The collection is very large and provides a rich resource for the study of Ontario and its people. It consists of:

• paper records (mostly files and bound volumes) that take up over 60,000 metres of shelf space.
• over 1.7 million photographs
• approximately 200,000 architectural drawings
• approximately 40,000 maps
• approximately 40,000 sound and moving image records
• a library with over 70,000 items

This page provides an overview of our services and links to more detailed explanations of them.

To access most of the collection, you must visit our reading rooms at 77 Grenville Street in Toronto. You can use this website to prepare for your visit by searching databases that describe our archival records and our library holdings. You can also search our visual database for online reference copies of some of the photographs and documentary art in our holdings. These databases are not complete. In many cases you will have to use a paper-based inventory in one of our reading rooms to find the records that you are interested in.

If you are researching your family history in Ontario, see our webpages on Genealogical Research. Information about how to find an historical Birth, Marriage or Death record is available on our Vital Statistics pages.

If you are planning a visit, you may wish to see:

• Frequently Asked Questions about the Archives of Ontario
• Our Collections: An Overview
• Visiting the Archives

Our Customer Service Guides and Research Guides explain how to use popular records or outline important policies and procedures such as our charges for obtaining copies of archival records.

You may send an enquiry by telephone, fax, regular mail, and e-mail. This service is designed to answer very specific questions or to help you prepare for a research visit. We are unable to undertake research on your behalf.

We have microfilmed some of our most popular records and make them available through our Microfilm Interloan Service. This service allows you to borrow microfilm copies of archival records through you local library.

We offer public tours of our building at 77 Grenville Street in Toronto.

There are many other archives in Ontario serving municipalities, educational institutions, religious organizations, historical societies, and large businesses. ARCHEION: Ontario's Archival Information Network is a great place to start searching for archival records held throughout the province. ARCHEION is sponsored and maintained by the Archives Association of Ontario.