Archives of Ontario

In 1903, responding to public demands for an historical records repository, the Ontario government established a provincial archives under Alexander Fraser, a Toronto editor and historian. As first Archivist of Ontario, he initiated an ambitious acquisition programme and began the publication of important documents in a valuable series of annual reports. The Archives Act of 1923 directed the transfer of inactive government records to the Archives and by 1934 it had developed as a major centre for the preservation and public use of documents, maps and photographs related to Ontario. Following the Second World War and the introduction of a comprehensive government records management programme, the Archives of Ontario became one of Canada's foremost archival institutions.