Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library

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Family Historians

The Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library and especially the New Glasgow Library maintain a close working relationship with the Pictou County Roots Society, which is located in this same building.

• Personal Help and Instruction
  The New Glasgow library branch houses our Heritage Room and is able to provide research assistance and instruction. Often what is lacking for many genealogical researchers, is instruction in accessing and using records whether they be in hard copy, microfilm, or available online. We have experienced staff who can assist you in genealogical research and can prepare you on how to properly expand your search. We offer one-on-one assistance within the branch. However, if researchers are unable to visit the library in person, please contact us. This service is free of charge except for use of photocopier and printer.


• New Glasgow Library: Heritage and Genealogy Collection
  The New Glasgow Library is the holder of a considerable collection of materials, hardware and software aimed at helping the researcher who is studying local history and/or genealogy.
  We have the following:
  • Microfilm Reader / Printer / Scanner
  • Microfilm collection - especially older newspapers
  • Free Internet Access and Wireless Access
  • Printers and Photocopier
  • access to ancestry.ca


• Henry C. Ritchie Collection
  This is a unique collection of Pictou County information in which Mr. Ritchie combined several sources including his personally compiled cemetery records collected up until the mid 1950s, early censuses, local history books, a local atlas, newspaper clippings and other materials, which produced binders of useful family information.
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• Grey Box Collection
  This collection contains an assortment of items pertaining to community history and / or genealogy, family trees, maps, etc.
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• Glass Cabinet Collection
  This is a book collection of historical and genealogical significance particularly as regards Pictou County and its people. It also includes many which deal with counties such as Antigonish, Inverness and others. Important indexes such as the eight volumes of The Presbyterian witness and evangelical advocate : vital statistics, 1848-1887, 1888-1908 extends to the entire province and other parts of Atlantic Canada.This collection houses many book titles of historic or genealogical interest. These must be used only in the library; however, many of these titles are available in our circulating collection and are now being made available online at NovaStory.ca.
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• Reference Collection "Genealogy"
  This is another group of books which complements those in the Glass Cabinet and includes items such as the three volume Atlantic Canadians 1600-1900.


• Microfilm Collection
  The library has two microfilm readers, including one that has printer, reader, and scanner capabilities. The microfilm collection includes: local newspapers, census returns, vital statistics, and wills.
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• Digital Resources
  The internet is an important source of information for the researcher. PARL continues to make genealogical information available at your fingertips through online databases (ancestry.ca), digitizing local historical materials (NovaStory.ca) and historical maps.


• "Pictou County Characters" Photographic collections of local citizens on the street of our villages and towns.
  • McGarva Collection
  
  
• MacKenzie Photographic Collections:
  
  • New Glasgow Edition
  
  
  • Pictou Edition
  
  
  • Stellarton Edition
  
  
  • Sunny Brae Edition
  
  
  • Trenton Edition
  
  
  • Westville Edition
  
  
• Cemetery Records
  The Pictou County Roots Society and Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library have recorded grave stone images/ GPS coordinates / plot plans and inscription information of cemeteries in Pictou County. This material is being digitized and added to NovaStory.ca.
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• Additional Resources
  
  • Scrapbooks
  • Community and Church Histories
  • Photographic Collections (view further information regarding the MacPherson photographic collection)
  • Directories & Maps
  • Magazines and Journals
  • Cemetery Plot Plans
  • the Langille Collection - donated to the library by the family of the late Carl Langille, an inveterate family history collector, and contained in twelve large binders, includes many surnames associated with the Langille family in Nova Scotia. There is no index, at this time.


• Bud White Collection
  The Bud White collection is held in the Pictou Library.
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