A good newspaper archive will yield lots of family history information.  My most recent success is an article about my husband’s gg-grandfather and the role he played as a conductor on the underground railroad moving run away slaves to safety in the north.  That article was in a Michigan newspaper archive accessed at one of the large paid databases online.

That had me thinking about newspaper archive resources for Canada.  What is available and what could I find?

Library and Archives Canada has a section on newspapers although many of the links are to newer content. Cyndislist has more links to newspaper archives.

The company “Newspaper Archive” has a small list of Canadian newspapers which may be helpful especially for those looking in the prairie provinces and Newfoundland.

Look for announcements of births, marriages and deaths (obituaries).  Also 50th anniversary notices can yield a lot of information.  Note Newspaper Archive is a paid source. Search here to access.

>>>Search for family history (BMD) in Newspaper Archive

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©2011 Joan Miller.  Disclosure statement Luxegen Genealogy and Family History

Dave Obee’s list of Western Canadian Directories is one of the most comprehensive available that I’ve found to date.  I suggest checking it out.

===> Visit Dave Obee’s Western Canadian Directories List

Nokomis Saskatchewan Second Avenue c. 1913. Image courtesy of Peel's Prairie Provinces, a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries.

Peel’s Prairie Provinces, hosted at the University of Alberta Libraries, is a rich resource for western Canadian genealogists and family historians.

According to the web site, as of the fall of 2010, the Peel collection contains approximately 7,500 digitized books and over 35,000 newspaper issues (This is over 2.5 million articles). The resources are rich and varied in both images and text, providing an extensive and diverse picture of the Prairie Province experience. Many items date back to the earliest days of exploration and settlement on the Canadian prairies.

A quick search of Nokomis,  Saskatchewan resources (near where I grew up) produced photos shown on this page.

Separate images with captions: Hotel Nokomis; Saskatchewan Hotel; School Nokomis. Image courtesy of Peel's Prairie Provinces, a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries.

We might have entitled this one "a pail full of hoy." Sylvia Nroeokel of Star City, Sask., sent this unusual shot of little Allan Harvey of Nokomis, Sask., and won $3. The Farm and Ranch Review, October 1, 1950, Page 34, Item Pc03404. Image courtesy of Peel's Prairie Provinces, a digital initiative of the University of Alberta Libraries.

Visit Peel’s Prairie Provinces to search for your ancestors in old newspapers, books and images from the three prairie provinces.

UPDATE – Featured Collections at Peel’s include:

Peel’s Prairie Postcards

Henderson’s Directories

Grain Grower’s Guide

The Illustrated War News

A Letter from Louis Riel, “Tres cher ami”

Le Courrier de l’ouest

La Survivance

The Gateway

University of Alberta Newspapers

The Alberta Non-Partisan

The Illustrated War News

University of Alberta Board of Governors Collection

The Magee Photographs Collection

NOT TRUE!  Thomas came to the great white north in October.   Despite the fact Calgary has been basking in unseasonably warm weather the last three weeks and we haven’t had a frost yet had nothing to do with it.

The mere coincidence that the weather changes as soon as Thomas arrives in Calgary….well, what can I say….

Lyn Meehan, Dick Eastman and Thomas are here in Calgary for the Alberta Family Histories Society Family Roots seminars on October 16th.  I had volunteered to play tour guide and show them Banff and Lake Louise.

It crossed my mind as we left the city this morning in the slushy snow that an accident could wipe out our entire Family Roots event!  The thought intensified when a passing truck obliterated our view with slush for what seemed like an eternity before the windshield wipers caught up.

But all was not lost and the sun peeked out during the day.  Pictures below.

Bow Falls in the Snow – Banff, Alberta

Lyn Meehan, Thomas MacEntee and Dick Eastman setting up their shots in the snow

Dick Eastman, Thomas MacEntee, Lyn Meehan, Joan Miller

Dick Eastman and the Banff Springs Hotel

The sun did shine!  Dick, Lyn and Thomas

Thomas and his new friend.

Dick made a friend too.

The trio at Lake Louise

Yes, there is a glacier at the end of the lake.

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UPDATE – Both Thomas and Dick wrote about our adventure to Banff:

Reflections – Fun North of the 44th Parallel by Thomas MacEntee

What Happens in Banff Stays in Banff by Thomas MacEntee  (check this out, it is hilarious!)

Great Weekend in Calgary by Dick Eastman

My contribution to the AFHS Blog about this event:

AFHS FamilyRoots Event a Success

Video from our AFHS FamilyRoots Event

Castle Mountain near Banff, Alberta. Copyright Joan Miller

Lyn, Thomas and Dick are coming to town.  This weekend.  I’m very excited to be part of the team that is bringing them here to Calgary to speak to us about genealogy.

The Alberta Family History Society is sponsoring a Family Roots seminar on October 16, 2010 here in Calgary, Alberta. Yes,  Lyn Meehan, Thomas MacEntee and Dick Eastman are our visitors.

I’m part of the AFHS PR committee that has been spreading the word about this rare opportunity to hear all three of these well known genealogists speak here in Calgary.

They are from close and far.  Lyn is the closest, from Edmonton, about 3 hours drive north of us.  Thomas is from Chicago and Dick is from the Boston area.

I have another role – and that is tour guide.  On Friday, I’m collecting our esteemed visitors and taking them to Banff and Lake Louise to view our majestic Rocky Mountains.

The weather forecast for Friday is saying showers and 6C.  Who knows if that will be the case.  We live in ‘Just wait a moment and the weather will change’ country.

Showers in Banff mean snow at the higher elevations.  A little snow on the mountains will only enhance the experience.   The glaciers around Lake Louise are sure to impress….and perhaps we’ll see some wildlife…from a distance of course.

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Update on tickets - Dinner tickets with Dick Eastman are almost sold out.  There are still seminar tickets available to hear all three of the speakers….don’t delay though.    For more information and to buy FamilyRoots Tickets go here.

Help

There is a HELP DESK located in the Information Commons (2nd floor of MacKimmie
Library Block). Staff there can help you:

• Determine where to start your search

• Search the library catalogue

• Locate materials in the library

• Search article indexes / periodical databases

• Search the internet

• Deal with basic software and program queries

Books
To find books search the online catalogue using the search grid for author, keyword or specific
subject. Examples include:

• Germans Russia

• Canada genealogy

• Irish Immigration

• Essex history

You can also search by an ancestors name in the full text of digital primary resource and
newspaper collections, you never know when someone might be mentioned .

Primary Sources: http://library.ucalgary.ca/rdd?s=95

Newspapers: http://library.ucalgary.ca/resources/news (check date coverage in descriptions)

Maps and Atlases
The MADGIC Collection is located on the 2nd floor of the Library Tower. This area includes sheet
maps and atlases from all different time periods, including the 18th and 19th century. Many of the
atlases trace the movement of ethnic populations. Among the most useful sets of maps in this
collection are those of the British Ordnance Survey county maps; the homestead and county land
maps for the Canadian Prairies, especially Alberta; and historical maps and atlases showing
boundary changes, migration patterns, original churches or post offices, etc.

Periodical Literature
Many articles on genealogy and local or family history have been published in periodicals such as
Alberta History or Heritage Review. These articles can be located through the use of indexes, the
most useful being America: History & Life and, specifically for Canadian research, Canadian
Periodical Index. Paper copies of these are located in the Reference Collection on the 2nd floor of
the Library Block and online versions can be searched from a University of Calgary Library
computer. This search will produce articles such as:

• Dewald, Heinrich. HISTORY OF THE HEILBRONN SETTLEMENT, DAKOTA TERRITORY. Heritage Review 1996 26(4): 27-30.

These indexes will also cite book reviews and theses such as:

• Loewen, Royden. Family, Church and Market: A History of a Mennonite Community Transplanted from Russia to Canada and the United States, 1850-1930. University of Manitoba thesis. 1990.552 pp.

Periodicals or magazines have been published on a regular basis since the late 1700’s and many of these
carried useful information on family and local history as well as biographical articles, birth, death and
marriage notices and other information of use and interest to the family historian. Many of these have never
been indexed but it is always a good idea to check to see if the geographical area in which you are
searching had a newspaper or periodical published during the 18th, 19th or early 20th century. These can be
searched in the online catalogue under the subject, for example:

• Haldimand County Newspapers

Articles in periodicals (or theses) not held at the University of Calgary Library or in other local libraries can
be ordered on Interlibrary Loan through your local library.

Microforms
The MacKimmie Library holds thousands of titles in microfilm or microfiche (all on 3LT), many of which are
of interest to the family historian. For instance, The Canadian Institute of Historical Microreproduction is a
collection of microfiche reproducing books and serials published in or about Canada prior to
1920. It includes local and privately published histories, directories, biographies and even items
such as militia orders, nominal rolls and various forms of printed memorials, annual reports of
government agencies, special items celebrating local events, etc. The general call number is FC
51 C3496 No.—.

The Peel Bibliography on Microfiche is another fiche collection of books and
pamphlets published within or about the three prairie provinces from earliest times to 1950. Many
small local histories of towns, schools and churches are in this collection (FC 3237 P42 No.—).

The Library also holds a number of local Canadian newspapers, some dating back to the 18th
century, which have been microfilmed. These are largely from the Maritime Provinces, Ontario
and Quebec, with some more recent ones from Alberta.

Electronic Resources

• Journal Article indexes will help you find and search periodical articles in databases

• Campus Databases, such as the Alberta Heritage Digitization Project, allow you to access actual books and newspapers http://library.ucalgary.ca/rdd?s=95

• Search the Internet tells you how to construct a search and links you to many different search engines

Other Research Tips
If the ancestor whom you are researching had a profession, it is useful to check for information on
that specific topic. For instance, there are numerous histories, directories and biographical
dictionaries held in the University of Calgary Library on every kind of trade and skill from
silversmiths in New England to merchant navy sailors in Great Britain.
As well, it is often a good idea to check to see if there was any requirement for military service in
the area, especially militia units. Many histories and nominal rolls of such units are available and
can be found under the name of the unit.

Other Notes
The resources of the University of Calgary Library are open to the public during regular hours;
however, you cannot borrow without a valid card from either the University of Calgary Library or
TAL (The Alberta Library). Photocopiers are located on each floor and copies are $0.15 per
page, as are the microfilm/fiche printers. Copy cards can be purchased at the Circulation Desk
on the ground floor of the Tower.

If you have difficulties please check with the HELP DESK, check out the website at:
http://webapps2.ucalgary.ca/~lcrweb/kb-subjects/?CategoryID=137

2003.09.22

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Note – A special thank you to Jerremie Clyde, the history librarian at the University of Calgary who kindly provided the above information for a genealogy 101 type presentation I recently gave at the Faculty Women’s Club at the U of Calgary. He gave permission to share this information.

Related posts:

Doing Genealogy at the Calgary Public Library

• Dick Eastman – The Organized Genealogist & Conservation: Keeping UP with Technology
  
• Lyn Meehan - Records Interrogation 101 – Squeezing Records Until They Talk
• Thomas MacEntree - Social Networking for Genealogists & Become a Genealogy Blogger

Saturday, October 16, 2010
8:30 AM – 4:00 PM
(Doors open @ 8:00 AM)
Deerfoot Inn Hotel
11500 – 35 St. SE, Calgary, AB, Canada
Dinner (Optional)
Big Rock Grill
5555 – 76 Ave. SE, 6:00 PM
Speaker: Dick Eastman
Topic: “Putting the Genes in Genealogy“

For more information, logon to FamilyRoots
http://www.afhs.ab.ca/familyroots/

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Calgary is only a one day drive away from Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Montana, Idaho and Washington.  Come join us for this event!

Dick Eastman, as many of you know has been blogging about genealogy and technology for decades. On January 15, 1996, Dick Eastman  launched Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter as an e-mail publication and announced it to 100 surprised friends and acquaintances.  The editor was Pam Cerutti.

The weekly newsletter has since grown into a daily publication, still available in e-mail but also now available on the World Wide Web. The present newsletter is read by more than 40,000 genealogists all over the world. Other guest authors occasionally publish articles in EOGN.com as well.

Thomas MacEntee  (second from the left) of Geneabloggers.com with several of the Bloggers of Honor at the Family History Expo in Mesa, Arizona January 22, 23. (that’s me on right).

Thomas MacEntee is a genealogist specializing in the use of technology and social media to improve genealogical research and as a means of interacting with others in the family history community.  Utilizing over 25 years of experience in the information technology field, Thomas writes and lectures on the many ways in which blogs, Facebook and Twitter can be leveraged to add new dimensions to the genealogy experience.  As the creator of GeneaBloggers.com he has organized and engaged a community of over 900 bloggers to document their own journeys in the search for ancestors.  Thomas was recently appointed to the board of the Illinois State Genealogical Society as Publicity Chair.

Family historian, genealogist and library professional Lyn Meehan has worked in public, academic, government and historical library environments. Her thirty years’ of research experience and charismatic presentation combine to help genealogists of any level effectively navigate Internet databases. Spiked with personal anecdotes, Lyn delivers insightful search strategies and an arsenal of tactics for sidestepping common mistakes. Lyn is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists and a Reference Assistant for the Edmonton Public Library Information Services Division.

The event is Saturday, October 16, 2010 and will be held at The Deerfoot Inn & Casino.  There will be a dinner event at another location at which Dick Eastman will speak.  Details to follow.

What’s in a name….lots apparently!

Punnichy, Quentin, Raymore, Semans, Tate, Viola, Undora, Watrous, Xena, Young, Zelma.

Do you see a pattern here?

I grew up near Nokomis, Saskatchewan.  Dad was into history so we heard often about the naming of the little prairie towns along the Canadian National Rail line.

We’d head for Saskatoon to visit relatives and rattle off the names as we travelled.  After Zelma the alphabet would start over with Allan, Bradwell, Clavet as we flew by the towns.

Just about every letter of the alphabet was represented across the prairies, in a line along the CNR stretching from Portage la Prairie, Manitoba west to Alberta.

There were very few breaks in the Alphabet Railway naming system.  Nokomis being one of them (there is another story there which I’ll share with you one day).

Here is a great website listing the Alphabet Railway town names along the CNR from 1922 maps.

Find your Canadian ancestors

A list of the Canadian Genealogy Societies:

(click on the names for more information)

Alberta Family Histories Society

British Columbia Genealogical Society

Manitoba Genealogical Society

New Brunswick Genealogical Society

Family History Society of Newfoundland and Labrador

Nova Scotia Genealogical Network Association – list of several societies

Ontario Genealogical Society

Prince Edward Island Genealogical Society

Quebec Family History Society

Saskatchewan Genealogical Society

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Additions, changes?  Please add your comments and links below.