Hidden Treasures in City Archives

Did you know that the City of St. John’s has a treasure trove of municipal records and information, all available for public access? Our Archives is the official repository for the records of the City of St. John’s. The Archives also hold records of enduring significance relating to St. John's history.

“At the City Archives, we work with everyone from lawyers, researchers and academics to authors, engineers, architects, artists, environmental scientists and contractors,” says Archivist Neachel Keeping. “And we get requests for information from residents and the general public, too. There’s so much to explore in our collection.”

Insurance Plans

Recently, the City posted Insurance Plans on our webpage. These were maps originally created to help insurance companies document the risk of potential fire damage, but for those interested in St. John’s history, they offer a unique window into the past.

Insurance maps document the evolution of urban development and design and are an invaluable resource on the infrastructure of the mercantile district, destroyed by the Great Fire of 1892. Colour-coded legends identify details such as building and dwelling type, construction materials, businesses, street name and number changes and even fire hydrant locations.

The earliest Insurance Plans were prepared by Charles R. Goad and Company. Goad was a civil engineer and publisher, born in London in 1848. His travels around the world as part of his surveying business and the maps he created make him one of the most significant and influential figures of the nineteenth century.

The City Archives is located at the F. Burnham Gill Archival Centre, 15 Terra Nova Road, and is open to the public by appointment only from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Thursday. 

“Over time, we will be transferring more and more of our collection to the website,” says Neachel, “making research easier and, we hope, making the fascinating history of our city more accessible to everyone.”

City Archive Treasures

What’s your interest? Are you doing research into your family tree? Are you looking for information on your property, neighbourhood or land? Or would you like to learn more about Council decisions from the last 100 years or more? These and other treasures can be found at the Archives.

Here are just a few of our treasures, waiting to be discovered:

• Our extensive photo collection includes Oldfield (1831) and Best (1830s) sketches of the Narrows, Signal Hill, Riverhead, Government House, and other areas/buildings of the city.
• The 1852 NOAD map of the city, the oldest in our collection
• 1936 Newfoundland Registry of Motor Vehicles
• 1914 to 1919 Royal Newfoundland Regiment Wills book
• A copy of The Memorial Register 10, Beaumont-Hamel (Newfoundland Memorial) Bearing the Names of Those Sailors, Soldiers and Merchant Seamen from Newfoundland who fell in the Great War and have no Known Graves 1929
• Various collections regarding the Fort Pepperell Air Force base during WWII including photographs, maps and general history
• Memorial College yearbooks from 1938 to 1941
• Georgestown Neighborhood Improvement Association materials from 1977 to1981
• High School Hockey Leagues, 1976 to 2004
• Central Fire Station Guard Books, 1954 to1993
• Shanawdithit Memorial Plaque, 2007
• Shared collections from the St. John’s Rotary Club, St. John’s Heritage Foundation and the SPCA