Documents & Records
Newspapers - Mainstream
Basics
Mainstream newspapers - that is, English-language newspapers published for the community-at-large - may contain material of interest to Chinese-Canadian genealogists, including announcements of births, marriages and deaths, news articles and background information. For details on locating birth, marriage and death announcements, see the Birth, Marriage and Death Newspaper Announcements page.
Finding the Records
Historic newspapers are available at many locations.
At the Vancouver Public Library
Newspapers on Microfilm
The Online Information and News department on Level 5 at the Central Library has a large collection of both historical and recent newspapers. The focus of the historical collection is on Canadian newspapers. For a list of microfilm newspaper holdings see Newspapers on Microfilm.
Print and electronic indexes for many of these newspapers are available at the Vancouver Public Library. For more information, see the staff in Online Information and News on Level 5 at the Central Branch.
Newspaper Directories
The following newspaper directories may be used to identify historical newspapers published across Canada:
Directory of Canadian Newspapers for 1900 Being a Catalogue of All Newspapers and Periodicals Published in Canada and Newfoundland (1900)
Ref. 050X D598
A Historical Directory of Manitoba Newspapers, 1858-1978 (1981)
Loveridge, D.M.
Ref. 071.1 L91h
An Historical Directory of Nova Scotia Newspapers and Journals Before Confederation (1977)
Vincent, Thomas Brewer, comp.
Ref. 071.1X V77h
Historical Directory of Saskatchewan Newspapers, 1878-1950 (1951)
MacDonald, Christine
Ref. 071.1X M13h
Ontario Ethno-Cultural Newspapers, 1835-1972: An Annotated Checklist (1973)
McLaren, Duncan
Ref. 070.484X M16o
Union Catalogue of British Columbia Newspapers, 3 vol. (1987)
Komorous, Hana, comp.
Ref. 071.1X K81u
Union List of Canadian Newspapers (1993)
National Library of Canada
Ref. MICROFICHE 071.1X c212ua
At the University of British Columbia
The Koerner Library at the University of British Columbia has a collection of newspapers that is open to the public. See their listing of Newspapers in U.B.C. Library Collection.
At the B.C. Archives
A collection of historical British Columbia newspapers on microfilm is available at the B.C. Archives in Victoria. The B.C. Archives does not participate in inter-library loan programs so it is necessary to visit the Archives in order to consult their holdings. Holdings include a number of non-B.C. newspapers. For more information see their listing of British Columbia Newspapers on Microfilm.
At Library and Archives Canada
The Library and Archives of Canada (LAC) has over 200,000 reels of Canadian newspapers on microfilm. Films may be borrowed through inter-library loan. For a listing of LAC newspaper holdings see Newspapers at Library and Archives Canada.
Online
Many newspapers have their own websites but, in most cases, content is limited to current and recent editions. However, a number of old newspapers have been digitized for the web. Some are free, while others are available by subscription only.
Free Websites
Alberta Newspapers Collection
Part of the Alberta Heritage Digitization Project, this ongoing project that will eventually contain all Alberta newspapers from 1880 on. The database is browsable by date, place or newspaper title. There is currently no keyword searching.
The British Colonist, Online Edition: 1858-1911
Access historic Victoria, B.C. newspapers through the British Colonist digitization project, a collaboration between the Times Colonist newspaper, the University of Victoria Libraries, and a consortium of British Columbia libraries to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the British Colonist newspaper. This database contains all issues of the British Colonist (also called The Daily British Colonist, the Daily Colonist and other variants), from the first issue in 1858 to June 1910.
Eleanor Muehle Newspaper Archive
The Terrace Public Library has produced this searchable database for Terrace newspapers published between 1926-2004.
The Globe and Mail - Canada's Heritage from 1844
This subscription database contains digital images from the The Globe and Mail from 1844 to 2001 and is searchable by keyword and browsable by date.
Note: Vancouver Public Library card is required.
A Nation's Chronicle: The Canada Gazette
The primary goal of this website is to make available to researchers the entire Canada Gazette, from 1841 to 1997. Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software is used to read the originals, whether on paper or microform, and transform these into a text document. Essentially, it creates a searchable document from an image. Digitization of the Canada Gazette is ongoing. Issues of the Canada Gazette after 1997 are available online at the website of the Canada Gazette Directorate.
Peel's Prairie Provinces - Search Newspapers
This searchable database from the University of Alberta Library includes digitized images from over 70 prairie province newspapers. Dates range from 1871 to 2007.
Prince George Newspapers
This collaborative venture from The Prince George Public Library, the College of New Caledonia Library, and the Geoffrey R. Weller Library at the University of Northern British Columbia, provides free digital access to the historical newspapers of Prince George, British Columbia from 1909 to 1977.
Quesnel Cariboo Observer
Searchable database from the Quesnel and District Museum and Archives provides digital PDF images of the Quesnel Cariboo Observer newspaper from 1908–1990.
Special Editions of Canadian Newspapers
For more than a century, newspapers have produced special colour supplements to mark important events. This site presents a selection of these special items from the collection of Library and Archives Canada.
International and Subscription Websites
See the International Coalition on Newspaper's Newspaper Digitization Projects web page for a list of free and subscription newspapers all over the world.
Photo banner: Detail from VPL Historical Photograph 78362
