The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick (PANB) has a wealth of unique documents that tell the history of New Brunswick from the time it was founded in 1784 to the present day. These records inform us about the social and political organization of New Brunswick and highlight often little-known activities of ordinary and famous people who have lived in this province.
As underscored by a team made up of teachers and officials in the Department of Education, archival documents are in themselves excellent educational resources that enable teachers to give their students a better idea of certain aspects of New Brunswick's past. Many, such as the textual documents and especially the photographs, offer teachers a variety of approaches for introducing social studies to students.
Therefore, the Provincial Archives and the Department of Education are proud to present this electronic portfolio containing over 1,300 digitized archival documents accessible through the PANB web portal. This archival portfolio is made up of various documents from the different PANB collections and is intended primarily for Grade 3 and 4 students in Francophone public schools in New Brunswick, although it is likely to be of broader interest. It includes a variety of photographs, maps, architectural plans, lithographs, and textual material and is designed to highlight the archival document as an educational tool.
Each document is accompanied by a descriptive text that puts the reader in the context and provides a brief description of the document as such. The descriptive texts were written to enable a large group of readers to better understand the content.
Summaries were prepared to help familiarize the reader with key topics in New Brunswick history, such as the New Brunswick economy, the history of education in the province, and various subjects related to land management, including the development of the railway system and the marking off of the province's boundaries. They give the reader an overview of the history of New Brunswick since its beginnings in 1784, using major themes. There are hyperlinks through the texts that take the reader to a relevant document.
There are two ways to access the archival portfolio on the web portal of the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, either through a search module or through a theme expanded from the curriculum developed by the Department of Education.
The search module enables searchers to query the database through a full text search of the descriptive texts accompanying each document. It is also possible to do a search using key words relating to a particular geographical location or a specific theme of interest to the searcher or by the type of document.
Users can browse by topics developed from the social studies curriculum. The main themes touch on general subjects such as the economy, land management, education, services, historical events, cultural expression, sports, science, politics, and government and are divided into secondary and tertiary subjects to facilitate navigation.
This project has been made possible by the collaboration of the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick and the New Brunswick Department of Education, with the support of the Canadian Memory Fund of the Canadian Culture Online Funding Program of Library and Archives Canada.
We would like to thank the following persons who have contributed to the success of this project: Mrs Lyne Salvas, Miss Denise Pelletier, Miss Véronique Mallet, Miss Nathalie Bouchard and also Mr Pierre Cormier.