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This post was first published in October 2021 - now updated to spring 2024.

The Archives are open to volunteers, visitors or researchers in person, with drop-in hours on Tuesdays 10-1, and appointments available morning and afternoon on Tuesdays and Fridays. Here are contact details for all enquiries and research appointments: email, post and phone.

Planning ahead: before visiting the Archives, you will have made an appointment in advance by emailing archives@oakbay.ca or calling 250-598-3290 and receiving confirmation of your appointment time. This is also worth doing even if you're planning to drop by on a Tuesday morning.

Making appointments is mostly new for Oak Bay Archives, but usual/required in many archives. Our space for visitors is smaller than before, and we want to make sure researchers are able to make the most of their time. Here's a quick photo orientation to the new layout of Oak Bay Archives, following Municipal Hall renovations in 2021:

As before, the Archives office and reading room are at the front of the lower floor of Municipal Hall.

From the outside, the Archives windows are the two at lower right, indicated by the yellow oblong above. Step-free access to the Archives is, as before, via the entrance on the side nearest Athlone Court, indicated by the yellow arrow above.

Access via the side entrance is operated by staff key fobs only, so you will need to ring the doorbell or call 250-598-3290 when you arrive, and the Archivist or an Archives volunteer will meet you at the door and accompany you to the Archives.

You can also access the Archives from the main foyer upstairs; if you have an appointment, ask at the main reception desk. Staff will call down to the Archives and the Archivist or an Archives volunteer will come upstairs to meet you and accompany you to the Archives.

Please note, there is no elevator or other step-free access indoors between the two floors. For step-free access to the Archives, please come to the side entrance on the ground floor.

The internal entrance to the Archives is no longer via the double doors immediately inside the side door, but at the end of the hall. This was the 'staff entrance' to the Archives before and is now the main (only) entrance. There is a single washroom nearby.

At the reception/reference desk, you'll sign in and receive the paperwork and orientation you need to get started. If you've made an appointment or called ahead with your query, we will already know about your topic of interest from appointment correspondence or conversation, and will have your first box or file of archival material ready for you. This room used to be the processing area and archivist's office, and is now the searchroom.

The big table in the searchroom is large enough for maps, drawings, large reference books etc. Normally this table is for one user at a time. Does only one person need so much space? Imagine having a laptop, digital camera, a reference publication or two, and just one map or house drawing on that surface. It will fill up quickly! We need to allow enough space per researcher that all files and documents have enough room on the table without getting piled on each other, getting mixed up, or hanging over the edge.

Reference files of cuttings and other printed sources for people, places and events in Oak Bay history are in the big vertical file cabinets by the copier. You will be able to consult the Archivist or reference volunteer on duty about scanning or photocopying requests.

The reference library, with sections for published works about the history and architecture of Oak Bay, Greater Victoria, Vancouver Island, and BC, plus biographies and memoirs by and about Oak Bay people, and a general section on heritage buildings, is in the other room along with the archivist's office area. This area also houses the printed city directories for most years 1956-1998.

While the big windows to the front lawn are familiar, we also have a new window and a new wall! The window between the searchroom and the office improves sightlines between the two rooms, especially when the connecting door is closed, and the new wall separates the office and reference area from the new offices created in what was the large meeting room across the whole front of this floor. The connecting door is unchanged, as is the footprint of the office and reference area.

Above, the new wall. In the reference area you will find another table/work station and the reference library. Did you know the reference library catalogue is online? Click here to browse our holdings. Search by keyword, or sort and browse the collection by clicking on the column headings - Author, Title etc.

All researchers at the Archives are invigilated, which means that the Archivist or duty volunteer is always on hand at the reference desk to answer questions, help you to find useful reference works, return archival material you've finished using and bring your next box or file, and assist you with correct handling, especially of large or fragile items.

When your research session is finished, you'll return your archival and reference materials and complete any copying request forms etc. Once you're ready to leave, the Archivist or duty volunteer will accompany you to the exit. Please make sure you have all your belongings with you as you go, as the door will lock behind you!

On the other side of what's now the inner room is the Archivist's office. In the foreground you can see some recent accessions awaiting processing - listing, describing, arranging and packaging - before being moved to the repository for storage.

What was it like before? Let's go back in time... click here for the pre-2021 photo tour

But what about the archives? Where are all the boxes and volumes on shelves? Where's the map chest? Still here, but the renovations gave us some more storage space! This means that now all reference material is in the searchroom, and all archival material is in the repositories. The archives are still on site at Municipal Hall and are produced to the searchroom on request.

Part of one archives repository, showing different box formats and unboxed ledger volumes.

Teachers: Interested in incorporating archival records, historic photographs, maps, local history into lesson plans? Wondering how to connect school classes with archives during the pandemic? Please get in touch!

Researchers: Doing a house history, genealogy or local history research? Please get in touch! News and highlights will appear here on Connect Oak Bay and on Twitter, and new research resources on the Archives pages of the Oak Bay website.

Donors: Thinking of giving historic records to Oak Bay Archives? Thank you! Please have a look at the BC Archives' donations guidelines at https://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/assets/Donating-records_Brochure_BCA2018.pdf. Most of this is relevant to any archival donation - translate 'BC' to 'Oak Bay' of course!

Website: https://www.oakbay.ca/archives

Photo Search: https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs-view

Blog posts: https://connect.oakbay.ca/archives

Email: archives@oakbay.ca

Phone: 250-598-3290

- Post by Anna Sander, updated April 2024.