Doing Genealogy at Calgary Public Library

Research Your Family Tree at the Library

Christine Hayes of the Calgary Public Library was kind enough to compile a list of the genealogy resources available at our local library.

The Calgary Public Library has an interesting and eclectic collection of material for genealogists.  Our focus is on Canadian research but our collection includes information for researchers looking for ancestors in many different places.

What we have:

  • Handbooks and guidebooks for a wide variety of places and records types.
  • Complete Canadian census on microfilm including the two censuses of the Prairie Provinces from 1906 and 1916
  • Canadian Ships lists on microfilm 1865-1919
  • Indexes to vital statistics records, wills and probate, passenger lists
  • Compiled lists
  • Land records indexes and microfilm
  • Newspaper and magazine indexes and compilations
  • Cemetery transcriptions for southern Alberta
  • Directories for Calgary and Southern Alberta
  • Voters’ Lists for Calgary
  • Historical Alberta newspapers on microfilm
  • Local Histories for Southern Alberta
  • Biographical and heraldic dictionaries
  • Bibliographies of genealogies and local histories
  • Atlases, maps, and gazetteers
  • Biography clipping files for Calgary
  • Online resources such as Ancestry LE, Toronto Star Pages from the Past, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Biography and Genealogy Index
  • And lots and lots of other interesting things.

We have a Community Heritage and Family History Blog, accessible from the Calgary Public Library website (www.calgarypubliclibrary.com).   It looks at matters historical and genealogical.  We like to highlight some of our lesser known resources for people interested in heritage.

We also offer programs such as our Genealogy Saturdays on the last Saturday of each month from September to June.  The day starts at 10:00 am with Family History Coaching where volunteers from Alberta Family Histories Society and Calgary Public Library staff assist customers one-on-one with genealogy questions.  Next is the Genealogy Meet-Up where people get together to learn and share.


Related posts:

Genealogy Resources at the University of Calgary