If you haven't been to our website for awhile, you may notice something different — our name has changed to 'Nova Scotia Archives' (NSA).

On January 11, 2011, we became a division within the Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage (formerly Tourism, Culture and Heritage). At the same time, though as part of a separate restructuring initiative, the records management component of our integrated archives and records management program was formally transferred to the Chief Information Office (CIO) in Treasury Board. As a result, we are now the Nova Scotia Archives and the process of forging a new institutional identity is well underway.

Records Management staff remain on site in the Archives Building, to continue the collaborative relationship developed between the two components of the formerly integrated program. Records Management content also remains on this website during the transition phase to the CIO.

What does this mean for Internet visitors? Our mandate to preserve and share the province's archival heritage with Nova Scotians everywhere has not changed. Expect to find even more virtual exhibits, digitized archives, searchable archival databases, and other online products that have established us as a quality destination for Nova Scotians wanting to explore their families, their communities and their province.

African Nova Scotian Diaspora

This significant new online resource features unique documents reflecting the struggles and survival of African Nova Scotians, as the world marks the United Nations' International Year for People of African Descent. It contains over 500 digitized and fully searchable government documents relating to early African Nova Scotian immigration and emigration. Many of the documents are rich in the names and reflect the experiences of Black Refugees who came here at the close of the War of 1812.

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African Nova Scotians

Nova Scotians and Web users worldwide now have an exciting new way to find out about African Nova Scotian history. A virtual exhibit and online resource providing access to a wide variety of documentary sources, including government documents, letters, newspaper articles, maps and works of art. Includes a fully searchable database containing names of about 5000 African American immigrants who came to Nova Scotia in 1783 and 1815-16. Also a virtual exhibit featuring photographs of early black settlements and descendants of original settlers, 1880-1955.

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RMS Titanic Resource Guide

Visit our virtual exhibit commemorating the loss of the Titanic on 15 April 1912. View an original document prepared in May 1912 (also presented in a fully searchable format) listing 330 identified and unidentified bodies brought into Halifax after the catastrophe. Also examine documents and photographs dating from the time, recording the aftermath of the great tragedy at sea.

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