Jean-Luc Pilon, adjunct professor of sociology and anthropology at Carleton University as well as former curator of central archeology at the Canadian Museum of History...
Explore Ottawa's rich history on line or in person.
Stony Monday riot, the rabid Duke of Richmond, rowdy lumberjacks and eccentric geniuses. . . Ottawa's history is anything but boring! And OPL is the place to find out all about it. Our local history collections tell the stories of the people, customs, and institutions that built Ottawa and the surrounding communities.
Reference materials, including books, newspapers, directories, and municipal reports, can be consulted at Main, Nepean Centrepointe, or Beaverbrook branches. In addition, OPL is pleased to house the collections of 3 local history societies. And, of course, the most popular local history titles are available to borrow at many branches. Together, OPL's local history collections provide an extensive resource on Ottawa and the surrounding area, past and present.
Events
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Wednesday Apr 12, 2023 at 1:00pm -
Saturday Mar 25, 2023 at 10:00am / until Apr 22, 2023Black History Ottawa, the Ubuntu Legacy Network and the Historical Society of Ottawa invite you to the first of a three-part book club on Tom...
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Wednesday May 10, 2023 at 1:00pmOn the eve of May Day 1898, Lady Aberdeen summoned the daughters of Ottawa's "finest families" and challenged them to make it their mission to...
Blogs
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Jul 18, 2022This summer, with gas prices and wanting new adventures closer to home, I decided... -
Aug 30, 2021To celebrate Capital Pride 2021, OPL welcomes guest blogger John Lund, City of Ottawa Archives.
Online resources
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This digitized full-images archives of the Ottawa Citizen provides genealogists, researchers and general public with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time.
This will allow Ottawans to digitally travel back through the centuries to become eyewitnesses to our local history.
Coverage is from 1845 to 2010, but you can access more recent full text content from September 1985 until now from Canadian Major Dailies ProQuest (Formerly Canadian Newsstand).
