Special Collections & Archives (SCA) holds a variety of resources related to the local and urban history of Kitchener-À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ.
Many of SCA’s family and institutional holdings include the archives of local businesses and organizations such as Dare Foods Limited, the Dominion Rubber Company, Electrohome, Fritsch Pharmacy, the Kitchener-À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ Record, and the Rotary Club of Kitchener. In addition, the department maintains family papers related to the Breithaupt, Bolender Ball, Ratz, and Schantz families, among others.
The department is also home to the Kitchener-À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ Photographic Negative Collection, which documents local news events, community activities, regional development, and human-interest stories between 1938-2001.
The is where you can search the descriptive records for fonds and collections held by the department. You can browse records by , which includes a list of holdings. You can also do a keyword search by using the search box at the top right of the page and making use of the various navigation filters provided as part of the results listing page. The page provides more information about using the Archives Database.
You can also identify rare books, serials, periodicals, and maps held by the department by using the Library’s . After conducting a keyword search you can filter to Dana Porter Library – Special Collections & Archives under the À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ Library location options.
The (WDL) is the website SCA uses to share a selection of records that have been digitized and made, for the most part, keyword searchable.
The site is split up into two sections, one dedicated to holdings in Special Collections & Archives and one dedicated to holdings in the University of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ Archives. Records pertaining to the local history of the Region of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ appear throughout. You can browse the site by clicking into the various collections or by doing a keyword search in the search box at the top right of every page.
Local history collections with records available to browse on the WDL include:
A number of titles by historians Elizabeth Bloomfield and Gerald T. Bloomfield have been digitized and made available via the . Comprising indexes, bibliographies, biographical overviews, and historical maps, the titles are exhaustive and invaluable resources for anyone interested in the early economic and social development of both the Region of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ and Ontario as a whole. Of particular note to regional history enthusiasts is .
Among the most useful tools for the local historian are business and city directories.
The Library's collection currently includes a number of nineteenth and early twentieth century directories for the À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ region. To find directories in the library , search for the following subject headings:
Some of our directories are too fragile to use, and we have digitized these for researchers:
A number of maps are held in Special Collections & Archives (SCA). Many maps are catalogued and can be found by searching in the Library catalogue for the relevant city. Several appear in fonds maintained by the department including the and the .
A selection of SCA's can be viewed online on the À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ Digital Library.
Fire insurance plans are large scale urban maps or set of maps of a community. They are an excellent way to look at the development of a city of over time. Several are held as part of SCA and the Library's Geospatial Centre.
The Region of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ is fortunate to have a variety of cultural organization working to collect, maintain and make accessible records related to local history. ÌýÌý
Records pertaining to the history of the region can also be found on websites dedicated to provincial cultural heritage holdings.
Finally, certain campus units have made historical documents relevant to the University of À¶Ý®ÊÓƵ available online. They include:
