With the support of members and stakeholders, CRKN identifies, describes, and digitizes documentary heritage to expand and improve the Canadiana collections.
The Canadiana collections are available at no charge to users thanks to the merger of CRKN and Canadiana.org, and through the three-year commitment made by CRKN members to the Heritage Content Access and Preservation (HCAP) fund. The HCAP fund is a redirection of CRKN member Canadiana.org subscriptions and membership fees, or for those who did not subscribe to Canadiana, a set annual fee, to fund the ongoing support and development of Canadiana content and the Trustworthy Digital Repository (TDR) platform. To learn more about contributing to the Heritage Content Access and Preservation fund, contact Rebecca Ross at rross@crkn.ca.
The strategic growth of the Canadiana collections is overseen by the Preservation and Access Committee (PAC) and the PAC’s task groups, the Heritage Content Priorities Task Group (HCPTG) and the Platform Technical Task Group (PTTG).
Canadiana Online (2018-present)
The Canadiana Online collection contains 19 million pages (95,000 titles) of digitized historical publications, including monographs, serials, and government publications. The collection is largely composed of materials published prior to 1921.
Canadiana Online also includes all content in the closed Early Canadiana Online (ECO) collection, including 5.8 million pages of digitized historical publications from or about Canada published before 1921. This includes monographs, government documents, and specialized or mass-market periodicals from the 16th to 20th centuries. This content combines content from the CIHM microfiche series with full-colour scans of rare, primary-source titles.
Newspapers and annuals (digitized from CIHM fiche) are currently being added to the collection. Under the guidance of the Heritage Content Priorities Task Group, CRKN is in process of consulting with its members and the wider community regarding how the collection should continue to evolve.
Search the Canadiana Online Collection
Héritage (2013-present)
The Héritage collection is a partnership between CRKN members and Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and draws from the rich resources of archival microfilm held by Library and Archives Canada. Héritage includes 41 million pages (900 collections) from some of Canada's most popular archival collections chronicling the country and its people from the 17th to the mid-20th centuries. The majority of the material in Héritage is handwritten.
CRKN and LAC continue to work together to develop the collection, with approximately 100,000 pages added annually.
Search the Héritage Collection
For questions about the Canadiana Collections or for assistance in using the collections, please email info@crkn.ca