Our collections include historical artifacts, letters, books, genealogical research on area families, Ontario Vital Statistics BMD, map collection and more. Here’s a description of what is available to researchers.
Genealogical collections
Over 1,600 family genealogies are housed in the library, many of which are included in our online index, the Names database.
Hastings County Land Records
The original Hastings County Land Records have been deposited in the Marilyn Adams Genealogical Research Centre (MAGRC) by the Government of Ontario. These original abstract books are available and date back to patent. The original instruments (such as mortages and some wills) cover the time period from 1867 to 1955. An index of the records is also available online.
Heal Research Papers and Records
The Heal collection contains the research of James A. Heal. The database contains information covering all time frames, worldwide, and all spelling variants of the Heal surname and related families. An index of these records is searchable online.
Hessian Research of Johannes (John) Helmut Merz
This book collection is composed of email correspondence between Johannes Merz and information requesters from around the world. There are many references to Upper Canada, Quebec and Nova Scotia.
Klein research on the Tripps of the Bay of Quinte
Contains the source material that was used in the book The Tripps of Quinte by Illean Hammar (available in our bookstore)
Marilyn Adams museum
Some of the artifacts from the Adams home on the Bay of Quinte were preserved as mandated by the Provincial Trustee. These artifacts are on display at the centre.
Names Database
The Names database is an online and searchable index of over 1.2 million records from the genealogies, births and death records, marriages, obituaries, pedigree charts and other genealogical records in the library.
Tudor & Cashel Township Records
Dating back to 1852, these documents represent much of the records held by these townships prior to amalgamation.
Victoria Cross Archive
In 2012, the centre acquired the Victoria Cross Archive, The Facts Behind the Men, Behind the Medals. This is the only location where this historical record is available in Canada.
Women’s Institute of Tweedsmuir
The collection contains the histories, minute books, and other records from selected Women’s Institute chapters in the area: Consecon branch, Gilbert’s Mills, Mountainview, Picton, Prince Edward District, and Rednersville branch.