Starting points
Resources to get you started with your research into Manitoba.
- Find recommended titles about the general history of Manitoba.
- Explore personal blogs and websites focused on Manitoba historical topics with a wide variety of content.
- Access the websites of Manitoba-based historical organizations and archives.
- Browse recommended websites and database portals with rich, freely-available digitized local history content.
Recommended Reads
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Going Downtown by Call Number: 971.2743 GOU 2006Publication Date: 2006Winner of the Manitoba Historical Society 2007 Award for Popular History? -
Manitoba 125, a history. by Call Number: 971.27 MAN -
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Rough times, 1870-1920 : a souvenir of the 50th anniversary of the Red River Expedition and the formation of the Province of Manitoba by Call Number: 971.27 TENPublication Date: 1920 -
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Street of Dreams: : the story of Broadway, Western Canada's first boulevard by Call Number: 971.2743 GILPublication Date: 2001 -
Ten years in Winnipeg : a narration of the principal events in the history of the city of Winnipeg from the year A.D., 1870, to the year A.D., 1879, inclusive. by Call Number: 971.274 BEGPublication Date: 1879 -
Recommended Reads
Accessible from Home: Great Online Local Reads
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From the Tundra to the Trenches by "My name is Weetaltuk; Eddy Weetaltuk. My Eskimo tag name is E9-422." So begins From the "Tundra to the Trenches." Weetaltuk means "innocent eyes" in Inuktitut, but to the Canadian government, he was known as E9-422: E for Eskimo, 9 for his community, 422 to identify Eddy.In 1951, Eddy decided to leave James Bay. Because Inuit weren't allowed to leave the North, he changed his name and used this new identity to enlist in the Canadian Forces: Edward Weetaltuk, E9-422, became Eddy Vital, SC-17515, and headed off to fight in the Korean War. In 1967, after fifteen years in the Canadian Forces, Eddy returned home. He worked with Inuit youth struggling with drug and alcohol addiction, and, in 1974, started writing his life's story. This compelling memoir traces an Inuk's experiences of world travel and military service. Looking back on his life, Weetaltuk wanted to show young Inuit that they can do and be what they choose. From the Tundra to the Trenches is the fourth book in the First Voices, First Texts series, which publishes lost or underappreciated texts by Indigenous writers. This new English edition of Eddy Weetaltuk's memoir includes a foreword and appendix by Thibault Martin and an introduction by Isabelle St-Amand.Call Number: 971.004971 WEETALTUK 2016Publication Date: 2017 -
Imagining Winnipeg by In an expanding and socially fractious early twentieth-century Winnipeg, Lewis Benjamin Foote (1873-1957) rose to become the city's pre-eminent commercial photographer. Documenting everything from royal visits to deep poverty, from the building of the landmark Fort Garry Hotel to the turmoil of the 1919 General Strike, Foote's photographs have come to be iconic representations of early Winnipeg life. They have been used to illustrate everything from academic histories to posters for rock concerts; they have influenced the work of visual artists, writers, and musicians; and they have represented Winnipeg to the nation. But in Imagining Winnipeg, historian Esyllt W. Jones takes us beyond the iconic to reveal the complex artist behind the lens and the conflicting ways in which his photographs have been used to give credence to diverse and sometimes irreconcilable views of Winnipeg's past. Incorporating 150 stunning photographs from the more than 2,000 images in the Archives of Manitoba Foote Collection, Imagining Winnipeg challenges our understanding of visual history and the city we thought we knew.Call Number: 971.274303 JON 2012Publication Date: 2012 -
Rooster Town by Melonville. Smokey Hollow. Bannock Town. Fort Tuyau. Little Chicago. Mud Flats. Pumpville. Tintown. La Coule. These were some of the names given to Métis communities at the edges of urban areas in Manitoba. Rooster Town, which was on the outskirts of southwest Winnipeg endured from 1901 to 1961.Those years in Winnipeg were characterized by the twin pressures of depression, and inflation, chronic housing shortages, and a spotty social support network. At the city's edge, Rooster Town grew without city services as rural Métis arrived to participate in the urban economy and build their own houses while keeping Métis culture and community as a central part of their lives.In other growing settler cities, the Indigenous experience was largely characterized by removal and confinement. But the continuing presence of Métis living and working in the city, and the establishment of Rooster Town itself, made the Winnipeg experience unique. Rooster Town documents the story of a community rooted in kinship, culture, and historical circumstance, whose residents existed unofficially in the cracks of municipal bureaucracy, while navigating the legacy of settler colonialism and the demands of modernity and urbanization.Call Number: 305.8970712743 PETERS 2018Publication Date: 2018 -
Friends, Foes, and Furs by George Nelson (1786-1859) was a clerk for the North West Company whose unusually detailed and personal writings provide a compelling portrait of the people engaged in the golden age of the Canadian fur trade. Friends, Foes, and Furs is a critical edition of Nelson's daily journals, supplemented with exciting anecdotes from his "Reminiscences," which were written after his retirement to Lower Canada. An introduction and annotations by Harry Duckworth place Nelson's material securely within the established body of fur trade history. This series of journals gives readers a first-person account of Nelson's life and career, from his arrival at the age of eighteen in Lake Winnipeg, where he was stationed as an apprentice clerk from 1804 to 1813, to his second service from 1818 to 1819 and an 1822 canoe journey through the region. A keen and respectful observer, Nelson recorded in his daily journals not only the minutiae of his work, but also details about the lives of voyageurs, the Ojibwe and Swampy Cree communities, and others involved in the fur trade. His insights uncover an extraordinary view of the Lake Winnipeg region in the period just prior to European settlement. Making the full extent of George Nelson's journals available for the first time, Friends, Foes, and Furs is an intriguing account of one man's adventures in the fur trade in prairie Canada.Call Number: 971.2701 NELSON 2019Publication Date: 2019 -
A Winnipeg Album by Winnipeg was Canada's first important city in the west and was the supply point for other prairie cities like Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, and even far-off Vancouver. It exploded from a village of 2,700 people in 1877 to a fully modern metropolis of 100,000 in just thirty years and by then had a university, newspapers, publishing firms, a major theatre, and a vibrant mass of immigrants who flooded in to open up the West. Growing Winnipeg was served with paddle-wheelers on the Red River, Red River ox carts, a Canadian-owned railway to St. Paul, Minnesota, and finally the CPR linking Montreal with the west coast. A Winnipeg Albumis a pictorial impression of Winnipeg's colourful, dramatic, and relatively brief history, compiled and with commentary by John David Hamilton and Bonnie Dickie. Over one hundred stunning black-and-white photographs record the early days of the city and trace some of the dramatic events that made Winnipeg "Canada's Chicago."Call Number: 971.2743 HAMPublication Date: 1998 -
The Break by When Stella, a young Métis mother, looks out her window one evening and spots someone in trouble on the Break -- a barren field on an isolated strip of land outside her house -- she calls the police to alert them to a possible crime. In a series of shifting narratives, people who are connected, both directly and indirectly, with the victim -- police, family, and friends -- tell their personal stories leading up to that fateful night. Lou, a social worker, grapples with the departure of her live-in boyfriend. Cheryl, an artist, mourns the premature death of her sister Rain. Paulina, a single mother, struggles to trust her new partner. Phoenix, a homeless teenager, is released from a youth detention centre. Officer Scott, a Métis policeman, feels caught between two worlds as he patrols the city. Through their various perspectives a larger, more comprehensive story about lives of the residents in Winnipeg's North End is exposed. A powerful intergenerational family saga, The Break showcases Vermette's abundant writing talent and positions her as an exciting new voice in Canadian literature.Call Number: FICTION VERMETTEPublication Date: 2018 -
Women Talking by the novel is based on real events that happened between 2005 and 2009 in a remote Mennonite community where more than 100 girls and women were drugged unconscious and raped in the night by what they were told were "ghosts" or "demons." Women Talking is an imagined response to these real events. It takes place over 48 hours, as eight women hide in a hayloft while the men are in a nearby town posting bail for the perpetrators. They have come together to debate, on behalf of all the women and children in the community, whether to stay or leave before the men return. Taking minutes is the one man invited by the women to witness the conversation--a former outcast whose own surprising story is revealed as the women talk.Call Number: FICTION TOEWSPublication Date: 2018 -
Creating Space by Verna J. Kirkness grew up on the Fisher River Indian reserve in Manitoba. Her childhood dream to be a teacher set her on a lifelong journey in education as a teacher, counsellor, consultant, and professor. Her simple quest to teach "in a Native way" revolutionized Canadian education policy and practice.Kirkness broke new ground at every turn. As the first cross-cultural consultant for the Manitoba Department of Education Curriculum Branch she made Cree and Ojibway the languages of instruction in several Manitoba schools. In the early 1970s she became the first Education Director for the Manitoba Indian Brotherhood (now the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs) and then Education Director for the National Indian Brotherhood (now the Assembly of First Nations). She played a pivotal role in developing the education sections of Wahbung: Our Tomorrows, which transformed Manitoba education, and the landmark 1972 national policy of Indian Control of Indian Education. These two major works have shaped First Nations education in Canada for more than 40 years. In the 1980s she became an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia where she was appointed Director of the Native Teacher Education Program, founded the Ts''Kel Graduate Program, and was a driving force behind the creation of the First Nations House of Learning. Honoured by community and country, Kirkness is a visionary who has inspired, and been inspired by, generations of students.Call Number: 370.92 KIRKNESS 2013Publication Date: 2013
Blogs and Personal Sites
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Manitoba, Eh?!This site features famous Manitoba "firsts," awards, trivia, etc., and photographs of historical & unusual sites around the province, including an analysis of the symbolism of the Manitoba Legislative Building.
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Testaments of Faith: Manitoba's Pioneer ChurchesHundreds of old Manitoba churches captured on film by Winnipeg photographer Tyrrell Mendis. Some of these structures no longer exist, and others may soon disappear.
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West End DumplingsSite by Winnipeg local history researcher Christian Cassidy. Contains basic histories of hundreds of Winnipeg buildings.
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Winnipeg Time MachineTravel back in time through stories and photographs of early Winnipeg and Manitoba. Presented by Winnipeg filmmaker George Siamandas.
Historical Organizations, Societies and Museums
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Archives of ManitobaThe Archives collects Manitoba's rich documentary past. The website offers information about its services including how to visit the Archives & search its holdings, research from a distance, copies & reproductions, family history research, and more.
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Centre du patrimoine ArchivesThe Centre du patrimoine is the largest centre for francophone archives west of Ottawa.
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City of Winnipeg ArchivesA wealth of information about the social, political and economic development of Winnipeg, as well as its natural and built environments, is available at the City of Winnipeg Archives, including records for all twelve municipalities that amalgamated in 1971 to form the current City of Winnipeg.
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Library and Archives CanadaThis vast website contains several databases useful for genealogist. It includes census, immigration, land (including Metis scrip records) and military information about both world wars.
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List of archives / archival repositories in ManitobaThis is a list of institutions with collections that are indexed on the Manitoba Archival Information Network and is not a complete list of archival repositories in Manitoba. There are 30+ institutions or organizations listed.
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List of archives / archival repositories in ManitobaThis is a list of institutions with collections that are indexed on the Manitoba Archival Information Network and is not a complete list of archival repositories in Manitoba. There are 30+ institutions or organizations listed.
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Manitoba Archival Information Network (MAIN)The Manitoba Archival Information Network (MAIN) is an online searchable database supported by the Association for Manitoba Archives. MAIN provides access to descriptions of archival material held in Manitoba, including photographs, documents, audiovisual records, and maps. As a centralized resource for archival descriptions held in various repositories across Manitoba, MAIN facilitates access to records from a diverse range of creators.
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Manitoba Historical SocietySearch the Manitoba Historical Society’s website using the term “Winnipeg General Strike” for online archives of Manitoba History magazine.
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Manitoba Legislative LibraryInformation on Legislative Library services including the Manitoba Government Publications checklist, provincial newspapers, and family history resources.
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The Manitoba MuseumInformation about the museum's collections, virtual exhibitions, educational programs, and planetarium.
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Oral History Centre of WinnipegThe Oral History Centre is an innovative and dynamic component of the University’s H. Sanford Riley Centre for Canadian History. Integral to the OHC’s vision is a dynamic approach committed to recording, preserving and supporting history from multiple perspectives.
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Société Historique de Saint-BonifaceThe oldest Francophone historical society of Western Canada presents information on its Heritage Centre, Métis & Franco-Manitobain genealogy and history, including a detailed biography of Louis Riel.
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University of Manitoba Archives & Special CollectionsThe Archives' holdings include literary manuscripts and rare books in the areas of western Canadiana, early Arctic exploration, early Native language syllabics, and more. An index of their holdings is available.
Recommended websites
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The Forks National Historic SiteFor thousands of years this site has been of national as well as Manitoban significance for transportation, trade, and settlement. Find resources about the fur trade, Aboriginal settlement, immigration, and information for visitors.
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History of WinnipegPictures, profiles, and other fascinating tidbits about the history of Winnipeg & its government services, from City Hall to the police service. From the city's official website.
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Hudson's Bay Company Biographical SheetsThese fact sheets compiled by Hudson's Bay Company Archives staff provide brief information on individuals who were employed by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and/or the North West Company.
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Lower Fort Garry National Historic SiteThe oldest intact stone fur trading post in North America, Lower Fort Garry's website includes historical information about the fort and Treaty No. 1, programs, and visitor information.
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Manitoba Historical Maps (Flickr)A fantastic collection of digitized local maps, many of which have been buried in old government reports and obscure documents until now. These are beautiful maps as objects but also tell us a tremendous amount about the city at that time.
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Manitoba Historical Society -Digital History BooksThe section of the Manitoba Historical Society page that has digitized books related to Manitoba History.
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Manitoba Provincial Heritage SitesThis website allows you to search the list of provincially-designated heritage site by area or by name.
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ManitobiaFree access to rare and unique digitized documents from various Manitoban sources, including community history books, community newspapers, pamphlet literature, image files and diaries. An initiative of the Manitoba Library Consortium.
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Municipally Designated Sites in WinnipegThis site provides a list of over 200 structures that have been declared historic by the City of Winnipeg based on recommendations by the Historical Buildings Committee.
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The Northwest ResistanceThis site offers a chronology of events in the Northwest Resistance of 1885, short biographies of key participants, and a digitized personal journal. From the University of Saskatchewan.
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Our World: Resources for Research, Teaching, and Lifelong Learning for All ManitobansThe University of Manitoba has partnered with Gale to provide all of Manitoba with access to Our World, a gateway to over 60 unique collections from Gale Primary Sources. Digitized Manitoba history content includes monographs about the Red River Settlement, the life Louis Riel, and historical maps of Manitoba.
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Pathways to Winnipeg HistoryThe City of Winnipeg Archives has created online exhibits featuring Winnipeg's history themes like Women and Work, Winnipeg's early growth in late 19th century and the city's incorporation in 1960. collections of historical photographs are also highlighted.
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Riel House National Historic SiteHere you can take a virtual tour of the Métis leader's family home in what is now Winnipeg. The site also includes brief historical articles about Riel and the Métis, and information about hours & events for those who want to visit in person.
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TimeLinksExplore themes in Manitoba history from
1910 to 1920 through the stories of people, communities, and events. Search the photo library or view lesson plans for teachers. -
Virtual Museum of Métis History and CultureThis attempt to chronicle traditional Métis history and culture online contains a wealth of oral history interviews, photographs, and various archival documents. From the Gabriel Dumont Institute.
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Winnipeg in FocusWinnipeg in Focus is a database for archival descriptions and digital collections at the City of Winnipeg Archives. It allows users to search and browse holdings at the City of Winnipeg Archives and view digital reproductions of photographs and other archival records. This website includes only a fraction of our holdings.
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York Factory National Historic SiteExperience the history of the Hudson's Bay Company and the fur trade of the 1600-1800s through the York Factory website. Includes a virtual tour & visitor information.