Reference Guide:
Genealogy

CONTENTS

Directories
Cemetery Records
Voters' Lists
News Clippings
Additional Manuscripts
Photographs
Books
Notes on Street and Park Names

Other Resources: Locating Family Members and Friends

Directories

1882-present
Location: Reading Room (books and microfilm)
Publications used to determine names, addresses, years of residency, and occupations of Vancouver residents (for 1860-1948 we also have some B.C. directories).
Please note: Directories were compiled by private firms for business purposes so are convenient and broad in scope, but not authoritative.
Bound books are available for most years (researchers are requested to handle these carefully). Our microfilm (M-56) is complete to 1929.

Examples of demographic omissions: married women, Chinese who spoke no English, and children.

Married women's names were excluded or represented as follows: not mentioned before 1934, secondary to the husbands' from 1934, and, if working, as a separate entry from 1976 to present.

Individuals of Chinese or Japanese background who are not represented in the alphabetical sequence might appear in the section "Chinese and Japanese Firms" (before 1923).

Occasionally there is an addendum to the alphabetical sequence.

Scanned City of Vancouver directories for 1888, 1890 and ca. 1896 are available on-line at Our Roots, a Canadian Heritage site.

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Cemetery Records

1887-1965
Location: Reading Room (microfilm)
City records used to determine name, age, birthplace, burial date, cause of death, etc., about those buried in Mountain View Cemetery. For a description of the records and a guide to their access see the finding aid for series 152 (Health). Registers, v. 1, is also available as a card index (see "Series 152, Mountain View Cemetery Registers")

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Voters' Lists

1886-1978
Location: Reading Room (microfiche) & Storage
City records used to verify Vancouver residency of men and women who were eligible to vote. Those excluded have been: individuals under 21 (1886-1970); individuals under 19 (since 1971); those of first nations, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian background (1886-1948). Since only owners were eligible to vote on money by-laws, owners and residents have been separated. Arranged in sets by year, then by wards or polling districts, and therein alphabetically by name. Please note that voters' lists can be time-consuming to use.

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News Clippings

1886-present
Location: Reading Room (microfiche)
Used for information about individuals, families, businesses and other organizations, industries, issues, etc. There are four sets of microfiche, each with its own alphabetical index.

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Additional Manuscripts

ca. 1870-1990
Location: Storage & Reading Room (microfiche)
Private records used as primary sources on individuals, families, businesses, and other organizations.
See Additional Manuscripts card index (containing personal names, corporate names, and subjects) toidentify an Add.MSS number. Inventories (red binders) describe each fonds in more detail. The J.S. Matthews fonds (Add. MSS 54) includes the following collections:

Obituary News Clippings, Add.MSS 54, v. 7, Location: Storage
Box 1 (1931-1936) and Box 2 (1937-1943) can be retrieved from storage.
Both scrapbooks have name index at front.

Mayors, Add.MSS 54, v.9 (1932-1970), Location: Storage
For name listing of biographical files see inventory.

Topical Files, Add.MSS 54, v. 13, Location: Microfiche
Subject files containing compilations of notes, correspondence, pamphlets, and ephemera. For listings and microfiche numbers see inventory.

Alphabetical - Contains files on individuals, families, businesses, and places.

Categories - Contains files on organizations and other subunits within categories such as Churches, Civic, etc.

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Photographs

ca. 1860-1990
Location: Reading Room (photo binders)
Private and City records used to locate images of people, houses and other buildings, streets, and neighbourhoods. We have two separate sets of photographs, each with its own index.

The JSM Collection provides two access possibilities: by name of person, or other topic in the card index, and under "Streets" in the binders.

The CVA Photographs have two card indexes, one is a name and place index (A-Z), the other a subject index. See the name and place index for names of family members. To use the subject index see the list of available subject headings, e.g. "Vancouver -Streets - [street ame"], "Vancouver - [local area, e.g. Kitsilano]", etc.

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Books

ca. 1890-present
Location: Storage
Used to locate biographies, biographical data, information about family-related activities, etc.
In the Library subject card catalogue, see personal names, corporate names, and any relevant subjects. Some general suggestions are:

Early Vancouver (FC 3847.49 M37 E2 1932)
A 7-volume account of J.S. Matthews' conversations with early residents.
Note that name/subject indexes to all volumes are located on the Reference Shelf.

Vancouver Voters, 1886: A Biographical Dictionary
(FC 3847.25 C53 1994)

Greater Vancouver Social and Club Register
(FC 3847.21 V2 R9 1927)

Early Births: Vancouver and Vicinity
(FC 3847.25 V2 M37 E27 1949),
J.S. Matthews' notes on people born in Vancouver 1857-1889.

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Notes on Street and Park Names

ca. 1930 - 1960
Location: Reading Room & Storage
J.S. Matthews' notes on names often include biographical details about those for whom streetsand parks were named.

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