The Burlington History Room, located on the second floor of Central Library, holds the Burlington Public Library Archives and Local History Reference Collection, and the Burlington Historical Society Archives. Together, our organizations provide access to materials which document the area's history and families.

In 2005, Central Library underwent a renovation project which included expanding the space for the local history collection. Partnering with the Burlington Historical Society Archives, the Burlington History Room was created. Prior to this new location, the local history collection was housed in the Galloway Room, just outside the library’s reference department.

Items housed in the Burlington History Room are available for in-library use only and cannot be borrowed. Due to the rare and fragile nature of the collection, researchers must leave a piece of ID with library staff before viewing. 

To view archival materials from the Burlington History Room or inquire about local history, please contact the 

Finding Aids

Finding aids are descriptive tools that help a user find information in a specific record group, collection or series of archival materials. Whenever possible, finding aids are linked to descriptions of archival materials found in the Burlington Digital Archive.

 

Burlington Public Library is a member of Archives Association of Ontario (AAO). Descriptions of our archival holdings can be found on Archeion, a database of records located in archives across Ontario. 

The Burlington History Room contains books that are no longer in publication, heritage group newsletters, secondary school yearbooks, family histories, church and cemetery records, historical atlases, vertical files, and more. The local history reference collection is intended to serve the community seeking information about Burlington’s history, industry, architecture, or genealogy.  
To determine what non-circulating reference books are located in the Burlington History Room, library users can search the library catalogue. These books are catalogued under: Local History - Burlington Collection.

Some items from the reference collection have been digitized and are available under the Scrapbooks and Periodicals collection: