Explore Your Past at the Windsor Public Library

Are you interested in studying your family history, tracing its lineage and carving out a place for your family in a larger historical context? Do you have the desire to engage in accurate storytelling and feel a sense of responsibility to preserve the past for future generations? If so, the Windsor Public Library’s genealogy resources may be just what you’re looking for.

To aid you in your genealogy efforts, the Windsor Public Library carries the following resources:

– Windsor City Directories from 2001 back to 1891 (1891 to 1949 on microfilm);

– the entire collection of all editions of The Windsor Star and its prior incarnations including The Evening Record (1893-1917), The Border Cities Star (1917-1935), and The Windsor Daily Star (1935-1959);

– a collection of other Essex County newspapers including The Amherstburg Echo (1873-Sept. 2012), The Leamington Post (1907-2009), and The Kingsville Reporter (1893-2012);

– index for the Census of Canada for EssexCounty 1901;

– index for EssexCounty for the 1851 census;

– index to the 1861 census of Essex County;

– complete set of indexes to births, marriages, and deaths for Ontario on microfilm;

– partial collection for the registration for Essex County, Kent County, and Lambton County;

– information from various other counties such as Brant, Carleton, Durham, Elgin, and Frontenac; and

– Ancestry.ca (the Library Edition) available at the Central Library.

Says Tom Vajdik, Genealogy and Local History Librarian with the Windsor Public Library, “It’s a very human need to know our heritage, to know who we are and where we came from, to have a strong family narrative. To feel ourselves one in a world of kinfolk and persons allied to ourselves by an age-old bond is to experience a sense of belonging that ties together generations. The Windsor Public Library, through its staff and resources, is pleased to be able to assist persons in their search for these connections.”

For more information about WPL genealogy resources, visit https://www.windsorpubliclibrary.com, hover over Research for a pull-down menu and click on Genealogy. Please note that access to WPL resources requires a library card in good standing and a PIN.

Individuals interested in genealogy are also encouraged to attend the monthly meetings of the Ontario Genealogical Society, which are held at 7pm on the second Monday of the month (unless otherwise noted) at the Central branch of the Windsor Public Library, 850 Ouellette Avenue, lower level.  (Please note there are no public meetings in July, August or December.) For over 50 years, the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) has worked to encourage, bring together and assist people interested in the pursuit of family history. The April 8th OGS meeting will feature speaker Stewart Boden, Archivist and Outreach Officer with the Archives of Ontario, with an “Introduction to the Archives of Ontario.”

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3 Responses to "Explore Your Past at the Windsor Public Library"

  1. Laura Ouellette says:

    I was looking for my great grandfather’s obituary listed in the Windsor Star and I found it on the Windsor Public Library Obituaries website but it doesn’t show the actual obituary. Is there a way I can see this please?
    Thomas Henry Shakespeare-wife Annie, he died Jan. 19, 1954

  2. Alex aitken says:

    Looking for articles and pictures of fans .players etc for the 1981 memorial cup may5-10 in Windsor star.

  3. Nikki Stevens says:

    Hello,

    I am looking to get digital/online access to the Boarder City Star. How do I go about doing so and what are the costs for same.

    Look forward to hearing from you.

    Kind regards,

    Nikki Stevens