LibGuides: Residential Schools: Primary Sources

About Primary Sources

Primary sources are original sources that first report on research or an idea. In other words, they are documents or records that contain firsthand reports or original data on a topic. Examples of primary sources include:

newspapers
interviews
research reports
scholarly journal articles
conference proceedings
diaries
letters
memoirs
original manuscripts
photographs
drawings
film footage
sheet music

Primary Sources

Aboriginal Heritage: Government of Canada
Look for the digital collections at the bottom of the page. Digital images of First Nations people and more.
Library and Archives Canada Sources on Residential Schools
Includes photographs of schools, students

Canadiana Online
Canada’s most popular archival collections encompassing roughly 40 million pages of primary-source documents.
Associated with other databases, Heritage and Early Canadiana Online
Permitted Uses for this Database

The Children Remembered
School photographs
The Story of A National Crime
In 1922 Dr. P. H. Bryce published a book about the horrors of Indian Residential Schools.
National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (University of Manitoba)
An archive of statements, documents, photographs, footage, school records, maps, plans, TRC reports, and much more.
Speaking My Truth
Download the e-book of residential School Survivors

Photograph

Staff and students of Elizabeth Long Memorial Home, Kitamaat (1919)

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