Repertory of General Databases for Canadian History
Archives Canada
Archives Canada is a gateway to archival resources found in over 800 repositories across Canada andcan be used to search archival holdings across Canada; access provincial and territorial archival networks; view digitized photographs, maps, documents and online exhibits developed around Canada's history; browse digital projects produced through the Archival Community Digitization Program; and find contact information for repositories where these resources are held.
Atlas Canada
This interactive atlas includes contemporary and historical maps with brief historical explanations for each of the following categories: Historical Indian Treaties, Aboriginal Peoples, Pre-Confederation Canada, Territorial Evolution, and Exploration 1497-1760.
Begbie Contest Society
http://begbiecontestsociety.org (Canadian Primary Resources)
The Begbie Contest Society website includes primary sources for teaching Canadian history in the following categories: Confederation, Riel and Manitoba, National Policy, Canadian Pacific Railway, Riel Rebellion, Immigration, Alaska Boundary Dispute, Prohibition, Canadian Navy, Reciprocity, First World War, Women's Suffrage, Winnipeg General Strike, Hudson's Bay Railway, and Asbestos Strike. The website is being continuously updated.
http://begbiecontestsociety.org (Canadian Primary Resources)
The Begbie Contest Society website includes primary sources for teaching Canadian history in the following categories: Confederation, Riel and Manitoba, National Policy, Canadian Pacific Railway, Riel Rebellion, Immigration, Alaska Boundary Dispute, Prohibition, Canadian Navy, Reciprocity, First World War, Women's Suffrage, Winnipeg General Strike, Hudson's Bay Railway, and Asbestos Strike. The website is being continuously updated.
Canada—A Collector’s Passion: The Peter Winkworth Collection
The Peter Winkworth Collection at Library and Archives Canada is a nationally significant, rare, and valuable art collection that documents more than four centuries of Canadian history. This comprehensive collection is the culmination of one person’s passion for early Canadian art and is a testament to his commitment to preserving Canada’s heritage. The website is organized into two main sections: “Town and Country” includes art from five different regions in Canada, and “Life in Canada” documents many aspects of daily life in Canada, including Aboriginals, Work, and Immigrants, among others.
Canada in the Making
This bilingual website focuses on three themes in Canada’s history: Constitutional History, Aboriginals: Treaties & Relations, and Pioneers and Immigrants, as told through the words of the men and women who shaped the nation. This website is built around government documents from the Early Canadiana Online collection, and integrates narrative text with links to primary source texts, images, and maps. The website includes:
- links to over 300 digitized documents
- summaries of over 250 key historical documents
- more than 175 historical images and maps
- links to reliable sources of historical information.
Canada's Digital Collections archived at Library and Archives Canada
Hundreds of websites alphabetically listed feature Canadian history with regional, provincial and national foci. These individual sites were created as part of the Canada's Digital Collections initiative (CDC) operated by Industry Canada between 1996 and 2004. The various collections that were produced during this time period have now been archived by Library and Archives Canada.
Canadian Architectural Archives (digital initiatives)
The largest collection of architectural drawings, business records, photographs, and models related to modern Canadian architecture in the world. The site has a large digital component.
Canadian Built Heritage Research Inventory
This site is presented by the Heritage Resources Centre (HRC), University of Waterloo. It is a "work-in-progress" database highlighting research on built heritage in Canada.
Canadian Historical Portraits
Canadian history enthusiast Aegidius Fauteux built a vast collection of portraits of great figures in Canadian history, mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries, but also from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries as well. The virtual exhibition Portraits historiques canadiens contains a total of 3,338 portraits of 1,542 different figures. This website will be of interest to anyone keen on learning more about Canadian history and its key figures.
Canadian Letters and Images Project
The Canadian Letters and Images Project is an online archive of the Canadian war experience, from World Wars I and II, as told through the letters and images of Canadians themselves.
Canadian Pamphlets and Broadsides Collection
This website includes holdings of Canadian pamphlets and broadsides in a great diversity of subject areas including agriculture and land settlement, politics and government, education, temperance, transportation, natural resources, and the arts. The online collection consists of over 20,000 page images and is added to regularly. The website complements existing online resources such as Early Canadiana Online and the Champlain Society digital collection which provide access to categories of Canadian monographs.
CBC Digital Archives
The CBC/Radio-Canada Digital Archives website project was founded to inform, to enlighten and to educate Canadians about their past by collecting thousands of CBC radio and television clips from the past seven decades and organizing them into hundreds of topics that can be viewed or listened to on the website. The array of different topics, radio, and television clips can be searched for via keyword, and the topics are also classified into ten broad categories (with further sub-categories) including Economy and Business, Arts and Entertainment, Environment, Health, Lifestyle, Politics, Science and Technology, Society, Sports, and War and Conflict.
CBC News
Links to CBC News stories, original documents, photo galleries, oral histories and interviews, interactive maps, and other features. Topics of interest in Canadian history include Bill 101, Champlain Anniversary, D-Day Canada’s Role, Tommy Douglas, Equalization Payments, First World War, VE Day, and Vimy Ridge Remembered.
CN Images of Canada Gallery
Historical photographs from the CN Images of Canada Gallery at the Canada Science and Technology Museum website include collections of images organized into the following topics: Agriculture, Aviation, Railways, Marine Services, Natural Resources, Industry, People, Communication and Computers, Road Transport, Structures and Scenic Views along with several photo essays including Railways in Canada: A Brief History, and a Train Journey Through the Ottawa Valley.
Democracy at War: Canadian Newspapers and the Second World War
During WW II the staff of the Hamilton Spectator collected more than 144,000 newspaper stories and editorials from mostly Canadian newspapers and arranged them by date and subject. The website details almost every aspect of the Canadian experience in WW II and is organized onto four key topics (Introduction, Canada and the War, Operations, The Holocaust) that include short historical articles along with sample clippings from the collection. You are also invited to explore the online database using either the basic or detailed search, the latter which includes a date searching feature. A glossary of terms, highlighted in red throughout the historical articles, provides definitions for technical terms and abbreviations.
Early Images of Canada: Illustrations from Rare Books
This website hosts 550 searchable images (mostly engravings) from Library and Archives Canada's Rare Book Collection. All the images are taken from books – often exploration or missionary narratives – published before 1800 which have been selected because they depict geography that is now part of Canada, or events that are significant in Canadian history.
The Evidence Web: Library and Archives Canada
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/education/sources/index-e.html
The Evidence Web is part of Library and Archives Canada The Learning Centre and provides teachers with original documents, art, video and audio clips from the LAC vaults. Each original document includes detailed descriptions, zoom-in capacity, and links to other websites and Educational Resources. EvidenceWeb can be searched by theme, site, format and place, or sources can be browsed by theme (Aboriginal Peoples, The Arts, Disasters and Phenomena, Exploration and Settlement, Landmarks and Landscape, Notable People and Accomplishments, Politics and Government, Sports and Leisure and War and Military. EvidenceWeb Educational Resources includes various guides to improve students’ research skills, and improves their ability to analyze a variety of different primary sources including oral histories, photographs, maps, political cartoons and diaries and three seven-lesson units of study: The Confederation Chronicles, Hidden in the Documents: Discovering Loyalist Stories and Canada and the Cold War: The Gouzenko Affair.
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/education/sources/index-e.html
The Evidence Web is part of Library and Archives Canada The Learning Centre and provides teachers with original documents, art, video and audio clips from the LAC vaults. Each original document includes detailed descriptions, zoom-in capacity, and links to other websites and Educational Resources. EvidenceWeb can be searched by theme, site, format and place, or sources can be browsed by theme (Aboriginal Peoples, The Arts, Disasters and Phenomena, Exploration and Settlement, Landmarks and Landscape, Notable People and Accomplishments, Politics and Government, Sports and Leisure and War and Military. EvidenceWeb Educational Resources includes various guides to improve students’ research skills, and improves their ability to analyze a variety of different primary sources including oral histories, photographs, maps, political cartoons and diaries and three seven-lesson units of study: The Confederation Chronicles, Hidden in the Documents: Discovering Loyalist Stories and Canada and the Cold War: The Gouzenko Affair.
Framing Canada: A Photographic Memory
This website includes a searchable database of digitized photographic images from 1843 to the mid-20th century that tell the fascinating and ever-changing story of how Canadians see themselves and their world. The website also offers Photographic Collections, a history of Library and Archives Canada's photo collections, as well as the following thematic essays: Nation Building, The Canadian Mosaic, Portraiture, Aboriginal Peoples, Amateur Photography, Photojournalism, The Evolution of Photography, Commercial Photography, War and Conflict, and A Sense of Space. Educational resources are also provided to help teachers teach students how to analyze and interpret photographs.
Historica Canada: Black History Canada
http://www.blackhistorycanada.ca/
This website is an annotated guide to online resources on the history of Canada’s Black community. The website is divided into a variety of sections including profiles of prominent Black Canadians, descriptions of significant events in Black Canadian history, descriptions of important aspects of Black Canadian arts and culture, and a timeline of important events from 1600 to present day. It also has a For Teachers section which includes a listing of curriculum correlations for all Canadian provinces, a description of Black History Month, a listing of general sites important for teaching about Canada’s Black communities, a listing of online learning resources, and an annotated bibliography.
http://www.blackhistorycanada.ca/
This website is an annotated guide to online resources on the history of Canada’s Black community. The website is divided into a variety of sections including profiles of prominent Black Canadians, descriptions of significant events in Black Canadian history, descriptions of important aspects of Black Canadian arts and culture, and a timeline of important events from 1600 to present day. It also has a For Teachers section which includes a listing of curriculum correlations for all Canadian provinces, a description of Black History Month, a listing of general sites important for teaching about Canada’s Black communities, a listing of online learning resources, and an annotated bibliography.
Images Canada
This bilingual website provides central search access to the thousands of images held on websites of participating Canadian cultural institutions including Canadian events, people, places and things that make up Canadian collective heritage, including photos, paintings and cartoons. The website includes Image Trails or pre-selected searches on particular topics or themes that have yielded between 50 and 150 image results such as First Nations and Inuit, Pioneer Life, Canada at War, and Transportation (ships, planes, trains and automobiles). It also includes a series of photo essays written by a photo archivist or historian that provides a narrative on a particular theme.
Library and Archives Canada
This contains Library and Archives Canada’s bilingual national collection of books, historical documents, government records, photos, films, maps, music and more. History teachers might be interested in the databases, research aids and virtual exhibitions on a variety of topics: Genealogy and Family History, Portrait Collection, Aboriginal Peoples, Art and Photography, Biography and People, Censuses, Ethno-Cultural Groups, Exploration and Settlement, Literature, Military and Peacekeeping, Music and Performing Arts, National Identity, Newspapers, Politics and Government, Sports, and Vital Statistics.
Multicultural Canada
http://www.multiculturalcanada.ca/Collections
This website includes collections of newspapers, oral histories, photographs, books, newsletters, legal documents, meeting minutes, and other materials highlighting the presence and contribution of numerous cultural and ethnic communities in Canada. It also includes resources for finding information on cultural or ethnic groups not listed on this site including Encyclopedia of Canada’s Peoples, BC Multicultural Photographs, Miscellaneous Collections, and Related Sites.
http://www.multiculturalcanada.ca/Collections
This website includes collections of newspapers, oral histories, photographs, books, newsletters, legal documents, meeting minutes, and other materials highlighting the presence and contribution of numerous cultural and ethnic communities in Canada. It also includes resources for finding information on cultural or ethnic groups not listed on this site including Encyclopedia of Canada’s Peoples, BC Multicultural Photographs, Miscellaneous Collections, and Related Sites.
National Film Board
Search online films (documentaries, dramatizations, animations) from the National Film Board site.
Our Roots
Our Roots is a library, archive, museum and school all in one. The collection can be used to find digitized books and archives, Canadian local histories in French and English, and educational learning packages focusing on local history for students and teachers.
Picturing the Past
http://www.images.technomuses.ca/
Explore the picture collections from the Canadian Science and Technology Museum, or read stories from Canadian history. The Teachers Section offers curriculum-based lessons and study guides to assist both the teacher and student in the use of the stories and images offered on the website, including several stories, one of which focuses on the development of Western Canadian tourism in Saskatchewan and Alberta during the 1930's, "Canada at War" and the Canadian homefront during World War II, and an understanding of the experience of Canadian industrialization and urbanization.
http://www.images.technomuses.ca/
Explore the picture collections from the Canadian Science and Technology Museum, or read stories from Canadian history. The Teachers Section offers curriculum-based lessons and study guides to assist both the teacher and student in the use of the stories and images offered on the website, including several stories, one of which focuses on the development of Western Canadian tourism in Saskatchewan and Alberta during the 1930's, "Canada at War" and the Canadian homefront during World War II, and an understanding of the experience of Canadian industrialization and urbanization.
Statistics Canada - Teachers' Tool Box
http://www65.statcan.gc.ca/acyb_r005-eng.htm
Statistics Canada has created a variety of resources, lesson plans and data for teachers of Canadian history that utilize key Statistics Canada resources including various Censuses of Canada, the Canada Year Book Historical Collection 1867-1967, and the Historical Statistics of Canada. These resources include flash animations, collections, articles, and animated maps, and focus on a diverse range of topics including immigration and emigration, New France, population, Aboriginal Peoples, the Great Depression, ethnocultural diversity, and the economy (provinces and manufacturing).
http://www65.statcan.gc.ca/acyb_r005-eng.htm
Statistics Canada has created a variety of resources, lesson plans and data for teachers of Canadian history that utilize key Statistics Canada resources including various Censuses of Canada, the Canada Year Book Historical Collection 1867-1967, and the Historical Statistics of Canada. These resources include flash animations, collections, articles, and animated maps, and focus on a diverse range of topics including immigration and emigration, New France, population, Aboriginal Peoples, the Great Depression, ethnocultural diversity, and the economy (provinces and manufacturing).
Primary historical documents are online in a variety of places. Many are subscription based and are available through the University of Toronto Libraries. Others are freely available to all. This guide provides links to both open access and licensed resources.
Virtual Gramophone: Canadian Historical Sound Recordings
This is a growing multimedia website devoted to Canadian recorded sound from the early 1900s to the 1940s and provides researchers and enthusiasts with a comprehensive look at the 78-rpm era in Canada. It includes a database of images and digital audio recordings, as well as biographies of musicians and histories of music and recorded sound in Canada.
Virtual Museum
This is a bilingual interactive space for Canadian museum collections to showcase over 800 virtual exhibits, an image gallery with more than 80,000 images, and teacher learning resources as well.
Virtual Vault
Library and Archives Canada
This website features high-quality paintings of early Canada from the Library and Archives Canada collections in three categories: People, Landscape, and Transportation and Maps. These art pieces represent some of the finest surviving records of the past, and exemplify Canadian artists' continual attempts to come to grips with the changing realities of Canadian society and with the challenging geography of this country.
