Local History & Interest

Resources Requiring Login (Library card and password)

Canadian NewsStand - Newspaper and magazine articles (for the last 10 to 20 years). Includes the Times-Colonist and Vancouver Island's Black Press newspapers.

Open Resources (no login required)

Local Interest

CRD Document Library - Capital Regional District agendas, bylaws, minutes and reports. 

Victoria Community Information Database - Information about groups, organizations, and societies in Greater Victoria.

Local History

In the Library

Local History Room - A special collection focusing on the history and peoples of Vancouver Island.

Historic City Directories - An inventory of our city directories from 1860 - 2001.

On the Internet

Beacon Hill Park History 1842-2009 - A detailed history of the Park by local resident Janis Ringuette.

British Colonist Digital Database - The British Colonist digitization project is a gift from the Times Colonist newspaper, the University of Victoria Libraries, and a consortium of British Columbia libraries to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the British Colonist newspaper. Every page of every issue, from the first one on December 11, 1858 until the end of June, 1910, a total of 100,554 pages, have been scanned and made searchable.

The Colonial Despatches - The colonial despatches of Vancouver Island and British Columbia 1846-1871. This digital archive contains the original correspondence between the British Colonial Office and the colonies of Vancouver Island and British Columbia. This project aims to digitize and publish online a complete archive of the correspondence covering the period from 1846 leading to the founding of Vancouver Island in 1849, the founding of British Columbia in 1858, the annexation of Vancouver Island by British Columbia in 1866, and up to the incorporation of B.C. into the Canadian Federation in 1871.

The Fort Victoria Journal - The Fort Victoria Post Journal is a daily account of occurrences at the fort in the critical time between May 1846 and May 1850.

The Hallmark Society - The oldest heritage preservation in the Capital Regional District. Advocate the preservation, conservation, and restoration of heritage assets and work towards a greater public awareness and understanding of heritage.

The History of Oak Bay Website - An Online Celebration of Oak Bay's Early Years.

Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria - Dedicated to researching, preserving and encouraging the appreciation of Victoria's Heritage Cemeteries.

Unknown Victoria

viHistory - A website examining the 19th and 20th century history of Vancouver Island, through the History Department of the University of Victoria and in conjunction with Vancouver Island University.

Victoria Historical Society

Victoria Newspapers 1858 - 1921 - Access to four indexes of tens of thousands of summarized transcripts of articles from newspapers published on Vancouver Island between 1859 and 1921.

Victoria's Early History - Digitized historical documents from UVic's CONTENTdm Collection.

Victoria's Victoria - A UVic website focusing on the history and genealogy of Victoria during the reign of Queen Victoria. It includes people, places, images and themes.

Recommended Reading

Above stairs : social life in upper-class Victoria, 1843-1918 / Valerie Green.
(Victoria, B.C. : Sono Nis Press, c1995.)
Call number: 971.128 GRE

Arts beat: the arts in Victoria / by Audrey St. Denys Johnson ; edited by R. Dale McIntosh.
(c1994.)
Call number: 700.971128 JOH

Beyond the island: an illustrated history of Victoria / [text] by Peter A. Baskerville. 
(Burlington, Ont. : Windsor Publications, c1986.)
Call number: 971.134 BAS

Cadboro: a ship, a bay, a sea-monster, 1842-1958 / Ursula Jupp.
(Victoria, B.C. : Jay Editions c1988.)
Call number: 971.134 JUP

Camas chronicles of James Bay, Victoria, British Columbia / [Historical Committee, James Bay New Horizons Society].
([s.l. : s.n.], c1978.)
Call number: 971.134 CAM

Esquimalt streets and roads: a history / researched and written by Sherri Robinson.
([Victoria, B.C. : s.n.], c1995.)
Call number: 917.1128 ROB

The Fernwood files / John J. Ellis with Charles Lillard.
(Victoria, B.C. : Orca Book Publishers, c1989.)
Call number: 971.128 ELL.

The forbidden city within Victoria / David Chuen-yan Lai.
(Victoria, B.C. : Orca Book Publishers, c1991.)
Call number: 971.1 LAI.

The French presence in Victoria, B.C., 1843-1991 / John Greene, et al.
(Victoria, B.C. : L'Association Historique Francophone de Victoria; Sidney, B.C. : LaPlante-Agnew Editions, c1991.)
Call number: 971.128004114 FRE

A history of Victoria, 1842-1970 / Harry Gregson.
(Victoria, B.C. : The Victoria Observer Publ. Co., c1970.)
Call number: 971.134 GRE

More English than the English: a very social history of Victoria / Terry Reksten.
(Victoria, B.C. : Orca Book Publishers, c1986.)
Call number: 971.128 REK

Only in Oak Bay: Oak Bay Municipality: 1906-1981 / editor, Fred C. Barnes.
(Oak Bay, B.C. : Corporation of the Districk of Oak Bay, c1981.)
Call number: 917.1134 ONL

Success story: the history of Oak Bay / Ron Baird ; [illustrations by John Michener].
(Victoria, B.C. : Daniel Heffernan, James Borsman, c1979.)
Call number: 971.128 BAI

The story of the University of Victoria and its origin in Victoria College / [Text, Rosemary Neering ; editor, Robie Liscomb].
([Victoria, B.C.] : University of Victoria, c1988.) 
Call number: 378.71134 NEE.

Victoria: a history in photographs / Peter Grant.
(Cammore, Alberta : Altitude Publishing Canada, c1995.)
Call number: 971.128 GRA

Victoria the way it was / Michael Kluckner.
(North Vancouver, B.C. : Whitecap Books, c1986.)
Call number: 971.134 KLU

Victoria's streetcar era / Henry Ewert.
(Victoria, B.C. : Sono Nis Press, c1992.)
Call number: 388.46 EWE