OGS Library

Our Collections | Online Catalogue |Library Queries

Note:
The staff who provide access to all collections, help users with finding aids and the operation of microfilm and microfiche readers and advise users about collection resources are employees of the Toronto Public Library. Except for microfiche or microfilm and a very few items shelved in the reading room, all of the Ontario Genealogical Society Library holdings are kept in climate-controlled and fire-protected storage. Items from these stacks and files must be requested at the reading room desk.

Online Catalogue

All library materials including family histories, cemetery transcriptions, branch publications, periodicals, and family charts can now be searched using our online catalogue.

Follow the on-screen instructions to get more information about items you have found as well as the call number so you can request the book from the library staff.

Our Collections

Family Histories

The library holds over 3,000 donated family histories, which form a part of the catalogued book collection. If a book was written about one of your families, a copy may have been donated to the Library. The Ontario Genealogical Society and its library are very open to donations of this type.

Cemetery Transcriptions

Copies of all cemetery transcriptions, many of which have been developed by the Society's branches, are held in files organized by county and township. For many transcripts, microfiche or microfilm copies are available in the reading room.

Branch Publications

Branches of the Society with publication programs donate copies of their publications to the Society's provincial library.

Periodicals

The library regularly receives over two hundred genealogical and heritage periodicals. Many are family newsletters received as donations from the issuing family association. Others are received in exchange for Families or by subscription.

Family Chart Collection - Pedigrees

Deposited pedigrees and other miscellaneous genealogical papers are kept in numbered files. There are over 90, 000 names found on these charts. While the charts may contain more recent information, only the names of those born before 1910 or married before 1926 can be searched in our family charts database. If someone has done work on one of your families, they may have donated a chart of that work.

Huguenot Family Name Files

The Ontario Genealogical Society holds the library of the former Huguenot Society of Canada. Part of that library is a set of vertical files, one folder per family name. In these files is whatever the Huguenot Society gathered on that name. Some files have one sheet in them, some a few pages, some have many pages - with the largest being an inch thick.

The Huguenot books are in our library (see online catalogue) but the vertical files are not. They are in the OGS Provincial Office, at the request of the Huguenot Society. People are welcome to visit us to look in these files but it must be by appointment only since we have very little room for researchers. Contact the Provincial Office if you wish to review these files.

Here is the list of the family names along with a rough estimate of the size of the family name's vertical file.

Library Queries

Looking at the Library Catalogue may answer your question; however, the Provincial Library of the Ontario Genealogical Society also has volunteers who can help you use our library collection.

We can
•  determine if a particular family history or other book or article in the library collection makes reference to one or more of your ancestors
•  see if a particular cemetery has had its monuments transcribed
•  advise you about other sources of information which may help you in your search

Library queries may be sent by e-mail or by mail to:

Library Queries
The Ontario Genealogical Society
Suite 102, 40 Orchard View Blvd.
Toronto, Ontario M4R 1B9