Canadian heritage resources

Canadian resources collection

This vast ancestry collection adds context and depth to family stories from military heroes to biscuit makers from Canada and the U.S. We have indexed all of our Canadian heritage books for easy searching using optical character recognition, which allows you to search every single word. Explore a wealth of information at your fingertips from our partnership with Archives Canadian books.

When Canada was formed in 1867 its provinces were a relatively narrow strip in the southeast, with vast territories in the interior. It grew by adding British Columbia in 1871, P.E.I. in 1873, the British Arctic Islands in 1880, and Newfoundland in 1949; meanwhile, its provinces grew both in size and number at the expense of its territories.

CANADA TIMELINE: Evolution of the Provinces

Collections include books from all 10 Canadian provinces and three territories, including:

  • Alberta
  • British Colombia
  • Manitoba
  • New Brunswick
  • Nova Scotia
  • Ontario
  • Quebec
  • Prince Edward Island
  • Saskatchewan

Fascinating Irish, British and Scotch-Irish (Ulster Irish) collections:

These resources from Canada contain Irish and British ancestry resources detailing family history of people who emigrated to North America.

Family historians with Scotch-Irish heritage (known as Ulster-Irish in Europe) should explore our collections concerning California Scotch-Irish, Kentucky Scotch-Irish and Tennessee Scotch-Irish ancestry.

Our social histories also cover “Facts about Ulster” in Ireland. These heritage collections are excellent resources about the plantation of Ulster, which was a colony in Northern Ireland inhabited by English immigrants with Scottish influence whose decedents are now considered the Scotch-Irish.

What Canadian family history is included?

Directories – listings, names and addresses from postal, telephone, trade, commercial, other directories

Military – service records, medal rolls and honors, regimental histories – providing important information on men and women who have served their country

Family histories & pedigrees - invaluable resources documenting entire families

Local and social histories - telling the stories behind the places your ancestors lived

Government publications - official publications from the Canadian government relating to laws, regulations, and other topics

Newspapers, magazines and almanacs- covering what the breaking news of the day, obituaries, illustrations and social theories that shaped the collective memory

Family histories & pedigrees- invaluable resources documenting entire lines researched by genealogists of the time

Electoral Rolls- important records to track the location of your ancestors.

Land and Estates- documents will detail not only the location of ancestors, but also the amount of land and wealth a person owned or relinquished.

Other notices, surveys, educations and occupations- adding more depth to the births, anniversaries, annoucements and other life events for both U.S. and Canadian ancestors.