Stony Monday riot, the rabid Duke of Richmond, rowdy lumberjacks and eccentric geniuses. . . Ottawa's history is anything but boring! And OPL is the place to find out all about it. Our local history collections tell the stories of the people, customs, and institutions that built Ottawa and the surrounding communities.
Reference materials, including books, newspapers, directories, and municipal reports, can be consulted at Main, Nepean Centrepointe, or Beaverbrook branches. In addition, OPL is pleased to house the collections of 3 local history societies. Find out more about these collections here.
And, of course, the most popular local history titles are available to borrow at many branches. Together, OPL's local history collections provide an extensive resource on Ottawa and the surrounding area, past and present.
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. Local history and culture was shared, stories were read, and cake was eaten.
The History
Library Cat has answers. Life, The Library... what's the difference? If it's out there, it's in here!
Dear Library Cat,
My relatives invited themselves to stay with me for much too long this summer! What should I do?
Yours truly,
This digitized full-images archives of the Ottawa Citizen provides genealogists, researchers and general public with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time.
This will allow Ottawans to digitally travel back through the centuries to become eyewitnesses to our local history.
The Ottawa Room at the Main Branch is our largest and most comprehensive local history resource. The Ottawa Room collection covers Ottawa and the entire Ottawa Valley, in Ontario and Quebec. It includes over 17,000 books, periodicals, newspapers and maps about the architecture, biography, culture, genealogy, geography, history and heritage of the area.