Government of Ontario

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Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery




Microfilm Interloan Service  

What is the Microfilm Interloan Service?


The Microfilm Interloan Service allows you to borrow microfilmed archival records through a library or another institution belonging to the interlibrary loan network. This international network, established through collaboration agreements, allows an institution to borrow materials from another participating institution. Contact your public library for information about their interlibrary loan policies.

About 32,000 of our most popular microfilm reels are available through interloan. As a result, you may be able to do extensive research without coming to the Archives of Ontario. The material available through interloan will be most useful to people doing genealogical research about their family, but it will undoubtedly be of interest to other researchers as well. Use the links below to access the main categories of records available through interloan.

What Microfilm is Available on Interloan?


Government Records


Vital Statistics (Birth, Marriage & Death Records)

Vital statistics are records pertaining to births, marriages and deaths within the province of Ontario. The Archives holds a significant number of these records. Births ranging from 1869-1917 are available on microfilm, as are marriages ca. 1801-1932, although there are many gaps in pre-1869 marriage records. Death records available on microfilm range from 1869-1942.  Click on the link above for information on accessing these records on microfilm or online.

Court Records

The Archives has extensive records from courts around the province. These records deal with everything from minor criminal charges to district administration to wills and probate.

Municipal Records

This microfilm contains records created or collected by local government while performing their duties. Primarily created between 1845 and 1900, these records include: assessment and collector's rolls; local census records (pre-1851); voters lists and poll books; and local Town and Township council records.

Crown Lands Records

This microfilm contains documents relating to the grant, sale or lease of Crown Lands. Most of these records originated in the Office of the Surveyor General or the Crown Lands Department. Land patent indexes created by Provincial Secretary's Official Documents section are also included here, as are the records of the First and Second Heir and Devisee Commission (1805-1911), which heard and ruled on claims to land made by the heirs, devisees, and assignees of original nominees for land.

Ontario Land Records Index on Microfiche (1780-1920) provides access to Crown Land records and some land-related material found in the Canada Company and Peter Robinson fonds. Also, please see Research Guide 205: Using the Ontario Land Records Index ca. 1780-ca. 1920 - [Word, PDF].

Records Of The Department Of Immigration (RG 11)

This microfilm contains the surviving records of the Immigration Branch of the Ontario Department of Agriculture and Public Works (1869-1873) and its successor, the Department of Immigration (1873-1901). Large proportions of these records in Records Group 11 (RG 11) are of genealogical interest.

Microfilms of records from Columbia University (formerly called the "Toronto Emigration Office Records" or "Hawke Papers") are now available for loan. These records form part of the Records of the Department of Immigration (RG 11) and date from 1831-1892.

Education Records

This microfilm consists of both the annual school financial and staffing reports by local superintendents and boards of trustees, and the pension records of the Teacher Superannuation Fund.

Schools and Teachers

This microfilm consists of listings of schools and teachers in the province of Ontario between 1911 and 1966. It also consists of listings of the staffs of collegiate institutes, high schools, continuation schools and normal schools in 1911, and between 1923 and 1966. For a full microfilm reel list, consult the Archives of Ontario Library's catalogue, BIBLiON.

Records Of The Department Of the Provincial Secretary (RG 8)

This microfilm consists of a case book and record of offenses and punishments for the Victoria Industrial School and prisoner's histories from the Ontario Reformatory for Boys in Penetanguishene, Ontario.

Indexes to Company charters

These indexes document charters of incorporations issued to Ontario corporations. From 1868 to 1971, incorporation of businesses in Ontario was usually done through a company charter (also known as letter patents). The charter included the name of the corporation, the names of the main officers of the new corporation, and information about the share structure and initial value and the purpose of the corporation. A copy of the charter was kept in charter books. [Word, PDF]

Non-Government Records


Canada Company fonds

The Canada Company was incorporated by the British Parliament on 27 July 1825 and was dissolved on 18 December 1953. The aim of the company was to obtain land in Canada and to promote its sale to prospective settlers. This fonds documents all activities of the Canada Company, including administrative records such as minutes of committees, court of directors minutes, and proceedings of the general court. Other records, which relate to the administration of the company, include reports, agreement with the Crown, and registers and schedules of lands. Fonds also contain several series of correspondence, relating to land held by the company, sales, and shareholders.

Cartwright Family fonds (F 24)

This fonds consists of documents created or received by various members of the Cartwright family, relating to their genealogy, land holdings and political and business activities in the Kingston, Ontario area.

Women's Christian Temperance Union fonds (F 885)

The first temperance organization in Canada, the "Prohibition Women's League", was formed in Owen Sound, Ontario 24 May 1874. A year later the first W.C.T.U. in Toronto was organized. The Ontario Union modelled itself after the U.S.A. Union, promoting the causes of temperance, social purity and the enfranchisement of women. Other local and immediate issues were also promoted such as dress reform, Christian socialism, Christianity and labour reform for children. It was one of the unions which was very active from coast to coast advocating social reform and in expanding the role of women in society by pushing for woman's suffrage.

Cemetery Transcriptions

This microfilm contains the Ontario Genealogical Society's Cemetery Transcriptions completed up until December 2000. A cemetery transcription is a systematic survey of the wording and location of each tombstone and memorial within a specific cemetery.

Solomon Y. Chesley Fonds (F 451)

This microfilm consist of 5 journals written by Solomon Y. Chesley, who was at various points in his career, Superintendent of the Department of Indian Affairs, Member of the House of Assembly and Mayor of Cornwall. The journals emphasize Chesley's career as an Indian agent. They document his travels to various reserves in Ontario, negotiations and mediation with the aboriginal leaders, ceremonies and customs. They also document Chesley's opinions on various significant events in mid 19th century Canadian and international history, including the debates on the Clergy Reserves, Representation by Population, the Fenian Raids, and the movement of the Canadian capital.

Church Records

The Church Records Collection consists of original and copied records for more than 60 Ontario churches which existed at some time in our history. The records within the collection include sessional minutes, annual reports, deeds and financial records, communion rolls, birth/baptismal records, marriage and burial records. Some newspaper clippings are also included.

T. Eaton Company Records (F 229)

One of the most widely recognized companies in Ontario and Canada for over a century, the T. Eaton Company at one time touched on many aspects of the lives of Ontarians and Canadians, both through its retail outlets and its contribution to the community. Fonds consists of catalogues, newspaper advertisements, office correspondence, and other records relating to the operation of the company.

Ford Family Fonds (F 483)

Nathan Ford was an agent for Colonel Samuel Ogden, and resided in Ogdensburgh, New York. He built a mill in the town in 1797, and maintained a correspondence with his brother, David Ford of Morristown, New Jersey. Fonds consists of correspondence among various Ford family members. Letters refer to local events and politics, family news, business activities, European events (especially the progress of the Napoleonic wars), the War of 1812, the Fenian Raids, and other subjects.

Genealogies

In the Archives of Ontario's early years, it actively collected genealogies and family histories. These records have been gathered together for the convenience of family historians.

Historical County Atlases

This microfilm contain atlases of southern Ontario published primarily in the late 1870's. Two types of atlases are included: County atlases documenting a single county or adjacent counties, and Dominion of Canada atlases containing a supplement of specific counties.

City of Toronto Directories

This microfilm consists of the directories for the City of Toronto (1833-1953) and Metropolitan Toronto (including East York, Etobicoke, North York, Scarborough and York) (1954-1983). The earliest directories often contained numerous details promoting the city, ranging from buildings constricted, import/export totals, and prominent events of the previous year. 

Sir Aemilius Irving Papers (F 1027)

Sir Aemilius Irving was born at Leamington, England in 1823, educated at Upper Canada College, Toronto. He became a barrister in 1849 and was appointed Queen's Council in 1863. He represented Hamilton in the House of Commons, 1874-1878; was Treasurer of the Upper Canada law society, 1893-1913. He was knighted in 1906 and died in Toronto on November 27th, 1913.

Marriage Records Collection (F 982)

The Marriage Records Collection is an artificial creation of the Archives of Ontario designed to assemble in one place miscellaneous marriage certificates, licenses and registers which cannot be assigned to any one specific church.

Multicultural Newspapers

This group of microfilm contains one hundred newspapers published by various cultural communities across Ontario from 1930 to 1987. The filming of these newspapers was a joint project of the Archives of Ontario and the Multicultural History Society of Ontario.

Order Sons of Italy of Canada fonds (F 4378)

The Archives has acquired the records of the Order Sons of Italy of Canada, a fraternal organization for Italian-Canadians. The records, which date from 1915 to the 1990s, document the experiences of Italian Canadians in the 20th century. They are also an excellent genealogical resource.

Phenix Family Fonds (F 1255)

The John Phenix family were farmers in Mono Township, Dufferin County, Ontario during the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Fonds consists primarily of diaries of two generations of the John Phenix family. The fonds also includes a will and other legal documents of the Phenix family.

The Provincial Freeman

The Provincial Freeman was published weekly from 1853 to 1857, first in Windsor, then in Toronto and Chatham. Published weekly, it It advocated equality, integration and self-education for black people in Canada and the United States.

Records Relating to Aboriginal Peoples

The Archives of Ontario holds many records relating to Aboriginal Peoples. Only a small amount of these records are available through our Microfilm Interloan Service.

Jean Baptiste Rousseau family fonds (F 493)

Jean Baptiste Rousseau (1758-1812), a fur trader, merchant, landowner and mill owner, was a founder of Ancaster, Ontario. The Jean Baptiste Rousseau family fonds (F 493,) consisting of business and personal records of the Rousseau family, recently has been microfilmed and is available on interlibrary loan.

Conn Smythe fonds (F 223)

Conn Smythe, M.C. (1895-1980) was an Ontario sportsman best known for his interests in ice hockey, horse racing and promoting the cause of disabled children. The Conn Smythe hockey files (Series F 223-3) consists of hockey files documenting Conn Smythe’s involvement in the game of hockey in Canada including Maple Leaf Gardens, the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club and the National Hockey League.

David Thompson fonds

David Thompson (1770-1857) was an explorer, surveyor, and astronomer for the Hudson Bay Company and the Northwest Company who also completed survey work of the Canada-United States border for the British Government. Fonds includes notebooks and journals which document Thompson's journeys into what is now the interior of Canada and the northwest United States, the mapping and surveying of Canada, and relations between fur traders and aboriginal peoples. The fonds also contains field books of boundary surveys conducted by Thompson, miscellaneous outgoing correspondence relating to maps and boundary surveys, and hand-drawn copies of boundary surveys.

John White Fonds (F 4448)

John White was a lawyer and the first Attorney-General of Upper Canada. The John White fonds (F 4448), consisting of a personal notebook kept by White between 1792 and 1797, recently has been microfilmed and is available on interlibrary loan.

A. E. Williams/ United Indian Bands of Chippewas and Mississaugas Fonds (F 4337)

This microfilm consist of documents collected by A. E. Williams, a collector and researcher of Canadian aboriginal history. The vast majority were created by or collected on behalf of the United Indian Bands of the Chippewas and Mississaugas, an ad-hoc grass roots movement of Ontario First Nations to assert their claims regarding land, monies owed under the 1850 Robinson Treaties, and unceded hunting and fishing rights. The most active bands were the Chippewas of Christian Island, Georgina Island and Rama, and the Mississaugas of Rice Lake, Mud Lake and Scugog, and the Hiawatha. There is evidence that bands from the North Shore of Lake Huron and even as far as Fort William participated in this movement. The movement was operative from 1903 to sometime around 1920.

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