEAT …… in SOUP …..COOKED … for FLAVOURING” with images of four meals underneath, and a carrot bag by the brand Wonder Pak with an image of a cartoon homemaker and a text that reads “Canada No. 1 Grade Carrots”.

Fruit and Vegetable Division files, Mikan 134109: RG 17, Volume 4718, File 4718 2-Onions part 1 [Onion print] and RG 17, volume 4717, File 4717 2-carrot part 1 840.3C1 [Carrot packaging]. Note that these files will be temporarily unavailable as work continues ensuring their preservation and rehousing. Image courtesy of the author, Valentina Donato.

Pictured above are some of my favourite finds from the Fruit and Vegetable Division files (Mikan 134109). There were posters, food packaging prototypes, advertisements, labels and more, all tucked away in what was previously filed as textual records. Seeing these everyday packaging items transported me into the past and gave me a glimpse of Canadian society. Some of my favourite advertisements were from Alcan Aluminum c. 1959, which not only included finalized advertisements, but the mockups of ads as well, each depicting food and products that could be stored or cooked with aluminum (as pictured below). What caught my eye with these items (and what my photographs unfortunately cannot fully convey) were the colourful and reflective aluminum details added into the advertisements themselves. Our next steps are to determine how these artefacts will be rehoused, described, and tracked in our cataloguing system to make them available to researchers.

Side by side of Alcan Aluminum advertisements depicting products that can be preserved using aluminum. Made with reflective aluminum accents that reflect light. The text reads: “The most shelf-assured products are wrapped in Alcan Aluminum Foil”, and “They spotlight themselves”.

Fruits and Vegtable Divison, Mikan 134109, RG 17, Volume 4734 30-1 part 2 [Alcan Aluminum advertisements]. Note that these files will be temporarily unavailable as work continues ensuring their preservation and rehousing. Image courtesy of the author, Valentina Donato.

Another interesting find was from the Fredericton Potato Research Centre files (Mikan 206115). Not only was there a whole box of negatives and photographic prints, but I also found a slide carousel, a series of small colour photographs that are projected in a specific order, with an audiocassette presentation accompanying it. Through the course of this project, I have learned that different equipment is needed to consult certain types of specialized media. Take the slide carousel, for example: we will have to view the slides safely on a heat-free light table while playing the cassette with an appropriate device. This is done with the aid of preservation experts not only to ensure proper handling but also to learn about its context and benefit to LAC’s archives. In addition to these fascinating specialized media finds, the importance of the Reappraisal team re-examining LAC’s existing holdings comes to light; the work is never complete, as we are retroactively reviewing records previously acquired and enhancing the collection to make it easier for Canadians to navigate. I look forward to undertaking the next steps in this project and to learning how this work progresses.

A slide carousel, complete with slides, with an audiocassette beside it, photographed from above.

Fredericton Potato Research Centre files, Mikan 206115, Box 50, Slide Show: Fredericton Research Station. Note that these files will be temporarily unavailable as work continues ensuring their preservation and rehousing. Image courtesy of the author, Valentina Donato.

Overall, the student experience at LAC has been extremely rewarding. I am excited to be able to stay on as a part-time student while I complete my studies; I will get to continue my work in reappraisal with arrangement and descriptive work, as well as see the next steps of the Undiscovered Specialized Media Holdings project. Moreover, being in my fourth year of my bachelor’s program, my experience at LAC has opened my eyes to all the potential career paths I want to explore within the heritage and archives field. I am excited to see where this experience takes me and to possibly learn more about underrated root vegetables.

Additional resources

Valentina Donato is an Archival Assistant in the Government Record Branch at Library and Archives Canada.

Looking for Captain Evans

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By Rebecca Murray

When I was a relatively new acquisition at LAC, a mainstay of archival humour used to refer to new employees, I worked on a question from a researcher who was looking for the given names of a captain who served in the Canadian militia in the 1890s. Full of optimism and energy, I set off in search of this elusive captain.

The researcher knew that, during this time, Evans was stationed in Manitoba, where he was also involved with amateur hockey. After unsuccessful keyword searches in our catalogue, I decided to switch strategies and “follow the money.” Not just an oft-quoted phrase, using financial documents or reports such as pay or purchase records is one of many search strategies you might use to find mentions of otherwise elusive individuals or projects. During this period in Canadian history, the militia was significant, but it was still relatively small in comparison with today’s military. Considering this and knowing about the reporting detail available in the annual reports of the Auditor General and departments from this period, I thought I might be able to find some mention of this Captain Evans.

I scoured reports from the early 1890s and was soon successful. I found a reference to a “Lieutenant T. D. B. Evans” attached to the Mounted Infantry School at Winnipeg, Manitoba (Military District 10) in 1891–1892 in the Auditor General’s annual report (c. 1893).

Typed page of text and numbers. Red circle to draw attention to name of “Mounted Infantry School” and the associated name “Evans, T. D. B., Lieut.”

Sessional Papers of the Dominion of Canada: volume 1, third session of the seventh Parliament, session 1893, page 1-C-48 [Ottawa: S.E. Dawson, 1893] (OCLC 858498599)

I then looked at the 1894 report (which covers the period 1892–1893), where I found a similar reference, but this time for a Captain Evans. I scanned the lists of names for others with the same surname (Evans being a common name) and found no others. I continued my search for further details using these initials.

Typed page of text and numbers. Red circles to draw attention to name of “Winnipeg Mounted Infantry School” and the associated name “Capt. Evans.”

Sessional Papers of the Dominion of Canada: volume 1, fourth session of the seventh Parliament, session 1894 [Ottawa: S.E. Dawson, 1894]; page 1-47 (OCLC 858498599)

A bit of secondary research, the virtues of which I have extolled elsewhere, is always a valuable addition to archival research—especially at this preliminary stage. A few web searches for “Winnipeg Mounted Infantry School” had me reviewing pages from the Directorate of History and Heritage, where researchers can find authoritative, reliable information about military unit amalgamations in Canadian history. During this period, the regiment known now as the Royal Canadian Dragoons was known as the Canadian Mounted Rifle Corps. Since this was the closest match I could find, I decided to give it a try.

Why is this part so important? It gives us a few more keywords to use as we explore the archival database. Here’s the search interface screen showing my search terms and some preliminary results. It’s just one of many variations on the searches I performed. For example, I left out any mention of rank, as I know from the secondary research above that, during this period, Evans was promoted from Lieutenant to Captain. I didn’t want to exclude any potentially relevant results by requesting that “Capt” or “Captain” be part of the results.

A screenshot of Collection Search on the Library and Archives Canada website showing the search term “Evans” along with various filters and additional keywords.

The author’s search in Collections and Fonds (Collection Search)

These results also help to answer one of the researcher’s questions: What were the captain’s given names? The first given name (Thomas) is shown in the title of the second search result—a Privy Council Office record related to his promotion from Captain to Major circa 1895.

Although thrilled with these findings, I soon realized that none of this helped me make the link with amateur hockey. So I turned yet again to published sources, this time relying on the database of historical issues of The Globe and Mail, where I found a front page article about Evans’s death that confirms not only all three of his given names—Thomas, Dixon and Byron—but also his presidency of the Manitoba Hockey Association.

A newspaper article announcing the death of Col. T.D.B. Evans, who succumbed to sunstroke after a short illness.

DEATH OF COL. T.D.B. EVANS: SUCCUMBED TO SUNSTROKE AFTER SHORT ILLNESS, Commanded Canadian Mounted Rifles in South African War and Was Decorated for His Services—Commanded Winnipeg District, The Globe (1844–1936), Toronto, Ontario, August 24, 1908: 1 (OCLC 1775438)

These details allowed me to identify further relevant primary and secondary sources, including orders-in-council held at LAC that track changes throughout Colonel Evans’ military career and photographs from his time in Manitoba.

A black-and-white photograph of five men at a table covered with a white table cloth. A plant appears to be the table’s centerpiece, and various bottles, plates and dishes can be seen on the table.

Lunch ’93. Left to right: H.J. Woodside, Captain T.D.B. Evans, Hosmer, Thibodeau, Elphinstone, 1893. Accession 1967-025, item 167. Credit: Henry Joseph Woodside/Library and Archives Canada/PA-016013

This is the query that really drove home for me the importance of combining archival and published sources held at LAC and of relying on trusted external secondary sources to conduct my work thoroughly and diligently. In hindsight, I can think of many other sources on which I could have drawn, such as census documents (which likely would have included an overwhelming number of individuals named “Evans”), the Canada Gazette, and militia lists. I was lucky in this case to find what I was looking for with relative ease—or so it often seems when recounting one’s search after the fact.

Rebecca Murray is a Senior Reference Archivist in the Reference Services Division at Library and Archives Canada.

Improving your online experience: Launch of the new Government of Canada Web Archive

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Image of fingers on a keyboard

By Tom J. Smyth

Introduction and program history

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is the nation’s designated national memory institution, with a legislated mandate to acquire, describe, preserve and provide long-term access to Canada’s documentary heritage.

This includes the Canadian Web! Resources in formats for the Web are recognized internationally as an important facet of a nation’s modern digital heritage. These irreplaceable web resources are important evidence of Canadian history and culture in the 21st century, but they are volatile and prone to disappearing without warning.

What can be done about this? How do we “rescue” resources generated in real time, which exist outside the normal production streams of archival records or traditional publications? How do we safeguard web resources that can therefore contain information found in no other medium, which may document national historic events or important aspects of culture as they are unfolding?

Owing to their precarious nature, immediate and managed action is required to select, arrange, make available and ensure the digital preservation and data continuity of web resources that constitute Canadian digital documentary heritage. This action is referred to internationally as “web archiving,” which is a discipline based on digital preservation and curation that is practiced and advanced by, for example, the 50-plus members of the International Internet Preservation Consortium (of which LAC is a founding member).

Acquiring web resources became a formal part of LAC’s mandate in 2004 under the Library and Archives of Canada Act, subsection 8(2). LAC’s means of realizing this part of its mandate is the Web and Social Media Preservation Program within the Digital Services Sector. The program curates data and researches collections of unique web resources documenting Canadian historical and cultural themes and events, in alignment with the requirements of modern digital scholars. It also makes these resources available to the public for posterity and to support future international research on Canada.

The web resources acquired by the program are made available through the Government of Canada Web Archive (GCWA). While the program and the GCWA are well known in Canada, their scale may not be.

How big is the GCWA? How much data does the GCWA contain?

In 2022–23, the Web and Social Media Preservation Program at LAC reached an important milestone.

As of February 2023, we are pleased that the GCWA exceeded 120+ terabytes of total data and surpassed over 3.1 billion assets or documents.

This is about the same amount of data as 4,600 Blu-ray movie discs (1,150 in 4K, or 384 copies of your favourite movie trilogies in 4K). If the GCWA were printed out on paper, it would take up some 57.5 billion sheets; stacking this up, it would reach the same height as 12,263 CN Towers!

Some program clients may be surprised to hear this, because since 2005, LAC has only provided public access to portions of its federal web archival collections. This means that fully 50 percent of the total collections have therefore never been available to the public until now.

Screenshot of a Government of Canada Web Archive page.

New functionalities and features of the relaunched Government of Canada Web Archive (GCWA)

New collections

We are delighted to announce that, with the relaunch of the GCWA in 2023, LAC will begin providing access to all non-federal collections curated since 2005. At the time of launch, the following collections will be available:

  • The Truth and Reconciliation Commission Collection (curated in partnership with the Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, the University of Manitoba and the University of Winnipeg)
  • The LAC collection on COVID-19 and its impacts on Canada (20+ terabytes of data)
  • All federal government data collected since 2005 (55+ terabytes of data)
  • Additional curated collections (to be arranged and published in the upcoming fiscal year)

The GCWA is one of the most comprehensive sources in existence for the following:

  • Canadian cultural and historical events as documented on the Web (2005–)
  • Official publications of the Government of Canada (GC) (2005–)
  • The federal and historical GC web presence (gc.ca domain, 2005–)
    • Historical GC financial and departmental plans and performance reports (2005–)
    • Historical GC policy frameworks (2005–)
    • Historical GC proactive disclosure (2005–)
    • Data and statistics from the federal web (2005–)
    • Material removed from the federal web under Common Look and Feel 2.0 (2005–08)
    • Material removed from the federal web under “CLF 3.0” (2008–13)
    • Material removed from the federal web under the Web Renewal Initiative (2013–)

Overall, the GCWA is the definitive source for any historical study of the Government of Canada web domain over time.

New portal design

From 2005 to 2019, the GCWA arranged data according to, and only provided access to federal government web resources under, Crown copyright (at maximum, approximately 15 terabytes of data were available). With the launch of the new GCWA in 2023, we have expanded our search tools and filters to help users explore our non-federal data and thematic web collections.

Clients will now be able to engage non-federal collections in a specialized portal and user interface. The relevant interface (government versus non-federal collections) will be presented automatically based on the collection being accessed.

Full text search of the web archive, individual collections or collection themes

Since 2011, LAC has not provided a full-text search capability or service to the public for navigating the GCWA. This situation was very problematic, and it limited client access to discovery and browsing. For the launch in 2023, a complex and powerful full-text search will be made available:

  • Clients will be able to search at multiple hierarchical levels, from the entire archive down to individual files.
  • An advanced search will also be available, including the ability to search by collection, keywords, exclusions, exact phrase, URL/domain, web resource type and date range.
  • An ability to quickly search by exact URL will also be available.
  • Further, clients will be able to discover and access the content of non-federal collections by sub-theme (for example: show all resources collected having to do with the “economic impact on Canada of COVID-19”).

Specialized reference services

LAC provides reference services and support for the GCWA. If you have difficulty locating a known resource within the GCWA, we would be pleased to assist you with the following:

  • Locating obscure Government of Canada official publications or decommissioned websites
  • Locating obscure historical reports, policies, financial data or proactive disclosure
  • Locating genres of Government of Canada content where exact titles or dates are not known
  • History and development of the Government of Canada domain (gc.ca)
  • Use of the web archives as a historical source or as computational data
  • Copyright or privacy concerns
  • Questions on how to have your web resource digitally preserved at LAC

Do you have ideas on what should be collected? Please let us know!

Ask us a question. We can help with all reference questions dealing with the web archive, nominations of Canadian web resources for acquisition, or requests for computational access to our web archival collections data.

Tom J. Smyth is the manager of the Web and Social Media Preservation Program at Library and Archives Canada.

Why we are excited about the 1931 Census

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By Sara Chatfield

Welcome to Library and Archives Canada’s blog series on the 1931 Census! This was the seventh census in Canadian history. The release of the 1931 Census records is an excellent opportunity to learn more about ourselves as a country. The lives of over 10 million people who were living in Canada in 1931 will be unveiled very soon. By law, personal information in a census cannot be made public until 92 years after the census was completed. We have been waiting a long time for this, and the date of the release is fast approaching.

A typed page with the words “Dominion Bureau of Statistics” and “Canada” written at the top, a crest, and a stamp with an x over it.

The cover page of the official publication of the Seventh Census of Canada, 1931 (OCLC 796971519)

There are quite a few steps that must be completed to provide the 234,678 images of the 1931 Census online. These are briefly mentioned in Preparing the 1931 Census. This blog series will fill in some of the blanks and help in bringing the census to life. It will answer questions about how the census was compiled, the questions that were asked, how we are making it available, and other topics that will widen our collective appreciation of just how important censuses are to present and future generations.

Census returns are extremely valuable research tools for genealogists, historians, scholars and all Canadians who want to explore the past. The original purpose of the census was to help determine parliamentary representation based on population. But censuses are so much more than that! These documents provide information about the makeup of Canada, the history of Canadian families and societal changes that were happening at the time.

A census entry for a household is a snapshot into Canadians’ lives in that era. Each page tells two stories. First, it tells the story of a family: their names, ages, religion and other elements of their identity. Second, the entry gives the context of their story within Canada: their neighbours, home, occupation, employment status and community. The 1931 Census delves into not only where people lived, but also how: in homes with extended families, within their immigrant communities, in rooming houses, and in institutions.

A map of Canada showing different-sized black dots.

A map from the administrative report of the Seventh Census of Canada, 1931 (OCLC 1007482727)

Even if you have not been bitten by the genealogy bug, the 1931 Census can still be of interest. You can learn more about your city or province, such as the industries or patterns of employment in given areas. Census returns can even help researchers to find more information about particular communities. They can give us hints about who lived at an address and when, and provide some information about their circumstances, including whether they spoke English or French, could read and write, or went to school. The 1931 Census also asked a new question: “Has this family a radio?” This will be fascinating to those who are interested in the emergence of telecommunications in Canada. It is also a measure of how quickly and broadly information could be disseminated. You can witness the early days of a new form of popular culture on the rise. Exciting, right?

We suspect that there will be many prominent Canadians in this census. But we will not know for sure until we have the completed index. Later this year, when the index is released, you will be able to search by name for people such as labour union activist and citizenship judge Stanley Grizzle, Kanien’kehá:ka activist Mary Two-Axe Earley, actors William Shatner and Gordon Pinsent, artist Pauline Julien, singer La Bolduc, painter Kazuo Nakamura, and Black activist Viola Desmond. You may be able to learn more about their early lives!

Join us in our journey to learn what Canadian households looked like on Monday, June 1, 1931!

And stay tuned for upcoming blog posts about this significant census release.

Sara Chatfield is a project manager in the Client Services division at Library and Archives Canada.

The 200th Birthday of Sir George-Étienne Cartier, a Prominent Father of Confederation

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Today marks the 200th birthday of one of Canada’s most important historical figures, Sir George-Étienne Cartier, a leading Father of Confederation. Cartier was born on September 6, 1814 in Sainte-Antoine-sur-Richelieu, Lower Canada. He studied law and started practising in 1835; however, politics soon became his passion. His entrance into the world of politics was anything but uneventful, as he played a role in the Lower Canadian Rebellion of 1837 and fought in the Battle of Saint-Denis. Cartier subsequently spent a year in exile in Vermont but pled for leniency and returned to Montreal in 1839.

The Honourable Sir George-Étienne Cartier, Baronet

The Honourable Sir George-Étienne Cartier, Baronet (MIKAN 3476630)

In 1848 Cartier was elected to the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada and shortly after was appointed to Cabinet. From 1857 to 1862 he served as co-premier of the Province of Canada with Sir John A. Macdonald following his coalition with the Upper Canadian Conservatives. It was in this period that Macdonald and Cartier started working together and began to garner support for Confederation in an attempt to put an end to political instability.

Sir George-Étienne Cartier

Sir George-Étienne Cartier (MIKAN 3213760)

Cartier played a pivotal role in gaining French-Canadian support for Confederation. He argued that francophone interests would be best preserved in a federation of provinces. When Confederation finally came about on July 1, 1867, John A. Macdonald became the first Prime Minister and Cartier the first Minister of Militia and Defence.

Shown among their peers are the Honourable Sir John A. Macdonald, the Honourable Sir George-Étienne Cartier and Lieutenant-Colonel John G. Irvine

Shown among their peers are the Honourable Sir John A. Macdonald, the Honourable Sir George-Étienne Cartier and Lieutenant-Colonel John G. Irvine (MIKAN 3192010)

Cartier passed away on May 20, 1873. His death deeply affected his close friend, John A. Macdonald, who proposed that a statue be erected in Cartier’s honour. It was sculpted by Louis-Philippe Hébert and unveiled in 1885. This was the first statue to be placed on Parliament Hill and it can still be seen today. Cartier left his mark on generations of Canadians. The centenary of his birthday in 1914 was marked by large celebrations and another monument was erected, this time in Montreal. Cartier’s Montreal home was designated a National Historic Site.

Sir George-Étienne Cartier

Sir George-Étienne Cartier (MIKAN 2837680)

While the majority of Cartier’s papers were destroyed, Library and Archives Canada does have several important records, including a family photo album, postcards, and some correspondence that took place during his period as Minister of Militia and Defence. We also have several letters written by Cartier to Macdonald, found in the Sir John A. Macdonald collection (archived).

To find out more about George-Étienne Cartier and his role in Confederation:

Library and Archives Canada releases eleventh podcast episode, Underwater Canada: Investigating Shipwrecks

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Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is releasing its latest podcast episode, Underwater Canada: Investigating Shipwrecks.

In honour of the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Empress of Ireland, Marc-André Bernier, Chief of Parks Canada’s Underwater Archaeology Service, joins us to discuss shipwrecks, their importance in Canadian history, and how LAC plays an important role in researching, discovering and investigating them.

Subscribe to our podcast episodes using RSS or iTunes, or just tune in at Podcast – Discover Library and Archives Canada: Your History, Your Documentary Heritage.

For more information, please contact us at podcasts@bac-lac.gc.ca.

Sir John Coape Sherbrooke: Military Hero, Governor General, Clairvoyant?

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Last year, Library and Archives Canada (LAC) acquired an important collection of documents relating to the Canadian career of Sir John Coape Sherbrooke (1764-1830). His pivotal role in the defence of the British colonies that would become the Atlantic Provinces during the War of 1812 led to his appointment as Governor General of British North America in 1816. However, his arrival in Nova Scotia in October of 1811 was not his first time in Canada.

Detail from an engraving. Portrait of Sir John Coape Sherbrooke

Portrait of Sir John Coape Sherbrooke (Mikan 4310479)

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