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Explore Mackenzie King's diary
This is a page from Mackenzie King's diary, September 7, 1901.
Databases with digital diaries and letters
- North American Indian Thought and CultureBiographies, autobiographies, speeches, diaries, letters, and oral histories on Indigenous peoples of North America.
Coverage: 17th century - present - North American Women's Letters and Diaries, Colonial to 1950Collection of women's diaries and correspondence.
Coverage: 1675 - 1950 - North American Immigrant Letters, Diaries and Oral HistoriesPersonal narratives of immigrants to Canada and the United States.
Coverage: 18th century - present
- Canadian Letters and Images projectSearch the database to find Canadians' war experiences.
Coverage: Pre 1914 - 1955 - Much to be Done: Private Life in Ontario from Victorian DiariesThis collection organizes diary entries by topic: courtship and wedding, childbirth, home; cooking, servants, poverty, visiting, tea, illness, funerals and mourning, entertainment, celebrations and holiday.
Coverage: 1845 - 1915 - Rural Diary ArchiveFeatures Ontario diarists' writings.
Coverage: 1800 - 1960 - Correspondence to Martin AnthesPart of the Library's Special Collections & Archives' Rieder Anthes family fonds. Learn about the Anthes family's activities in Southern Ontario. Includes 28 letters that have been transcribed and translated from German into English.
Coverage: 1867 -1872
Use Omni, the Library catalogue to find diaries and letters/correspondence
Our libraries purchase print and electronic versions of diaries and letters that have been published. These versions can have helpful annotations, include transcriptions (from handwritten to type set), and, in the case of print copies, can be checked out of the Library.
Try the search strategy below. For any print versions you retrieve, you can go to book stacks/shelves to review and check out or request them to be delivered to a library of your choice.
1. This search targets Omni, the Library's catalogue records describing primary sources. Give it a try.
- Run the Omni pre-configured search, which automatically populates the first row with words that will retrieve records with, for example, diaries, correspondence, and speeches. THEN,
- In the 2nd row add your own keyword(s) that relate to your topic. Separate keywords with AND to ensure all terms appear in the records you retrieve.
Here's an example using poverty AND laws
