The Rideau Branch of the Ottawa Public Library has served the Lowertown and Sandy Hill neighbourhoods since it opened in 1934. On November 30th 2024, members of the local community gathered with us to celebrate the Branch’s 90th anniversary.
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Ottawa Public Library resources, services and programs help people explore their family history.
Blogs about History and Genealogy
Online Resources for History and Genealogy
A collection of thousands of individual genealogy databases from many different institutions. It includes American, Canadian and U.K. sources as well as some for Australia, New Zealand and Europe. Canadian coverage includes major sources such as the censuses from 1851 to 1916, Ontario civil registration of births, marriages and deaths, and the Quebec Drouin Collection (courthouse copies of parish registers). German records include passenger lists for many people leaving Eastern Europe. New databases are constantly being added. Many of the sources are digitized. Bring a USB flash drive to download your records.
This bilingual online resource offers historical content about Canada from the first European settlers to the early 20th century. This includes digitized books, magazines and government documents and spans 21 languages.
FamilySearch is the largest genealogy organization in the world sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history.
Ottawa Public Library is now a FamilySearch Affiliate Library, this designation means library clients will now have greater and more convenient access to the wealth of genealogical resources available through FamilySearch at our 33 branches.
Benefits of an Affiliate Library
- Due to contractual obligations, some images are only viewable online through FamilySearch centers and Affiliate Libraries
- Through the affiliate program, OPL customers have access to over 350 million additional records that are otherwise restricted
This resource is available for in-library use only.
Please note that each individual client must log into FamilySearch using their own unique username and password. There is no institutional login.
Provides access to over 42,000,000 images and files from the origins of New France to today, drawn from the search tools of the Drouin Genealogical Institute. Includes baptism and death certificates (1621-1849), the Fond Drouin registries from 1621 to 1967, and marriage and death certificates (1926-1997). Many digital documents are also available, such as notarized contracts, post cards, censuses, etc.
This product is limited to 10 simultaneous users. Please log in to PRDH separately if you would like to use materials linked to both databases.This digitized version of The Globe and Mail includes all of the newspapers' sections, images, classifieds, advertisements, births, deaths, political cartoons and more for the dates covered. Users can browse by date or perform a keyword search.