Archival Research Tutorial: Archives in Toronto

The Diocesan Archives provides safe, secure and controlled storage for non-current parish records, including baptism, marriage and burial records, proof of status for legal purposes as well as genealogical purposes

Online searchable database of archival records held at the Archives of Ontario.

The mandate of the archives of the ARchdiocese of Toronto is to collect, preserve and make available for research the official records of the church and those ancillary records which reflect the work of the Church within the Archdiocese.

Founded in 1973, the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives (CLGA) has grown to become the second-largest LGBT archives in the world. The Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives aspires to be a significant resource and catalyst for those who strive for a future world where lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are accepted, valued, and celebrated.

Link to information on holdings, access policies and hours of city archives. Holdings include: municipal records, organizational records, private papers, local history, photograph collections, and architectural design records relating to the history and operation of the city of Toronto and its surrounding suburbs, including Scarborough, North York and Etobicoke.
According to its collection mandate:
"The City of Toronto Archives preserves and provides access to records of enduring value regardless of media or format, that provide evidence of the decisions, policies, and activities of the City of Toronto, its predecessor municipalities, and its agencies, boards, and commissions which do not have their own archival programs. The Archives also acquires, preserves, and provides access to non-government records that make a significant contribution to an understanding of the development of the City, its natural and built environment, and the people who lived, worked, or had an impact upon Toronto."

Massey College, an independent institution affiliated with the University of Toronto holds archival materials and special collections focusing on history of the book focusing on the technical aspects of the book arts including the history, practice and technique of printing, illustration, typography, graphic arts, papermaking and binding from the late 18th century through to the mid 20th century. Also includes a teaching collection of functioning nineteenth-century iron hand presses.

The mandate of the Media Commons Media Archives is to support the curriculum and research in various disciplines at the University of Toronto. While it serves primarily the faculty, staff, and current students at the University, it is also available to external researchers. Materials focus on historical and contemporary film/video production, advertising, electronic and print journalism, broadcasting, photographic arts, and multimedia and music production.
Highlights include archives of Jeff Healey, Blue Rodeo, Alliance Atlantis, Cowboy Junkies, Lionsgate Entertainment, NOW Magazine, Shaftesbury Films Inc., True North Records, Patrick Watson and Moses Znaimer.

The MHSO publicizes, preserves and makes accessible material which demonstrates the role of immigration and ethnicity in shaping the cultural and economic development of Toronto, Ontario and Canada.

The Music Library at the University of Toronto holds history sheet music collections as well as a large collection of published items on the history of music and of music editing, performance and printing and early Canadian sheet music and tune books.

The OCAD Archives seek to document and promote the university's evolution by preserving administrative records, communications and institutional publications;
photographs; posters, pamphlets and postcards advertising OCAD activities; media coverage of OCAD events and artifacts and ephemera related to college activities.

Affiliated with the University of Toronto, OISE's special collections include materials relating to in the history of education and curriculum policy in Ontario, Ontario school textbooks, French education and women in education.

The Ontario Jewish Archives, a department of the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, was established in 1973. The Archives is responsible for acquiring, preserving and making available documentary sources related to the Ontario Jewish community.

The Petro Jacyk Resource Centre of the University of Toronto was created to support the activities of the Centre for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (CERES) and the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures.

Affiliated with the University of Toronto and St. Michael's College, the PIMS Library has research strengths in medieval history, theology and languages. Access to the library is normally granted to those professors and graduate students of the University of Toronto who need to consult unique copies or materials not otherwise accessible. Every reasonable opportunity to use the library is also given to visiting scholars, particularly Guests of the Institute.

Open to the public, the ROM Libaries hold research and archival materials related to archaeology of Central and North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia; native peoples of North America, Africa and the Pacific; decorative arts of Canada, Europe and Asia; botany, entomology, zoology, ornithology, ichthyology, herpetology and mammalogy; mineralogy, geochronology and geology, paleontology; costume and textiles.

Collection strengths include photography, film and Soviet memorabilia, notably:
The archives of Canadian Kodak Ltd.; the photographic archives of Canadian Architect Magazine; the Leniniana Collection of memorabilia relating to Vladimir Lenin collected by Dr. Ron Vastokas; Archives and special collections relating to the history of photography, photographic technology and film.

A federated college of the University of Toronto, the John M. Kelly Library at St. Michael's College has special collections and archives concentrated in the area of Catholic theology, philosophy and lay organizations, nineteenth century French literature, and book history. Highlights include materials relating to Marshall McLuhan, Emile Zola, G.K. Chesterton, John Henry Newman, Thomas Merton, the Counter Reformation, Henri Nouwen, Sheila Watson and L'Arche International.
Also includes a working collection of antique printing presses and type used for teaching purposes in cooperation with the college's Book and Media Studies program.

The Toronto Public Library is home to a number of special collections held at the Toronto Reference Library and the Lilian H. Smith branch. These collections include:
The Baldwin Room Canadiana collection and Arthur Conan Doyle | Sherlock Holmes collection | The Merril Collection for Science Fiction, Speculation and Fantasy |
The Osborne Collection of children's literature |
Performing arts collection of rare music, costume designs and other memorabilia

A federated college of the University of Toronto, Trinity College's special collections focus on the administrative records of the college with additional research strengths on Anglicanism, Winston Churchill, Anglican theologian Richard Hooker and G7/G8 Economic Summits as collected by the G8 Research Group based at Trinity.

Administrative, organizational and private archives related to the administration, research and scholarship of the University of Toronto.
UTARMS collection management reads:
"The University of Toronto Archives is responsible for the appraisal, acquisition, preservation and use of University records of permanent value and the private records of individuals and organizations associated with the University. The University Archives works co-operatively with other permanent campus archives programmes devoted to preserving their sponsors' documentary heritage. As well as providing a research service, the University Archives provides an administrative service through the development and implementation of the University's records management programme. The objectives of this programme are detailed in the Terms of Reference of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Archives and Records Management. Please note: The University of Toronto Archives' mandate does not include the records of the federated universities of St. Michael's, Trinity and Victoria or of the theological colleges, Knox, Wycliffe, and Emmanuel."

The Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library houses the Department of Rare Books and Special Collections including books, manuscripts and other materials. Research strengths include: British, European and Canadian literature, philosophy, the history of science and medicine, Canadiana, Hebraica and Judaica, and the history and art of the book.

The United Church of Canada Archives includes the General Council Archives and the Central Ontario Conferences Archives serving Bay of Quinte, Hamilton, London, Manitou, and Toronto Conferences.

A federated college of the University of Toronto, Victoria University Library's Special Collections include archives and rare book collections, with research strengths in art, literature, Canadiana, philosophy and religious studies. Highlights include holdings on Erasmus, Virginia Woolfe, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Northrup Frye, Norman Jewison and Peter Jones (Ojibwa chief and Methodist missionary).