In today’s online environment, information about archival holdings* is increasingly available in searchable database catalogues to help researchers find their way. In Nova Scotia, there is a shared provincial catalogue called MemoryNS, which includes information about the holdings of over 40 different archives located across the province.
The area of MemoryNS.ca devoted specifically to the Nova Scotia Archives provides a guide to the records held at the provincial institution in Halifax. This includes both the archival records of the Government of Nova Scotia and private-sector records of provincial scope or significance.
MemoryNS does not make the actual documents available online, but instead provides descriptions of (i.e. information about) these holdings. The descriptions will help you identify records that interest you, and design appropriate research strategies to explore them.
MemoryNS is not a complete inventory of the Nova Scotia Archives’ holdings. It is updated regularly to provide information about new material, or to revise older descriptions which have been amended with improved data. Every few months, we also post a list of New Research Holdings to the website, to alert researchers about significant new records available onsite at the Nova Scotia Archives.
MemoryNS is part of the national catalogue, Archives Canada, another valuable source of information for archival material held elsewhere across the country.
* Wondering about the word ‘Holdings’? It’s an archival term meaning the whole or totality of the records held in an archival repository.