The Digital Collections

Introduction

Although the original documents are held by various institutions across Eastern Canada and Wales, the William Logan collections are now available to researchers online. Consult any one of the dozens of documents, trace Logan's steps through a particular region, or follow the development of his scientific work from raw data to publication.

Notebooks

Carried with him into the field, the notebooks contain Logan's original observations on, and preliminary interpretations of, the surface geology. They include sectional drawings and numerous landscape and specimen sketches. Eleven of his notebooks from Library and Archives Canada featuring his early work during the first half of the 1840s are available online.

Journals

Back in camp at the end of each day, Logan recorded his more personal thoughts and observations in his journals. The six journals provided online from McGill University Archives, the National Library of Wales and the Toronto Public Library cover the same period and expeditions as the notebooks above.

Annual Reports

Originally published as appendices in the Journals of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, the Geological Survey of Canada's "Reports of Progress" have often been difficult to locate. It is now possible to access online versions of the reports published between 1842 and 1858, thanks to the collaboration of Early Canadiana Online.

Publications

The published Geology of Canada and its Atlas of Maps and Sections provide readers with an extensive summary of the Geological Survey's most important work and findings from the 1840s to the early 1860s. Available here as part of a collaborative initiative between Library and Archives Canada and Natural Resources Canada's Earth Sciences Information Centre, these publications are a valuable resource for research on specific places, geological formations and mineral resources.

Maps

Both Library and Archives Canada and Natural Resources Canada have extensive collections of maps created by the Geological Survey. Here researchers can access a number of the Survey's original manuscript maps, now in the holdings of Library and Archives Canada, as well as an extensive database of the Survey's published maps at the Earth Sciences Sector of Natural Resources Canada.

Logan Biography

More than 120 years later, B.J. Harrington's Life of Sir William E. Logan (Montréal, 1883), still remains the only book-length Logan biography. Illustrated with a number of Logan's sketches, this lively book is linked here in collaboration with Our Roots: Canada's Local Histories Online.