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UTM Primary Sources: Digital Collections

This guide is created for scholars and students who do research projects in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
It lists online resources that include primary sources and that the University of Toronto Library has purchased or subscribes to.

Government / Legislative Documents

Access via the UTL

Digital Archives with Various Primary Sources

Freely accessible online collections

Digital Archives — Access via the UTL

Newspapers, News Reports & Other Periodicals Databases

Local Newspapers - Canada

Historical Newspapers by Province

Newspapers that focus on specific areas of studies:

Also check the Historical Canadian Newspapers Online guide, offered by Bowling Green State University Library, Ohio.


☆ Canada's Traditional News Media Sector is in Crisis ☆

A team of Toronto Metropolitan University and University of British Columbia researchers have started tracking "what is happening to local newspapers, broadcast outlets and online/digital news sources in communities across Canada" since 2008, using "the Local News Map" that consists of cloud-sourced data. Their Local News Research Project reports the serious issue that the news industry is facing. For example, their report on December 3, 2024 notes:

  • Between 2008 and December 3, 2024, 526 local news outlets closed in 347 communities across Canada. Of those:
    • 400 closings or 76 per cent of the total were community newspapers, which publish fewer than five times per week.
    • 111 were local community newspapers that closed after they were merged with other newspapers to produce regional publications.

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Indigenous Periodicals


Magazines

Ads, Pamphlets, & Broadsides

Literature, Videos, and Images

Religion

Freely accessible online collections

For Sample Topics

Hudson's Bay


Other Topics

Dictionary of Canadian Biography

UTM & UTML Collection

Microfilms in the UTM Library

"While the amount of online content continues to grow, newspapers on 35mm microfilm remain a viable strategy for the preservation of print newspapers" ("Microforms in Libraries and Archives" by the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services, a division of the American Library Association).

There are microfilms on the ground floor of the UTM Library. Before you use it, please read the guide below:

Digitized Newspapers by the UTML Archives & Special Collections