Ottawa, Canada's Capital City (1938)
This film is a heritage item from Library and Archives Canada and is only available in English
A short film which presents a brief history and the many features of Canada's capital city, Ottawa. Included in the film is a brief explanation of why Ottawa was chosen as the capital city of British North America and the subsequent construction of the Rideau Canal. Also featured in the film is footage of aerial view of Ottawa and several landmark buildings such as the Centre Block of the Parliament Buildings, interior of the House of Commons in session, the National Research Council building, the Dominion Archives, the Royal Canadian Mint, the Victoria Memorial Museum, Rideau Hall, Union Station, the Chateau Laurier hotel, high angle shots of traffic along Confederation Square, the Parliamentary Library, the Dominion Observatory at the Experimental Farm and the recently constructed Confederation Building. The film also shows the busy streets of the city along with the more tranquil scenery along the driveways of the Rideau Canal and the Rockcliffe Parkway, a travelling shot along Clemow Avenue and residential homes. From the social standards of a garden party at the Governor General's residence to the raucous excitement of the midway at the Central Canadian Exhibition at Lansdowne Park, the film displays the many social activities that occur within the city limits. Also highlighted in the film are the many recreational sporting facilities that are scattered throughout the city allowing people to enjoy such activities as golf, soccer, thoroughbred horse racing, speedboat racing on the Ottawa River, tennis, canoeing and rowing competitions.
Source: Library and Archives Canada. National Film Board of Canada fonds, 1977-0207, IDC 197359.
Library and Archives Canada in 90 seconds
Discover Library and Archives Canada’s remarkable collection and what’s in store for our visitors both online and in person.
The Preservation Centre - Insights from Library and Archives Canada
The Library and Archives Preservation Centre is one of Canada's great cultural institutions—one that is truly like no other.
Tune in regularly to our new video series as we provide you with insights into the exciting changes that are happening at Library and Archives Canada.
Exhibition Double Take 2015 at Library and Archives Canada
Through a series of portrait reproductions of remarkable Canadians selected from the popular travelling exhibition Double Take of a few years ago, Library and Archives invites visitors to discover stories of glorious achievement, invention, discovery, false identity, exploitation and even scandal! Presented at LAC’s facilities in downtown Ottawa, the exhibition is open for free until June 7, 2015.
Seeing Canada, [Across Canada by the CPR = Some of Those Days] (1920/1929)
This film is a heritage item from Library and Archives Canada and is only available in English
This tourist film introduces major Canadian cities and provides images of each place with its attractions. Over 3,600 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific takes five days to cross, by Canadian Pacific Railway. Starts at Saint John, New Brunswick on the Bay of Fundy. Its attractions are the Algonquin Hotel and salmon fishing. Quebec City is the oldest city in the North America. The Chateau Frontenac Hotel towering over the St Lawrence. Montreal is Canadian Pacific headquarters and Trans-Canada Limited. Ottawa is the capital of the nation. Toronto is the Queen City. Niagara Falls is connected to the French River and Georgian Bay. Canadian Pacific steamer carries its passengers across the Great Lakes. Winnipeg to the prairies and across the prairies through Regina and Saskatoon. Arrival at Calgary and Edmonton. Banff and Lake Louise are located in the Canadian Rockies. Through the Rockies, the train gets to Vancouver where English Bay and Stanley Park are located. The city of Victoria gives an image of England on the Pacific.
Source: Library and Archives Canada. British Columbia Archives & Records Service fonds, 1985-0181, IDC 4418.
Proclamation of the Constitution Act - Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada preserves thousands of key documents of Canadian history, governance and political culture, most notably the Proclamation of the Constitution Act of 1982. Although Canada became a sovereign state in 1931 when Britain passed the Statute of Westminster, the power to alter Canada's Constitution was in British hands. On a rainy April 17 1982 on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Queen Elizabeth II signed the proclamation allowing Canada to make changes to its Constitution and giving the country political independence from Britain. The Act accompanying the proclamation also established a Charter of Rights and Freedoms, guaranteeing Canadians political and civil rights. This bill of rights, the result of the movement to protect human rights and freedoms that emerged after Second World War forms the first thirty-five sections of the Act. Written in Canada's two official languages, this was the first British Act of Parliament to be passed in French since the Middle Ages. To this day, the Government of Quebec has never formally ratified the Act. The original copy of the proclamation was slightly damaged by the rain during the ceremony. In 1983, Toronto artist Peter Greyson entered Ottawa's National Archives and poured red paint over the second original copy of the proclamation. Greyson said he was disgruntled with the federal government's decision to allow U.S. missile testing in Canada and wanted to graphically illustrate to Canadians the wrongdoing of the government. A grapefruit-sized stain still remains on the document.
Canadian National Pictorial, Ottawa : Home of Canada's Parliament (1919/1920)
This film is a heritage item from Library and Archives Canada and is only available in English
This film shows some scenes of Ottawa's streets and buildings. The new, but still incomplete, Parliament Building is shown, as is the Chateau Laurier; the locks of the Rideau Canal are shown with the Interprovincial Bridge in the distance; from the roof of the Central Station, Sparks Street and the Federal Parliament Buildings are seen; the roof of the Post Office offers a view of Rideau Street in the direction of Lowertown. From Major's Hill Park, the Parliament Buildings are seen from another angle; also in the park are two women playing with an old cannon, and one flirting with a statue at the Champlain Monument. A last look at the new Parliament Building, from Wellington Street, shows the edifice nearly complete, with the exception of the Peace Tower.
Source: Library and Archives Canada. Graphic Consultants fonds, 1972-0105, IDC 140490.
Introduction: On the Road to 2017 with Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada is introducing its new video series: On the Road to 2017 with Library and Archives Canada. These short videos will give you an inside look at the behind-the-scenes preparations for Library and Archives Canada’s many contributions to the 2017 commemorations.
149 ????️ Wandering Around Ottawa ???? The Enigma Machine ????❓ Library & Archives of Canada ????????
I wandered into the Library and Archives of Canada building again on Wellington Street in Ottawa to have a look at the Cipher/Decipher exhibit in which they had a genuine Enigma machine on display.
Recorded on October 11, 2018
Politicians, archives and elections: our work at Library and Archives Canada
The purpose of this seminar is to introduce participants to the crucial role that Library and Archives Canada (LAC) plays before, during and after a federal election.
Who are the clients? What types of documents do they transfer to LAC? Come and see how donations of political archives enrich LAC’s collection and provide a better understanding of the Canadian decision-making process and those who play a role in it.
Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Speaker: Élizabeth Mongrain, Manager, Governance and Political Affairs, Library and Archives Canada
Ottawa Storm (1942)
A heavy winter storm in Ottawa in 1942 showing: Bronson Avenue, Bank Street with skier, streetcars frozen in tracks on Laurier Street, Bank Street streetcar subway, E.J. McKhool, Laurier Street Tearoom sign where bulldozer frees work car with trolley derailed by ice. [Army] work force tries to clear tracks which took a few days, Byron Avenue, streetcar on Bronson has advertisement for Duke Ellington's Band. Tracks cleared at Bank Street subway, crew and passengers board streetcars. Mr. Somerville on Harvard Avenue. Rideau River barriers. Snow and ice laden trees, clearing roof of garage on Raleigh Avenue.
Source: Library and Archives Canada. Henry P. Sedziak fonds, 1986-0486, IDC 27583.
Ontario's Summer Sorceries (1924)
This film is a heritage item from Library and Archives Canada and is only available in English.
Travelogue depicting the attractions of Ontario for the visitor: recreational sports; the Heritage gold mine in Northern Ontario; the Canadian National Exhibition and other Toronto scenes; and the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa.
Source: Library and Archives Canada. National Library of Australia fonds, 1973-0182, IDC 23343.
Canadian Headlines of 1947 (1947)
This film is a heritage item from Library and Archives Canada and is only available in English.
A compilation of Canadian news stories from 1947 including: long skirts, a new look in women's fashion; scenes of a record snow storm; a representative group of Canadians receive the first Canadian citizenship certificates at the Supreme Court of Canada; 18-year-old Barbara Ann Scott in Ottawa after winning the amateur European and World figure skating championships and being presented the trophy by Governor General Viscount Alexander for defending her North American title; postage stamps that commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dr. Alexander Graham Bell including shots of his home in Brantford, Ontario; the Dominion Ski Championships at Mont Ste-Anne, Quebec with twins Rhoda and Rhona Wurtele of Montreal and Tom Mobraaten of Vancouver; children stage an unusual strike to increase the price of chocolate bars from 5 to 8 cents; the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Montreal Canadiens 2 to 1; Harry S. Truman, President of the United States of America, addresses Parliament; the Marian Congress held at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Ottawa diocese; an oil strike at Leduc, Alberta; Governor General Viscount Alexander and Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King at the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE); Ben Gazel of Toronto wins the CNE 10 mile swim; Margaret Marshall wins the Miss Canada beauty contest in Hamilton and is seen returning from Atlantic City after placing third in the Miss America contest; René Léger wins the Mr. Canada bodybuilding contest in Montreal; at the Grey Cup in Toronto, the Toronto Argonauts beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 10 to 9; and Toronto's Santa Claus Parade.
Source: Library and Archives Canada. Associated Screen News Limited fonds, 1973-0127. IDC: 18369.
Julienne Molineaux - Library and Archives Canada, Ten Years After the Merger
Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by the School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies (SLAIS). The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, the iSchool at The University of British Columbia, cordially invites you to the first of our Fall 2012 Colloquium Series, where Julienne Molineaux will present Library and Archives Canada, Ten Years After the Merger. Integration of collections and institutions in the libraries, archives and museums sector is almost commonplace now, but in the early 2000s the merger of Canada's National Archives and National Library to create Library and Archives Canada /Bibliothèque et Archives Canada (LAC-BAC), was novel. Ten years since that process formally began it is worth asking, how is this institution faring? Restructuring does not always solve the problems it sets out to solve. Additionally, new problems are created along the way. This talk addresses two questions: have the problems that prompted the LAC merger been solved, and what new problems have emerged?
103 ???? Wandering Around Ottawa ???????? Prime Ministers and the Arts ???? ???? Library and Archives Canada
Here I wander into the Library and Archives Canada building on Wellington Street in Ottawa, just down from Parliament Hill, to see a free exhibit about Canada's Prime Minister's and their personal relationships to the arts. This was part a trek to cross the Ottawa river and see Chaudière Falls, which you will see in an upcoming video!
Recorded on July 13th, 2019
Inside the new Ottawa Public Library (courtesy of the City of Ottawa)
This is the super library the public wanted. The City of Ottawa, Ottawa Public Library (OPL) and Library and Archives Canada on Thursday unveiled the long-awaited design for the $192. Promotional video provided by the City of Ottawa.
Library and Archives Canada advocacy message from DOC
Lisa Fitzgibbons, Executive Director of the Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC), succinctly states a case for continuance of sustainable funding of Library and Archives Canada.
The Building of a Transcontinental Railway in Canada: [extract] (1910)
Source: Library and Archives Canada. Canadian Film Institute fonds, 1975-0206, IDC 135755.
Big Timber (1935)
This film is a heritage item from Library and Archives Canada and is only available in English.
Short film which traces the story of the Douglas Fir timber in British Columbia.
Source: Library and Archives Canada. Associated Screen News fonds, 1973-0127. IDC: 20481.
Canada Carries On, Proudly She Marches (1944)
This film is a heritage item from Library and Archives Canada and is only available in English.
Activities of women's branches of the armed forces of Canada. C.W.A.C. recruits in training, passing driver's test, learning how to become wireless technicians etc. An amateur photographer joins the R.C.A.F. and is shown on her first assignment at an air base. The W.R.E.N.'s are seen drilling, gardening, driving and working with machinery. Sequence on fringe benefits: sports, dances at service clubs, dress parades. Final sequence on embarkation of troops.
Source: Library and Archives Canada. Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences fonds, 1975-0227. IDC: 23690.