Showcasing Atlantic Canada's rich archival sources

The Atlantic Canada Virtual Archives (ACVA) features collections of digitized documents and images, accompanied by learning activities and commentary, of interest to a wide range of readers.

The Edward Winslow Letters, 1783-1785

The Edward Winslow Letters, 1783-1785 Housed in the University of New Brunswick Archives & Special Collections department, the Edward Winslow Letters, 1783-1785, document the efforts of a prominent Massachusetts Loyalist to reconstruct family and community life in New Brunswick following the American Revolutionary War. A profilic and gifted writer, Winslow offers an intimate account of the Loyalist experience and provides telling insight into eighteenth-century social and political values.

The McQueen Family Letters, 1866-1930

The McQueen Family Letters, 1866-1930 The McQueen Family Letters, 1866-1930, chronicle in often breath-taking detail the activities and relationships of a farming family rooted in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. Brought together from four separate archives located in British Columbia and Nova Scotia, the 1200 letters in this collection follow the fortunes of a highly mobile family as they adapted to the industrial age (five of six daughters and the only son taught school at some point in their lives) and speak to us today as remarkable documents of Canadian social history.

Loyalist Women in New Brunswick, 1783-1827

Loyalist Women in New Brunswick, 1783-1827 Loyalist Women in New Brunswick, 1783-1827, features diaries, letters, poems, reminiscences, and legal records relating to Loyalist women in colonial New Brunswick, including women in three generations of the Winslow family. Their stories reveal the daunting challenges that faced Loyalist refugees as they struggled to re-establish life as they had known it in their former homeland.

Black Loyalists in New Brunswick, 1783-1854

Black Loyalists in New Brunswick, 1783-1854 Black Loyalists in New Brunswick, 1783-1854, features petitions relating to land grants in New Brunswick in which African Americans are either the petitioners or the land granted to African Americans is the subject of attention. These documents, located in the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, offer valuable primary evidence about the experience of African Americans in colonial New Brunswick.

MacDonald Family Letters, 1779-1801

MacDonald Family Letters, 1779-1801

The MacDonald Family Letters virtual archive features ten letters written by John and Helen MacDonald between 1779 and 1801. Their correspondence offers a rare glimpse into the early settlement of St. John's Island (renamed Prince Edward Island in 1799).

Contested Terrain: Aboriginal Land Petitions in New Brunswick, 1786-1878

Contested Terrain: Aboriginal Land Petitions in New Brunswick, 1786-1878 Contested Terrain: Aboriginal Land Petitions in New Brunswick, 1786-1878, features a digital collection of petitions relating to land grants in colonial New Brunswick, in which either Aboriginal people are the petitioners or their land is the subject of attention. These documents offer valuable primary evidence about the experience of First Nations after the arrival of the Loyalists and the founding of New Brunswick in 1784.