Private Records

Nearly 2000 collections offer a multifaceted view of New Brunswick and its people, from the Acadian and pre-Loyalist periods to the present day. These documents are received from individuals, families, churches, businesses, associations and other repositories. Ranging from letters and diaries to financial and statistical returns, the information they hold corresponds to virtually any interest.

It is important to note that the contents of a private records collection may be extremely diverse and the subjects it covers may not be identifiable or even suggested by its title. Each collection is assigned its own reference number. To facilitate research in these materials, the finding aids provide historical background, details of creator or provenance, an overview of the content, and categorized listings of the documents.

Under cooperative arrangements with other repositories, the Archives has acquired a number of sources which are national or international in their overall scope, but which also have specific relevance to the history of New Brunswick. Included among these are the papers of Canadian prime ministers, census enumerations, records of colonial administration under French and British rule, and the correspondence and reports of missionary bodies. An ongoing program to locate and microfilm copies of early New Brunswick newspapers continues to yield a rare and highly valuable source of information.