Sorry, you need to enable JavaScript to visit this website.
Skip to main content

Canadian History

This guide will help you find information and resources about Canadian history. Topics include the Great Depression, the Canadian Pacific Railroad, Louis Riel, and the Fur Trade.

Useful Websites

Useful Website Description

Guide to over 13,000 historic locations in Canada.

Useful Website Description

Provides access to original source documents and links to digital collections throughout Canada. They charge a fee for some documents.

Useful Website Description

Large collection of historical documents from many periods in Canadian history includes Alexander Begg's Red River journal and Telegrams of the North-West Campaign, 1885.

Useful Website Description

Includes Heritage Minute videos and oral histories in the Memory project.

Useful Website Description

Wide array of online information on Canadian history. Includes military records, genealogy, portraits and much more.

Useful Website Description

Short biographies, portraits and quick facts about the Prime Ministers.

Useful Website Description

This current and regularly updated index of the digitized collections in Canada provides links to over 1500 digital collections. Collections include newspapers, images, maps, government records and much more.

Digital Library Resources

Image
Culture and History Subject Icon

Brief biographies of notable Canadians from the years 1000 to 1930.

Access:
Everywhere for everyone
Image
Culture and History Subject Icon

Online version of the 1999 resource that describes the nation’s 119 different ethnic groups: their process of migration, arrival and settlement, community life, intergroup relations, language and culture.

Access:
Everywhere for VPL cardholders
Image
Newspapers and Magazines Subject Icon

Access the full image of the Globe and Mail newspaper from 1844 to 2018.

Access:
Everywhere for Vancouver residents
Image
Culture and History Subject Icon

Includes the complete text of the Canadian Encyclopedia in English and French, interactive resources and timelines of Canadian and world events.

Access:
Everywhere for everyone
Image
General Reference Subject Icon

Provides access to 47 databases across all major areas of study through: journals, newspapers, market reports, news wires and case studies, many of which are full text.

Access:
Everywhere for Vancouver residents

Northwest History Index

This card index in Special Collection provides access to the Northwest History Collection, a heritage collection covering the early history and exploration of British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest.

The collection includes:

  • magazine and newspaper articles
  • pamphlets
  • books
  • chapters in books
  • many other resources

As of August 1998, no new material has been added to the Northwest History Index. It is continued by the British Columbia Index.