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Vancouver History

First Vancouver City Council Meeting after the fire - photograph by H. T. Devine
First Vancouver City Council Meeting after the fire - photograph by H. T. Devine (VPL # 508)

Related Guides

The Vancouver Public Library has extensive primary and secondary resources on the history of Vancouver. This guide is designed to help you begin your research on this topic and use library resources effectively. The guide focuses on political and social history. Most materials are located in the main non-fiction collection at the Central Library as well as in Special Collections on Level 7.

Vancouver was built on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Useful Websites

Information on Vancouver heritage buildings and resources, including case studies, walking tours, fact sheets, and register of heritage buildings.

Transcriptions of hand-written documents from Vancouver history.

City app that allows you to view, search, create, and print maps of Vancouver. Includes heritage and property information, aerial photos, and the 1912 fire insurance map.

Find historical photographs of Vancouver and BC; research names and city streets; listen to personal histories in the West End; find articles and stories on BC  history; learn about the history of the Vancouver Public Library; or dip into a lively, short-lived weekly newspaper from the early twentieth century.

Historical Organizations

Begun in 1934, the City of Vancouver Archives is the largest collection of historical documents and photographs on Vancouver in existence.

An independent, member-based registered charity dedicated to “creating a future for Vancouver’s heritage.”

Provides a look at the fascinating heritage, culture and natural history of the Lower Mainland. Includes information on the museum's exhibitions, collections and programs. Of particular interest is the c̓əsnaʔəm, the City Before the City, exhibit. 

Website includes walking tours and an interactive map of heritage sites in Vancouver.

Established in 1936 to stimulate public interest in Vancouver's history, to encourage historical research and publication, and to promote the designation and preservation of historic sites.

Presents the maritime history of Vancouver and the Canadian Arctic.

The BC Labour Heritage Centre Society preserves, documents and presents the rich history of working people in British Columbia. 

Digital Library Resources
Culture and History Subject Icon

British Columbia city directories from 1860 to 1955. Directories include detailed historical information about British Columbian communities.

Access:
Everywhere for everyone
Newspapers and Magazines Subject Icon

Digitized newspaper archives covering The Province (1898 - present), The Vancouver Sun (1912 - present) and The Times Colonist (1884 - present).

Issues from most recent 3 months not available in this collection. See Canadian Newsstream for current issues.

Access:
Everywhere for Vancouver residents
Newspapers and Magazines Subject Icon

Search and view community newspapers from around BC published between 1865 and 1994. This collection makes many of BC's earliest newspapers freely available in digital format

Access:
Everywhere for everyone
Culture and History Subject Icon

Finding tool for historical information about BC in books, magazines and newspapers in the Vancouver Public Library collection.

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Everywhere for everyone
General Reference Subject Icon

CBCA is a Canadian-focused database that offers access to newspapers, magazines, scholarly journals and reference sources. *Also suitable for research at the elementary, high school and undergraduate levels.

Access:
Everywhere for Vancouver residents
Culture and History Subject Icon

A selection of historical images of Vancouver and British Columbia from the 1880s to the 1980s.

Access:
Everywhere for everyone
Culture and History Subject Icon

The Vancouver Public Library created This Vancouver to share the stories of Vancouverites and the history of Vancouver communities through images, audio clips, and videos. 

Access:
Everywhere for everyone

Recommended Titles

Cover Image for The Chuck Davis History of Metropolitan Vancouver
Chuck Davis
Call Number
971.133 D26c
Publication Year
2011
The story of how Vancouver grew from a ramshackle tumble of stumps, brush and crude wooden buildings to today's urban metropolis turns out to be interesting, complicated, frequently rancorous and occasionally even funny. And the book is, as the late author hoped, "fun, fat and filled with facts."
Cover Image for Historical Atlas of Vancouver and the Lower Fraser Valley
Derek Hayes
Call Number
911.71133 H41h
Publication Year
2005
More than 370 original maps chart the region's development beginning with the years of discovery and exploration. They depict its days as a fledgling colonial outpost, its appearance on the world scene after the arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railway, through to its emergence as a postwar Pacific metropolis.
Deanne Beattie and Sad Magazine Publishing Society
Call Number
306.766 V22b
Publication Year
2011
Special double issue of Sad Magazine with stories and images from LGBTQ history in Vancouver.
Cover Image for Vancouver: A Visual History
Bruce Macdonald
Call Number
971.133 M1351v
Publication Year
1992
Full-colour historical atlas brings to life Vancouver's first fourteen decades.
Cover Image for Vancouver Is Ashes: The Great Fire of 1886
Lisa Smith
Call Number
971.133 S65v
Publication Year
2014
On the morning of June 13, 1886, a rogue wind fanned the flames of a small clearing fire, and within five hours the newly incorporated city of Vancouver, British Columbia, had been reduced to smoldering ash.
Cover Image for Vanishing Vancouver: The Last 25 Years
Michael Kluckner
Call Number
971.133 K66vb
Publication Year
2012
Vanishing Vancouver explores the origins of our landmark buildings and public spaces, working harbour, shops, houses, apartments, urban farms and gardens, and bears witness to the recent dramatic changes that have taken place in them.

Contact Us

Northwest History Index

This card index in Special Collection provides access to the Northwest History Collection, a heritage collection covering the early history and exploration of British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest.

The collection includes:

  • magazine and newspaper articles
  • pamphlets
  • books
  • chapters in books
  • many other resources

As of August 1998, no new material has been added to the Northwest History Index. It is continued by the British Columbia Index.