Hours: Hours vary seasonally. Visit Hours and Admission Prices for details.
Location: 1055 Marginal Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia B3H 4P7
Contact: 902-425-7770; info@pier21.ca
Access: Open to the Public; Online forms are available for those wishing to submit research requests
Website: https://www.pier21.ca/
The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 is a museum and research centre that houses research collections related to immigration, nautical history, ethnic groups, genealogical and family history including immigration records (1865-; 1925-1935), Canadian ports of entry, U.S. seaports, ship manifests and records, passenger lists, articles and papers. Pier 21 is a Halifax port where one million immigrants landed between the years 1928-1971. It was built as one of four adjoining waterfront sheds and was a key transit area of Halifax’s South End Ocean Terminals.
Notable collections at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 include an oral history collection of over 900 interviews with individuals originating from over 80 countries. A significant portion of the collection consists of interviews with people who have a direct connection to Pier 21. Other notable collections, which are also available online, include the works of photographer Ken Elliott’s collection, the Wetmore collection, which explores the collections of photographer Ethelbert Gordon Locke ‘Bert’ Wetmore, who worked for The Chronicle Herald and The Halifax Herald and the Ratz collection, exploring the records of Aileen Ratz, Port Receptionist of the United Church in Canada during the 1950s and 1960s. The Chronicle Herald Collection also contains a series of newspaper photographs relating to Pier 21.
Various notable permanent exhibits include The Pier 21 Story, exploring first-person stories of newcomers and the people who welcomed them, archival photos and artefacts such as trunks, luggage and personal items. The Canadian Immigration Story exhibit similarly highlights the contributions of newcomers to Canada’s cultural landscape.
The Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 also has various online collections and exhibits including a ship arrival database, which explores a schedule of passenger ships at Pier 21, Halifax. Also notable is the museum’s collection of ship images, photographs (i.e. Are you in this Picture?) as well as an online story collection of 650 stories and 272 oral histories, highlighting the personal experiences of immigrants, British Home Children, Veterans, War Brides, British Evacuee Children, Jewish War Orphans, Child Migrants, Displaces Peoples and Refugees, Hungarian Revolution Refugees and Pier 21 Staff and Volunteers. The Digital Storytelling Project similarly highlights the immigration experiences of newcomers from ten cities in six provinces and one territory in video format. Also significant is the Museum’s online listening gallery, which includes audio clips and transcriptions from additional interviews conducted as part of their oral history collection. Culture Trunks, for example, highlights immigration and cultural history of ethnic groups including Italians, Hungarians and Dutch. Also notable are the collections of photographs in The Image Collection, which include records from the Sisters of Service, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Canadian national Railway, the Halifax Port Authority and the Allan S. Tanner Collection. Also included are thousands of scanned newspaper clippings, immigration-related documents, and ship memorabilia. Other significant collections include videos such as the Empress of Ireland – Voice Tubes, Komagata Maru, Empress of Ireland – The Model, Extended Video Stories and the Canadian Immigration Process online game.
In addition, The Scotiabank Family History Centre offers remote research services for people who are not able to visit the museum but who would like to locate an immigration record of a family member or ancestor.