- A Not-For-Profit Museum & Archives dedicated to the history of Colchester County, Nova Scotia, Canada
The Colchester Historeum Archives contain a wealth of local information,
collected over more than 70 years, to assist with historical and genealogical
research. As a non-profit with a small staff, most of our holdings will never be available online and are therefore only accessible by contacting or visiting us. We strive to be as accessible as possible. Please reach out any time by email, phone, or in person.
Access to the Archives is included with your $6 entrance fee, and free of charge for Colchester Historeum members. Our spacious reading room is available for the public to conduct research, with the guidance of staff. We welcome you to browse our collection, consult our reference library, and use our microfilm machines. Copying/scanning services are available as well. Archives walk-ins are welcome, but if you wish to meet with staff regarding a specific request, an appointment is recommended.
Call (902) 895-9530 or email research@colchesterhistoreum.ca to discuss your topic or to make an appointment.
If you are unable to visit us in person, we offer prompt, remote research services. The archives staff will spend up to 30 minutes on your request at no charge, after which a $25.00/hour fee will apply, to be paid in advance.
Archival Resources:
Archival Holdings — This list represents many (but not all) of our archival holdings. Use CTRL+F to search.
Reference Library — These books may be consulted at the archives but cannot be loaned out.
Photographs — Use NovaMuse to search many of our photos as well as museum artifacts.
- New: We have recently added to our extensive genealogy collection by creating 20+ family surname binders, featuring information about African Nova Scotian families of Colchester.
- Hundreds of family surname files and history files containing information about communities, businesses, railway, industry, agriculture, sports, clubs, education, churches, heritage homes, and more.
- Family files pertaining to the Planters and Grantees of Cobequid, 1761-1780.
- Browsable binders containing obituaries and marriage notices published in the Truro Daily News from 1891-1959.
- Browsable binders containing funeral records from Mattatall’s Funeral Home from 1935-1973.
- Over 2500 reels of microfilm containing most of the Truro Daily News from 1891-2018, the Halifax Chronicle Herald from 1892-2007 (not included: 1918-1939), as well as other newspapers, church records, township books, vital statistics, and more.
- Over 700 maps of Colchester County communities, including over 125 unique hand-drawn originals.
- Detailed insurance maps for the Town of Truro from 1888, 1894, 1922, 1931, and 1966.
- Full size copies of the A. F. Church county maps: Colchester (1874), Hants (1871), Halifax (1865), Pictou (1867) and Cumberland (1873), with extra detailed extracts pertaining to Colchester County.
- Assessment rolls for Truro and Colchester County from 1873-1972.
- Over 10,000 photographs, many digitized and available for purchase.
- A reference library of nearly 4000 books, including published works on Colchester communities, buildings, and churches; biographies; scrapbooks; diaries and journals of Colchester people; and over 700 genealogies of families with Colchester connections.
- A collection of approximately 16,000 school registers from Colchester County spanning 1868-1986. Not all dates and schools are represented.
- An extraordinary 8-box collection created by Ross Graves, 60 years in the making, dedicated to the history and genealogy of the Stewiacke Valley.
- Transcriptions of over 160 Colchester cemeteries, many done in the 1970s and 80s, which contain valuable records of headstones which are no longer existing or legible.
- Vital statistics from the Presbyterian Witness newspaper, 1848-1908.
- Access to Property Online, the provincial database for land ownership and related information.
- Countless more unique resources kept safely in our archival holdings, including ledgers, diaries, letters, certificates, records of clubs, businesses, schools, and much more.
