Special Collections
The Special Collections Room, located on the second floor of the Central Library. It houses information on local history (the City of St. Catharines and Niagara Region), Canadian and U.S. history as relates to the region and genealogy.
Materials include:
- local history scrapbooks
- St. Catharines City Council minutes, indexed
- Regional Niagara Council minutes, indexed
- local government publications and local newsletters
- vertical file clippings of local issues
- many yearbooks from local high schools
- local photographs, postcards, slides
- extensive index of local names
- biographies and many family history records for the Niagara Peninsula
- cemetery transcriptions for many cemeteries in the Niagara area and elsewhere
- some local church records
- St. Catharines city directories from the mid 1860s to the present (incomplete to 1910); Niagara Peninsula telephone directories on microfilm
- early local newspapers on microfilm
- some early Ontario gazetteers and directories
- histories of many communities, churches, and some institutions in the Niagara Peninsula
- significant holdings: War of 1812, United Empire Loyalists, The Underground Railway, Welland Canal materials
- bibliographies, indexes, and directories of genealogical resources, including international resources; newsletters of some historical and genealogical societies
- census records for all Ontario to 1901 on microfilm, as well as some Maritime census material; name indexes for some early Niagara area census are available as well as for all the 1871 Ontario census
- birth, marriage, death name indexes on microfilm, 1869-c.1900s
- Archives of Ontario microfilm interlibrary loan catalogue
Trained staff are available during library hours Tuesday through Sunday. Service is limited on Sundays.
Research
Answers to specific genealogical questions can rarely be given over the telephone. For lengthy searches you are encouraged to come in person.
Written or faxed questions should be concise and addressed to Special Collections.
Fees
Fees for mail/telephone/e-mail requests were instituted in 1996. Fees are given below:
- searches $10.00 per 15 minutes 7% G.S.T.
- photocopy $0.20 per page
- computer printout $0.20 per page
- microfilm copy $0.50 per page
- fax $4.00 for first 5 pages, $0.50 each additional page
Special Collections
Telephone: 905-688-6103 Ext. 220
Fax: 905-688-6292
E-mail: special.collections@stcatharines.library.on.ca
Address: Special Collections
Central Library
54 Church St.
St. Catharines, Ont.
L2R 7K2