Hours: Monday to Saturday, 9:00am-5:00pm; Closed during Statutory holidays
Location: Richard Bennett Hatfield Archives Complex, Bonar Law – Bennett Building, 23 Dineen Drive, UNB Campus, Fredericton, NB, P.O. Box 6000, E3B 5H1
Contact: Email form; 1-506-453-2122
Access: Researchers complete a registration form on their first visit to the Archives and sign a visitors’ register daily
Website: http://archives.gnb.ca/archives/?culture=en-CA
The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick contains the records of the government, people, and institutions of the province. Most of the archives holdings cover the period from 1784 when New Brunswick was made a separate province within British North America. The Archives, however, also maintains some records from the exploration, Acadian settlement, and pre-Loyalist periods.
The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick’s collections consist of 8,000 linear metres of government records, nearly 2,000 collections of private records, 175,000 photographs, 50,000 maps and survey plans, 250,000 architectural drawings, and a growing collection of sound and video recordings. The Archives’ government records consist of the records of all departments, agencies, boards, commissions, and courts and cover topics such as provincial and municipal legislation, the administration of justice, land grants and subsequent transactions, the management and use of natural resources, revenue and expenditure, public works, utilities, social services, education, health, agriculture, licensing, and the regulation of companies. Private records come from a variety of individuals, families, churches, businesses, associations and other repositories from the Acadian period to the present day.
Although the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick’s holdings are not available to be searched online, the Archives has created several online databases, finding aids, and guides to facilitate research. Online databases include: vital statistics; cemetery records; city directories, 1865-1866, 1867-1868, 1871; port returns (including passenger lists), 1816-1838; land petitions, 1783-1918; land grants, 1784-1997; probate records, 1785-1835; House of Assembly Sessional Records, 1786-1833; letters patent, 1885-1976; and attestation papers and newspaper articles from the First World War.
Online finding aids and guides include: government records finding aids for the Correspondence of the Provincial Secretary, the records of the Deputy Minister of Natural Resources, the Saint John River Basin Board records, the records of Lieutenant Governor Thomas Carleton (1784-1803), and the records of the Surveyor General of New Brunswick; genealogical research resources organized by county; a directory of New Brunswick newspapers; and a guide to records relating to the environment such as meteorological observations, or records related to the extraction of natural resources.
The Archives has a strong collection of material related to Irish immigration to the province. Much of this material has been organized into a series of online databases, The New Brunswick Irish Portal. These databases include: immigrant letters; newspaper articles; ship passenger lists; 1851 and 1861 census records; Saint John Almshouse records; Provincial Secretary Immigration Administration records; Brenan Funeral Home records; emigration books from Fitzwilliam Estate, County Wicklow, Ireland, 1847-1856; and teachers’ petitions from Irish immigrants requesting a license or payment for teaching services.
The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick has also created a series of online exhibits which use records from the Archives’ collections to explore different themes in the history of the province. These exhibits include: New Brunswick at War; The War of 1812 Document exhibit; the New Brunswick Irish Portal; Pioneers, Ploughs, and Politics: New Brunswick Planned Settlements; Women at Work; and Royal Visits to New Brunswick.