08 July 2019

New: Ottawa Directories and Newspapers Online:

Joy! Thanks in part to a grant from the Ottawa Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society the following resources are newly digitized and searchable online through the Ottawa Public Library website.

City directories
For the years 1927, 1926, 1924, 1923, 1922, 1921, 1920, 1918, 1917, 1910, 1908, 1907, 1906, 1905, 1904, 1903, 1880, 1879, 1878, 1877, 1876, 1874-75, 1872-73, 1870-71, 1866-67, 1864-65, 1863

Newspapers
The Ottawa Times for 1865-1877
Courrier d'Ottawa for 1861-1864

They are not yet announced. Recognize that this is a work in progress; OPL is working on an update to its Local History Collections page which currently refers only to directory and newspaper resources to view on microfilm.

The online versions can currently be viewed and searched through the OPL catalogue. You do not need to be logged in. Here's how to find them.

For directories, from https://biblioottawalibrary.ca/en  search "Ottawa Directory" and then narrow to "eBook" format. For the newspapers, search by title "The Times" or "Courrier d'Ottawa" and then narrow to ‘Website or Online Data’ format. In each case click on the required resource.

As mentioned, this is a work in progress. The subsequent search forms appeared to me in French. Choose to search within the title < Recherche dans ce titre> or a general search < Rechercher> which produces results across the whole corpus of digitized directories and newspapers.

Results appear highlighted in red on an image of the original.

Expect changes as the system develops.

Library and Archives Canada has a collection of digitized Ottawa directories that fill the gaps (mostly) at http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/directories-collection/Pages/directories-collection-available-editions.aspx/.


2 comments:

  1. Thanks for mentioning these and for the very clear directions on finding and using them! You can also browse these publications: for the newspapers, click on the "Numéros" tab to see a calendar with available issues highlighted. Choose the year on the right-hand side of the page, then the date from the calendar supplied. For directories, choose a page number (e.g. "1") from the "Pages" menu. The page will be displayed and you can move back and forth within the publication using the arrows at the top of the page.

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  2. Too bad Ottawa (and Kingston) don't follow the lead of Toronto and Hamilton to include directories up till 1965

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