The HRM Archives holds records in many formats (documents, maps, plans, photos, audio-visual recordings), from just before the incorporation of the City of Halifax in 1841 to recent HRM records more than 10 years old.

Municipal Records Highlights:

• Council and Committee minutes, submissions and reports
• Ordinances and by-laws
• Halifax City Engineer’s Office architectural plans and maps
• Police Department records
• County Home and Halifax Poor House records
• Photographs of municipal officials and events
• Public Gardens, Commons and Point Pleasant Park Committees records
• Halifax Building Inspection Office Urban Renewal photographs
• Dartmouth ferry records

Community Records Highlights:

• Michael Zatzman fonds from the 1989-1990 construction of Alderney Gate in Dartmouth
• John Lloyd fonds from his tenures as City of Halifax mayor and public official, 1943-1971
• Charles Fulton collection, 1910-1930, Halifax police officer killed on-duty
• Halifax Advisory Committee on Human Rights fonds, 1954-2004, from their participation in the relocation of Africville residents.
• Photographs of Halifax area events and people

For more detail:

Search Holdings - full descriptions of processed holdings. 

New Acquistions - recently acquired records - most not yet processed

Genealogical Sources - overview of sources for family history