An old proverb states that "the eyes are the windows into the soul." A genealogy corollary is that "a photo is a window into the lives of your ancestors."
I love old photos, whether they are portraits of my ancestors or historical photos for the period when they lived. And it is important to a complete research that one attempts to understand the environment that surrounds our ancestors' lives if one wants to truly appreciate what they went through.
So where can they be found? Obviously the best resource is our own photo albums and those that our relatives possess. But what about other resources? Many archives, historical societies, libraries and genealogical societies have collections of old photos. And in the past few years there has been a massive movement towards making these historical photo collections available online. Some have search capabilities where you can actually put in a surname or a location, name of a building or historical event and find what is available.
For the province of Ontario, what collections are available for you to browse and/or search online? Here is a list of sites to start with. Please feel free to add in the comments other online resources that you might be aware of in the province.
Please be aware that there may be very strict rules regarding downloading or other use of the images that you may find. Copyright and other legal protections may be in force. Make sure that you read the limitations of use for any image that you find in these collections and wish to download and/or copy. It is your responsibility to adhere to the rules for all of these collections.
Please note that links to these sites may change in the future. The author (me) will not be constantly checking and updating these links, so if you find a broken link, please use your favorite search engine to locate the new link.
Ontario Sites for Historical Photos
This is just a sampling of some of the larger collections. By no means is this an exhaustive list. Almost every city and county library in the province, college and university library, as well as historical society has a photo collection. Many are not available online, yet many do have online access.
(Updated November, 2020)
Nationwide
- Canada BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives
- Canada Old Family Photos
- Canada Science and Technology Museum Picturing the Past
- Canadian Letters and Images Project
- Dead Fred
- Images of Canada
- Ingenium Canada Digital Photo Archives
- Library and Archives Canada - Flickr
- The Canadian Jewish Heritage Network
- UK - Canada Photo Collection
- Unwritten Histories
Provincewide
- A Historical Journey: North of Huron - Photos
- Ajax Public Library Photos
- Alamaguin Highland Digital Collection - Photos
- Almonte Historic Photo Archive
- Archives of Ontario
- Archives of Ontario Flickr
- Barrie Historical Archive
- Belleville History Images and Clippings with Photos
- Brant County Public Library Digital Collections
- Brantford History Photos
- Brighton Digital Archives
- Bruce County Museum & Cultural Center
- Burk’s Falls Digital Collection
- Burlington Historical Society Galleries
- Burlington Images
- Canadian Football Hall of Fame & Museum - Hamilton
- Chatham-Kent Municipal Museums – Digital Collections
- Chippewas of Rama First Nation - Rama
- Christie Township Photos
- City of Niagara Falls - Niagara Falls
- Cramahe Archives – Our Past, Our Present
- Deerhurst Resort Historical Photos
- Digital Prescott-Russell en Numérique - Photos and Postcards
- Etobicoke Historical Society Online Images
- Foley Historical Group Digital Collection
- Gateway to Northwestern Ontario History
- Georgetown Vault Photos
- Grey Highlands Public Library Photo Collection
- Grey Roots Museum and Archives
- Grimsby Museum - Grimsby
- Grimsby Public Library Photos
- Guelph Museums
- Hamilton Public Library Local History Photo Archives
- Hastings County Photo Archives
- Historic London Photographs
- Huron County Museum
- Ingersoll Historical Photo Gallery
- Kanhiote Tyendinaga Territory Local History Collection
- Kitchener Public Library Photos
- La Nation au bon vieux temps - Photos
- Lakehead University Photo Collections
- Leeds & the Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes Public Libraries Photos
- Lennox & Addington County Museum & Archives
- London Public Library Photos
- Magnetawan Digital Collection Photos
- Mémoires de Clarence-Rockland Memories
- Milton Images
- Museum of Northern History - Kirkland Lake
- Museum of Ontario Archaeology - London
- Museums of Mississauga - Mississauga
- Museum Strathroy-Caradoc
- Niagara Historical Society
- Oakville Historical Society
- Old Ontario Postcards
- Old Photos of Ottawa
- Old Toronto Photos Mapped
- Orillia in Pictures
- Orillia Museum of Art & History - Orillia
- Oshawa Images
- Oshawa Museum - Oshawa
- Ottawa Vintage Photos
- Our Ontario Images
- Patrimoine du Canton de Russell Photos
- Photo Archives of Ontario
- Pickering Museum Village - Greenwood
- Picture St.Marys Photos and Photo Collections
- Port Hope Photo Archives
- Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada Regimental Museum and Archives
- Queen's Own Rifles of Canada
- Quinte West Public Library Digital Collections
- Rainy River Historic Photos
- Rosseau Historical Society Digital Collections
- Rosseau Lake College Digital History
- Ryerson University - Flickr
- Schneider Haus National Historic Site - Kitchener
- Seguin Public Libraries Photos
- South Grey Museum Photos
- South River-Machar Digital Collection
- Southwest Ontario Digital Archive
- St. Catharines Public Library Photos
- Stratford Digital Archives Photos
- Sundridge-Strong Digital Collection
- Terrace Bay Public Library Image Collection
- The Friends of Algonquin Park - Whitney
- Toronto Photo Archives
- Toronto Photo History - Flickr
- Toronto Public Library Images Archive
- Toronto Public Library Photo Flickr Archives
- Trafalgar Township Historical Society Photos and Images
- University of Guelph L.M. Montgomery Research Centre Photo Collection
- University of Guelph Library Digital Collections
- Waterloo Public Library Photos
- Waterloo Region Museum
- West Nipissing Photos
- Whitby Images
- Whitestone Digital Collections
- Wilfrid Laurier University Library Photos
- Woodstock Museum
For historic photos from other provinces as well as articles about photo research, please visit the Photos page.
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
For other Free Ontario Links, click on the category of interest:
RSS Feed
