Collections and Research

The Rooms collects and preserves objects, artworks and archival materials relevant to the past, present and future of Newfoundland and Labrador.

You will find everything you need to start your own research journey:

Government Records
Maps
Photographs
Film
Natural History Specimens,
Archeological Finds
Historic Objects
Artworks from our province and beyond

If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please contact our Archives Reference Room.

Interested in donating an item to our Collection? Contact us at collections@therooms.ca.

Search the Archives
Search the online database for descriptions of our archival records and to view thousands of digital photographs.

Vital Statistics (Deaths 1950 - 1968)
The Department of Digital Government and Service NL Vital Statistics Division has provided this collection of over 59,000 Newfoundland and Labrador death certificates to The Rooms Provincial Archives for public access and research.

Search Soldier Files
Search the military service files of the First Newfoundland Regiment (later "Royal") and the Newfoundland Forestry Companies, including the officers, other ranks, attached specialists and Drum and Bugle Corps.

Died in Service
Died in Service is a commemorative database featuring some 1800 individual wartime biographies of those from Newfoundland and Labrador who gave their lives in service during the First World War.

Still Images
More than 400,000 photographic items, including a large assortment of photographic prints and about 14,000 glass plate negatives, make up our Still Images Collection. The collection also contains examples of earlier forms of photographic materials, such as tintypes, daguerreotypes, ambrotypes and glass lantern slides.

Government Archives
The Rooms acquires and preserves records created by Government departments, agencies, boards, commissions or Crown Corporations. This rich archival resource is made available for research, subject to the provisions of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy

Authorization from the Public Records Committee must be granted before records are added to The Rooms’ Government Archival collection.

Manuscripts
The Rooms acquires non-governmental records considered significant to the history of our province. The Manuscript collection contains a wide range of business records, with particular strength in mercantile records related to the Newfoundland fishery. The collection also contains extensive holdings of individuals’ journals, diaries, and correspondence. Records of non-government groups and associations can also be found here.

Cartographic and Architectural Archives
The Rooms’ Cartographic and Architectural collection contains more than 50,000 maps, plans, prints, drawings, sketches, and charts from both government and non-government sources.

Items are retrieved only twice per week, with a maximum of 20 maps per researcher retrieved each day.

Sport
From regatta teams to hockey teams, from soccer to sleigh races, The Rooms Sports Archives offer materials relating to professional and amateur sporting activities in Newfoundland and Labrador. Through text, image and audio, the history of sport in this province is documented and available for research.

We hold correspondence, scrapbooks, over 5,000 photographs, clippings, and organizational records dating back to approximately 1820.

Archive Reproduction: Photographic (ARC26)