Hours: Monday to Friday 8:30am-4:30 pm.
Location: 235 Vickers Street N., Thunder Bay, ON, Canada, P7C 6A3.
Contact: (807) 625-2270; archives@thunderbay.ca.
Access: Open to the public. Book appointment in advance online (alternatively call or email city archives).
Website: https://www.thunderbay.ca/en/city-hall/city-archives.aspx
The City of Thunder Bay Archives houses maps, blueprints, and textual and photographic records related to the cities of Thunder Bay, Port Arthur, Fort William and other local townships of Shuniah, Neebing and Crooks. Its collections cover all aspects of municipal government including planning, finance, recreation, and protective services. The Archive also houses the private collections of local individuals and organizations.
This archive has the census records (1970 – 1981), birth registers (1970 – 1985), death registers (1970 – 1987), and marriage records (1963-1984) for the city of Thunder Bay. The archive holds the same records for the town of Fort William in the Fort William Vital Statistics collection (1908-1969) and the town of Port Arthur in the Port Arthur Vital Statistics collection (1948-1969). There are also cemetery records for various cemeteries over the course of 1902-1974. There are additional records related to fire codes, building plans for all towns, land sales, and tax records for all towns.
Archives related to the municipality of Thunder Bay include various government publications and annual reports such as the statutes of the Province of Ontario (1880- ), annual reports on the Air Quality Northwestern Ontario (1977- ), Sanitary Engineering (1906-), Water Pollution (1975-), Health Care (1986), Health Programming (1994), Hospitals (1979-1994), Mining (1930-), Public Health Services (1973-) and Mental Health Services (1980-). This archive also houses the City of Thunder Bay Council Minutes (1969 – 2003), Ward and Town Hall Meeting Minutes (1981-2003), City of Thunder Bay Administrative Committee Minutes (1970-2003), and the City Coordinator’s Annual Reports (1969-1975).
For the town of Fort William, this archive houses the Public Welfare Board Minutes (1935-1966) and the Board of Health Minutes (1903-1952). This town also has records about the Relief Land Settlement Committee Records, 1932-1937). For the town of Port Arthur, the archive has the Board of Health Minutes (1907-1916 and 1926-1956). There are records related to care of seniors in Thunder Bay in collections like Homes for the Aged Policies and Procedures (1980-1998), Ontario Games for the Physically Disabled (1993), Northwest Senior Games Files (1985-1989), and Homes for the Aged Quality Management Program Files (1986-1995). This archive also has the Thunder Bay Director of Homes and Social Services Files (1974-1993).
The archive has the records related to Recreation, Education and Community College (1966-1975) and the Community Recreation Manager Files (1970-1998) for the City of Thunder Bay. For the town of Fort William, the archive houses similar municipal collections like Annual Reports (1903-1966), City Administrator’s Annual Reports (1958-1969), and Parks & Recreation Files (1907-1975). For the town of Port Arthur, the archive also holds similar papers like the Council Minutes (1884-1969), Parks & Recreation Files (1908-1969), City Clerk’s Files (1905-1969), and Public Works Reports (1957-1963). The archive additionally has the Northwestern Ontario Professional Recreation Society Fonds (1950-1996).
There are records related to environmental studies in Thunder Bay the Water Pollution Control Plant Annual Report (1977, 1979-1980, 1982-1993) and Environmental Site Assessment Records (1993-1998). The archive has the papers of the advocacy group, Trees Thunder Bay (2001-2012), as well as the administrative files, correspondences, and other records of the Forest Capital Development Association (1997-2004).
Notable private collections include records of former mayors and councillors, including Shirley Trotter (1979-1983), Walter Assef (1964-1974), Charles W. Cox (1932-1958) and Saul Laskin (1953-1995). Other notable private organizational collections include the records of the Jeux Canada Games 1981 (1965-1982), 1995 Nordic World Games Committee (1990-1995), Forest Capital Development Association (1996-2007), and Northwestern Ontario Professional Recreation Society (1950-1996).
Various digital collections include “One Hundred Years of Play,” highlighting the Playgrounds Program since 1914, “Women’s History Month 2013,” exploring the contributions of six notable women to Thunder Bay’s history, “City Parks,” which examines the development of public parks in Port Arthur, Fort William and Thunder Bay, “Waterfront History,” highlighting the development of the Waterfront (1967-2010), City Halls of Thunder Bay, Emergency Measures in Thunder Bay, Amalgamation, highlighting plans and controversies leading up to the amalgamation of Port Arthur and Fort William in 1970, and “Time Capsule 1903-1966-2008,” which is an exhibit of items recovered from the City Hall time capsule in 2008.