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Virtual Exhibits
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The Eassons and the Hoyts: Two Hundred Years of Family and Community Life in Nova Scotia
Explore two of Nova Scotia's founding families, 1734-1933, through correspondence, financial accounts, land records and maps. Investigate family and business connections linking Nova Scotia, New England and Jamaica; read about clandestine trade with Louisbourg and early interactions with the Mi'kmaq; compare annual costs for shoes, schooling and other household expenses; examine grocery lists, dressmaking invoices and records of house construction and equipment purchases; and then follow later generations involved with the arrival of telegraphy in Atlantic Canada.
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Gone but Never Forgotten: Bob Brooks’ Photographic Portrait of Africville in the 1960s
Come revisit Africville, through nearly 60 remarkable images by photojournalist Bob Brooks that capture the look and spirit of the community on the eve of its demolition. The exhibit also features Brooks’ compelling photographs of the public meeting at Seaview African United Baptist Church in August 1962, where residents stated their opposition to the elimination of Africville.
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Nova Scotia Historical Vital Statistics Online
Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management is pleased to announce the launch of a new Website providing full access and digitized content for the province's historical vital statistics, dating back to 1864. Welcome to one million new opportunities in searching for your Nova Scotia roots!
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Roger's Photographic Advertising Album (1871)
Step back in time and view downtown Halifax through the camera lens of Joseph Rogers, one of the city's early commercial photographers. Fifty-six local businesses paid for inclusion in his Advertising Album — a marketing strategy from the days when photo advertising was in its infancy. Many of the buildings are still standing, and twenty of them are included in the Nova Scotia Register of Historic Places.
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S. Edgar March: Nova Scotia Bird Watercolours
Ninety years ago, long before the term 'Atlantic Flyway' was coined or Nova Scotia became known as a 'birding destination,' an amateur artist and bird watcher in Bridgewater began a series of watercolour paintings depicting birds that were native to the province. This virtual exhibit celebrates the accomplishments of S. Edgar March (1870-1967) and introduces Internet visitors to nearly sixty images of Nova Scotia's rich bird population.
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The Royal Engineers in Halifax: Photographing the Garrison City, 1870-1885
Take a unique time-trip back to when Halifax was an outpost of the British Empire. Explore over 250 photographs taken by the Royal Engineers, capturing in minute detail buildings and fortifications at the Halifax Citadel and Dockyard, plus the perimeter installations at Bedford, Dartmouth, McNab's Island, Point Pleasant, York Redoubt and Sambro. You've never seen Halifax like this before!
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The Prat Sisters: Free Spirits of the 1890s
Annie, Minnie and May Prat, adventurous sisters from Wolfville, N.S., began unusual artistic careers in the United States in the 1890s. Annie studied at the Art Institute of Chicago. Minnie and May apprenticed with North America's first fully-qualified woman bookbinder; by 1900 they had opened the Primrose Bindery in New York City. The sisters had a lively circle of friends, including poets Bliss Carman and Charles G.D. Roberts and Minnie's fiancé, Goodridge Roberts. This virtual exhibit features the sisters' careers; their watercolours, bookbinding, and leatherwork; and letters from Bliss Carman to Annie and Minnie, several never before published. Through an interesting mix of correspondence, photographs, and memorabilia, it illuminates the sisters' creative spirits, warm personal and family relationships, and passion for life.
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Men in the Mines
Explore Nova Scotia's mining heritage via three exhibits featuring over 1100 photographs, personal records and published items. Visit coal, gold, iron and salt mines, gypsum and slate quarries; learn about life above ground; re-live frightening disasters. Search the Fatalities Database containing over 2500 names and use the Resource Guide to plan further research.
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Lighthouses of Nova Scotia
This virtual exhibit within ‘Nova Scotia and the Sea’ contains 775 period photographs and related documents, all telling the story of Nova Scotia’s lighthouses and the people who lived and worked in them. Over 400 unique, rarely-seen photographs taken by the Department of Transport in the early 1900s provide the highlight of the exhibit, enabling visitors to experience a world which no longer exists.
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William E. deGarthe
In 1977 William E. deGarthe (1907-1983), one of Nova Scotia's best-known marine artists, gifted a collection of his representative paintings to the Province of Nova Scotia. These works are on permanent display at the Public Archives Building in Halifax, but making them accessible on this Web site fulfills the larger intent of deGarthe's gift — to ensure that his legacy is available for all Nova Scotians to experience and enjoy.
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Brigs and Barques: Images and Artworks from the Age of Sail
A virtual exhibit focusing on the largest of the legendary 'Tall Ships' built in Nova Scotia and sailed around the world. Featuring over 200 period photographs and marine paintings in a searchable database, and complemented by an extensive selection of original letters, diaries and shipping records that tell the story of ‘Life at Sea’ in the twilight days of the Age of Sail.
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Where the Land Meets the Sea: Shipwrecks of Nova Scotia
The number of vessels which have foundered on the rocky Nova Scotia coastline over the past four centuries defies calculation. The 'On the Rocks' searchable database presented here provides extensive information for 5000 known wrecks. An accompanying virtual exhibit using historical photographs, documentary artworks, newspaper articles and original records, begins to tell the story of loss and destruction so common in Nova Scotia waters. A special section examines the almost-forgotten wreck of the SS Atlantic in 1873–the world’s worst merchant shipwreck known at that time and for many years after.
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The Royal Navy in Nova Scotia Waters
A virtual exhibit containing 140 period photographs and documentary artworks, capturing the flavour and essence of naval life in Nova Scotia, 1751 to 1939. The parade of seapower ranges from men-of-war to the steel vessels of the twentieth century; other image selections bring vividly to life the men of the Royal Navy and the everyday world they lived in — from ratings to admirals, to seamen with their pet monkeys.
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Spoils of War: Privateering in Nova Scotia
Enter the world of privateering and explore a long-forgotten chapter in Nova Scotia history! Original log-books and documentation from the privateers Charles Mary Wentworth, Nelson and Dart are presented online here for the first time, along with complementary digitized content from Halifax newspapers, 1793-1815. An introductory essay, extensive background information and study guides for further research provide rich context for experiencing Nova Scotia’s war-at-sea in the Napoleonic Era.
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Schooners: Workhorses of the Sea
A virtual exhibit with over 375 images of Nova Scotian schooners — from photographs taken in the 1880s to snapshots of a few remaining originals still afloat in the 1950s. Because the schooners' working world was not a romantic one, this exhibit also includes a variety of textual records documenting their everyday activities and upkeep.
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Ports and Harbours
Take a time-tour of Nova Scotia’s ports and harbours, via photographs, artworks, postcards, sea charts and early government records. Explore at least three centuries of the interface between land and sea, from Mi’kmaq petroglyphs to colour photographs, featuring wharves, shipping piers, shipyards and slipways, customs houses and merchants’ stores, fishing fleets, fish plants, ferry services and all manner of related activities carried out at the water’s edge.
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W.R. MacAskill
Wallace R. MacAskill is one of Nova Scotia's best-known photographers, famous for his seascapes and images of sailing vessels. Search a database containing over 4600 digitized black-and-white photographs with accompanying item descriptions, and experience MacAskill’s saltwater world of the early twentieth century.
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Mi'kmaq Holdings Resource Guide
A fully-searchable database with information about 2200 Mi’kmaq and Mi’kmaq-related textual records and published items. Links to digitized images for 300 representative documents. A Virtual Exhibit showcasing another 130 heritage photographs, artifacts, treaties, documentary art and maps. Genealogical resources for tracing Mi’kmaq ancestry and determining band status. An important resource for anyone interested in Mi’kmaq culture, heritage and traditions throughout Atlantic Canada.
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Halifax and Its People / 1749-1999
This is our first virtual exhibit, developed to commemorate Halifax's 250th anniversary. It presents some 150 images from NSARM holdings, with accompanying captions and text, and is designed as an educational, reference and general-interest tool.
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African Nova Scotians
in the Age of Slavery and Abolition
Nova Scotians and Web users worldwide now have an exciting new way to find out about African Nova Scotian history. A virtual exhibit and online resource providing access to a wide variety of documentary sources, including government documents, letters, newspaper articles, maps and works of art. Includes a fully searchable database containing names of about 5000 African American immigrants who came to Nova Scotia in 1783 and 1815-16. Also a virtual exhibit featuring photographs of early black settlements and descendants of original settlers, 1880-1955.
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RMS Titanic Resource
Visit our virtual exhibit commemorating the loss of the Titanic on 15 April 1912. View an original document prepared in May 1912 (also presented in a fully searchable format) listing 330 identified and unidentified bodies brought into Halifax after the catastrophe. Also examine documents and photographs dating from the time, recording the aftermath of the great tragedy at sea.
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Gaelic Resources: Goireasan Gàidhlig
Visit our expanded Gaelic Resources site to explore the newest section - the Maclean, Sinclair family papers, one of the finest collections of original Gaelic material in Canada.
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Nova Scotia and the Sea
Experience the sea without getting wet! A new and exciting online resource, containing nine interlocking virtual exhibits, searchable databases and contextual guides that explore and tell the story of Nova Scotia’s relationship with and dependance on the sea, across four centuries of European settlement. Includes over 6700 historical photographs and artworks, sea-charts, log-books, vessel records, early newspapers, personal papers and government documents — everything from the history of privateering, to a sea-captain’s diary in the Age of Sail, to twentieth-century fish catches on the Grand Banks. Presented in both official languages, ‘Nova Scotia and the Sea’ also offers a variety of stimulating lesson plans for secondary school students.
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Clara Dennis
A virtual exhibit showcasing the work of Clara Dennis, Nova Scotia's first woman travel writer. Dennis travelled extensively through mainland Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island during the 1920s and 30s. She had an observant eye, a keen sense of popular history, and captured in her work a Nova Scotia that no longer exists. Nearly eighty black-and-white photographs, along with selected pages from her published works, re-create that world again.
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Acadian Heartland: The Records of British Government at Annapolis Royal, 1713-1749
A digitized, fully searchable online version of the earliest surviving records of British government in Nova Scotia, 1713-1749. A snapshot of everyday life in the colony under a civil administration, the records provide significant information about families and individuals, community history, economic history, land tenure, the administration of justice, trade and commerce, natural resources, relations with the Mikmaq—and above all, interaction between Acadians and the British authorities.
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This is Our Home: Acadians of Nova Scotia
A virtual exhibit celebrating the Acadian Experience in Nova Scotia over the past 150 years. Three dozen heritage photographs tell the story of reliance upon the land and sea, document the record of built heritage, provide insight into social activities, and showcase traditional dress and handcrafts—especially the world-famous Cheticamp hooked rug. The exhibit, in slightly expanded form, is also available onsite in the lobby of the Public Archives Building.
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Bluenose: A Canadian Icon
A tribute to the greatest Nova Scotia schooner of them all. A virtual exhibit featuring over 350 heritage photographs, original documents, charts and miscellaneous items that tell the stories of Bluenose and Bluenose II, the people who sailed them and the times in which they lived.
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Don Messer
Remember 'Don Messer's Jubilee'? Back in the 1960s, it was one of the most
popular programs on CBC Television. Come now for a stroll down Memory Lane!
Read about Don Messer, view lists for his personal papers and his rich library of recordings and sheet music. Listen to some music, watch clips
of the TV program, and tour a Virtual Exhibit presenting 'Don Messer and His
Islanders' as Canadians remember them best.
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The Halifax Gazette
Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management joins in the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the publication of the Halifax Gazette - Canada's first newspaper. View images of the paper generously provided to us by the Massachusetts Historical Society.
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Halifax Explosion 1917 Online Resources
Visit the newly updated and expanded location for Halifax Explosion resources held at Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management. Tour the 'Vision of Regeneration' online exhibit, access information about the 1,952 victims of the Explosion, view silent film footage taken the day after, read personal accounts by people who survived, and plan further research into the event.
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Halifax Explosion Remembrance Book
NSARM is pleased to host the online version of a project sponsored by the Halifax Foundation. The 'Halifax Explosion Remembrance Book' is the first really definitive listing for those killed in the disaster of 6 December 1917. The online version features a searchable database with detailed information for 1953 casualties – more than 300 of whom are newly-confirmed and identified victims.
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'A Vision of Regeneration'
The dynamic story of how Halifax was rebuilt in the years immediately following the disaster is re-created through 150 heritage photographs, maps, architectural plans and documents, plus useful background information. An ideal source for school projects – and a powerful visual memory of a city destroyed and rebuilt.
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Notman Studio
The Notman Studio photographs cover the period ca.1869 to ca.1920, and include photo portraits, Halifax streets, buildings and general views, and similar landscapes from several other Nova Scotia communities.
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Buckley Family
The Buckley family photographs depict Guysborough and vicinity, the Buckley family and their friends, and document the growth and development of Guysborough over a fifty-year period, beginning in 1889.
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J. A. Irvine
John Irvine was an enthusiastic amateur photographer, active in the period ca.1895 to ca.1905. His views of Halifax and several nearby communities (Fall River, Purcell Cove, Waverley), plus the area around Annapolis Royal (Bear River, Clementsport, Granville Ferry, Smiths Cove) include buildings, street-scapes, picnics and outdoor activities, railways, farm scenes and informal portraits.
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Helen Creighton
A special multi-media website celebrating the life and career of Helen Creighton, one of Canada's best-known folklorists. View descriptions and content listings for the Creighton fonds, and visit a Virtual Exhibit with over 50 photographs, several sound clips and a selection of online documents. Come listen to folk songs, read first-hand accounts of the supernatural, and learn more about folklore and music, dances, games, cures, ghosts, superstitions, witchcraft and buried treasure in Nova Scotia.
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Lunenburg by the Sea
A virtual exhibit celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Lunenburg, and featuring 250 historical photographs, maps, documents and related memorabilia – one item for each year of the town's history. Themes include built heritage, the fisheries, shipbuilding, material culture, and the faces of Lunenburg townsfolk across 250 years.
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An Acadian Parish Remembered
A fully searchable database containing information for over 3500 baptisms, marriages and burials recorded in the parish registers of St.-Jean-Baptiste, Annapolis Royal, 1702-1755. These two volumes are Nova Scotia's earliest surviving church registers, and a tangible link to the last generations of Acadian French living at Annapolis before the Deportation.
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 print version
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