City of Winnipeg Municipal Archives

Hours: Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (except for statutory holidays).
Location: 50 Myrtle Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3E 2R2
Contact: (204)-986-5325; Online form available via their website.
Access: Call to make an appointment before visiting.
Website: http://www.winnipeg.ca/clerks/archives/ourCollection.stm

The City of Winnipeg Archives houses an extensive collection of fonds and documents concerning the social, political, and economic development of the City of Winnipeg. The holdings include records for all twelve municipalities that amalgamated in 1971 to form the current city of Winnipeg. These municipalities include: Charleswood (1913-1975), Fort Garry (1899-1975), North Kildonan (1924-1971), Old Kildonan (1921-1971), the Town of Tuxedo (1911-1971), the City of East Kildonan (1914-1971), the City of West Kildonan, the City of St. Vital (1880-1974, 1978), the City of Transcona (1912-1971), the City of St. Boniface (1880-1971), the City of St. James-Assiniboia (1908-1971), and the City of Winnipeg and the Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg. As the official repository of all civic records for the City of Winnipeg, the Archives acquires, preserves, and makes these records available to City staff and the general public. The holdings consist of council minutes, by-laws, assessment rolls, election records, photographs, architectural and engineering drawings, maps, plans, fire insurance plans, municipal manuals, and private records.

Archival descriptions for the records held by the City of Winnipeg Archives as well as a growing number of digital reproductions are available in a web-based application called Winnipeg in Focus. The online listing is managed by the Archives staff and hosted by the Archives Canada Digital Preservation Service.

The City of Winnipeg collection is divided into two fonds, the first covering 1874-1971 and the second covering 1971-present. The first fonds consists of administrative, legislative, financial, and photographic records documenting the operation of the City of Winnipeg prior to amalgamation. The fonds primarily consists of records documenting the debates and decisions of the city Council. Included in these minutes are meetings from the Board of Control, as well as any special committees of the city Council. These records cover a wide range of municipal functions, including finance, land use planning, public works, and social services. Some municipal responsibilities that are documented in greater detail include departmental records concerning parks and recreation, public health, and planning. The second fonds contains similar records from amalgamation to the present.

The Charles E. Goad Company (1895-1915) collection consists of 434 sheets of fire insurance plans for the City of Winnipeg. The plans display detailed information about each building in the city as well as their size, shape, construction material, number of floors and lot size. These buildings include churches, hotels, industrial, commercial, and public buildings. The collection also includes street widths, street numbers, property lines, fire protection facilities like water pipes or mains, fire hydrants, and fire alarm boxes.

The Greater Winnipeg Water District Fonds (1912-1962) consists of records relating to water supply in the Winnipeg region. The fonds is arranged into six series: minutes and reports (1914-1960), communications (1912-1960), financial reports and information (1914-1962), agreements and contracts (1914-1923), by-laws (1913-1960), and photographs (1913-1919).

The Metropolitan Corporation of Greater Winnipeg Fonds (1952-1972) consists of 17.8 m of textual records, 475 technical drawings, 86 volumes, and 74 photographs. The documents focus on the administration of and functions relating to parks, civil defence, streets and transit, water and waste, planning, finance, and assessment.