Digital Archives and Special Collections

The Dalhousie Libraries have created a number of digital collections to highlight and provide access to its vast collections.  Browse the collections below to learn about literary, theatrical, musical, and social history in Nova Scotia and beyond.

Artillery to Zuppa Circus: Recorded Memory of Theatre Life in Nova Scotia

A mosaic of interviews, profiles and assorted archival records that provides a textual, visual, and aural account of the past and present 125 year-plus history of Nova Scotian theatre. View Collection

Atlantic Symphony Orchestra

This digital collection introduces the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra and presents samples of materials researchers can expect to find in the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra fonds. View Collection

The Bay of Fundy in 1881: The Art of Stephen Parrish and Charles Platt

An exhibition showcasing 58 preparatory drawings and 13 etchings by Stephen Parrish and 4 etchings by Charles Platt.  View collection

The Artwork of D.C. MacKay

The Dalhousie University Archives and Special Collections houses a significant collection of Donald Cameron Mackay's works of art. View collection

The Waldren Studios: Images of Nova Scotia 1870 - 1940

The Dalhousie University Archives and Special Collections holds a fascinating collection of 45,000 glass plate, film negatives, and prints from the Waldren Studios of New Glasgow and Antigonish, Nova Scotia.  View collection

Francis Bacon Collection

The Dalhousie Sir Francis Bacon Collection website provides an illustrated index of the 16th- and 17th-century works of Francis Bacon, consisting of 232 titles in 286 volumes as well as several descriptive essays highlighting key areas of the collection.  More than half of all known Bacon editions are present. View collection

Rudyard Kipling's If

An exhibition showcasing one manuscript typescript and 19 versions of If published between 1910 and 1940. Includes five multimedia interpretations of the Kipling's classic poem found online.  View collection

Frank Parker Day

Frank Parker Day is a celebrated Nova Scotian author whose novel Rockbound was chosen by a panel of distinguished Canadians brought together by the CBC as the "book Canada Reads in 2005." This site provides an introduction to the collection, the novel, and the man behind them.  View collection

Thomas Head Raddall

Funded by a grant from the Birks Family Foundation, the Thomas Raddall Electronic Archive Project is an electronic archive that features selected significant letters, manuscripts, photographs, stories, and broadcasts by Thomas Raddall, one of Canada's and Nova Scotia's foremost authors and historians.  View collection

Andrew Randall Cobb Postcard Collection

The Sexton Library holds the Cobb Postcard Collection, an invaluable architectural record for students of architecture and planning.

James Dinwiddie

This collection provides full-text access to lecture notes, experiment journals, correspondence and other materials created by Scottish scientist and lecturer James Dinwiddie (1746-1815).  View collection

Proceedings of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science

The Nova Scotian Institute of Science was founded in 1862 as a direct descendant of the Halifax Mechanics’ Institute (1831–1860) and the Halifax Literary and Scientific Society (1839–1862).  It is one of the oldest learned societies in Canada. This collection provides full-text access to the Institute's scientific journal, The Proceedings of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science.  View Collection

Africville Relocation Report

This collection features photographs, maps and charts as well as the full text of the 1971 report by Don Clairmont and Dennis Magill documenting the story of the residents of Africville.  View collection

The Halifax Disaster

On the morning of 6 December 1917, Halifax, Nova Scotia was shaken by a catastrophic explosion that left devastation and death in its wake. The report and photos contained in this collection add to the growing list of Halifax Explosion materials available online.  View Collection

Historical Roots: Blacks in Nova Scotia

Part of the Our Roots digital collection project. Here you will find valuable contextual information about the project, links to digitized books, and additional resources benefitting anyone searching for information about Black Nova Scotian History.  View collection

Women's Diaries in Wartime

This collection showcases the diaries of two women, Catherine (Murray) Creighton and Maria Marquard, describing world events including the Boer War and First World War.  View collection