Ontario Archives and Libraries

The following archives, libraries, and societies have collections or services helpful to genealogical researchers:


 * National Archives of Canada 395 Wellington Street Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 CANADA Telephone: 613-996-5115 or 1-866-578-7777 (toll free in Canada and the US) Fax: 613-995-6274 TTY: 613-992-6969 or 1-866-299-1699 (toll free in Canada) Internet: http://www.collectionscanada.ca/index-e.html


 * Archives of Ontario 77 Grenville Street Unit 300 Toronto, ON M5S 1B3 CANADA Phone: 416-327-1552 Fax: 416-327-1999 Internet: http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/

Many records for the old pre-1867 "Province of Canada" (which combined present Ontario and Quebec) are at the National Archives of Canada. Other records for the province and counties of Ontario are at the Archives of Ontario. Many records from both archives are available on microfilm at the Family History Library.

Both the Archives of Ontario and the National Archives of Canada lend copies of many of their microfilmed records to public libraries through the interlibrary loan service.

If you plan to visit either of these archives, contact the organization and ask for information about their collection, hours, services, and fees.

There are also major genealogical collections located at:


 * Toronto Reference Library 789 Yonge Street Toronto, ON M4W 2G8 CANADA Phone: 416-393-7131 TTY: 416-393-7030 Internet: http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/


 * D. B. Weldon Library The University of Western Ontario 1151 Richmond Street North London, ON N6A 3K7 CANADA Phone: 519 661-2111 x81111 Fax: 519 850-2979 Internet: http://www.lib.uwo.ca/weldon/

Major church archives are discussed in the "Church Records" section of this outline. To learn about Ontario municipal archives, see sources cited in the Archives and Libraries section of the Canada Research Outline.

Inventories, Registers, and Catalogs
A directory of addresses, telephone numbers, hours, and brief description of collections is:


 * Taylor, Ryan. Important Genealogical Collections in Ontario Libraries and Archives: A Directory. Toronto, Ontario: Ontario Genealogical Society, 1994. (FHL book 971.3 J54t; not on microfilm.)

See the "Societies" section of this outline for a directory of Heritage Organization repositories.

A few localities have published inventories of sources relating to their area; these are at archives throughout the province. An excellent example is:


 * Bloomfield, Elizabeth, ed. Inventory of Primary and Archival Sources: Guelph and Wellington County to 1940. Guelph, Ontario: University of Guelph, 1989. (FHL book 971.342 H23i; fiche 6104305.)

Computer Networks and Bulletin Boards
Computers with modems can be useful tools for obtaining information from selected archives and libraries. In a way, computer networks serve as libraries. The Internet, certain computer bulletin boards, and commercial on-line services help family history researchers:


 * Locate other researchers.
 * Post queries.
 * Send and receive E-mail.
 * Search large databases.
 * Search computer libraries.
 * Join in computer chat and lecture sessions.

You can find computerized research tips and information about ancestors from Ontario in a variety of sources at local, provincial, national, and international levels. The list of sources is growing rapidly. Most of the information is available at no cost.

Addresses on the Internet change frequently. As of May 2007, the following sites are important gateways linking you to many more network and bulletin board sites:

Canada GenWeb

 * http://www.rootsweb.com/~canwgw/

A cooperative effort by many volunteers to list genealogical databases, libraries, bulletin boards, and other resources available on the Internet for each county and province.

Canadian Genealogy Resources

 * http://genealogy.about.com/od/canada/

Lists county, provincial, and national resources; personal pages; and publications.

Roots-L

 * http://www.rootsweb.com/roots-l/canada.html

A useful list of sites and resources. Includes a large, regularly updated research coordination list.

FamilySearch™

 * www.familysearch.org

The Family History Library and some Family History Centers have computers with FamilySearch™. Familysearch is a collection of computer files containing several million names. This is a good place to begin your research. Some of the records come from compiled sources; some have been automated from original sources.