Collections

The archival collections at the Community Archives include textual records, photographs, maps, newspapers, and other materials that provide information about the people, places and development of Belleville and Hastings County, Ontario. You can search for materials on our online catalogue, Discover.

Where possible, we share digital copies of our archives within Discover. If an item you want to see has not yet been digitized, contact us and we will see if it is something we can add to the catalogue.

Highlights of the Community Archives collection

• City of Belleville minute books (1836-1860 and 1896-1959), bylaws (1850-1931), assessment rolls (most years 1864-2001), and other records
• County of Hastings minute books and bylaws (1842-1997), assessment rolls (1871-1906) and other records
• Records of other Hastings County municipalities
• Printed directories of Belleville and Hastings County
• The Intelligencer newspaper photographs (mainly negatives) (1950-2000)
• Hastings County Historical Society papers and records (1957-present), including past editions of the Outlook newsletter
• Maps, plans, and architectural drawings
• Local newspaper collection
• Collections formerly held at the Deseronto Archives

Where there are no copyright restrictions, we share our photographs on Flickr. These are photographs where the term of copyright has expired, or where the Archives owns the copyright. These images may be freely re-used for any purpose (although an acknowledgement of the Community Archives and a link to the Flickr image page would be appreciated).

For an overview on how to use our online resources, you can view our archivist's video presentation (recorded 15 October 2022) to the Quinte Branch of Ontario Ancestors.

Other useful resources

• Belleville History Alive scanned collections from the Belleville Public Library
• Deseronto Archives images on Flickr
• First World War Belleville stories of the experiences of Belleville and Hastings County people during the Great War
• Genealogy page from the Belleville Public Library (including indexes to obituaries from Belleville's Intelligencer newspaper)
• Hastings County Land Records index at the Marilyn Adams Genealogical Research Centre
• Marmora Historical Foundation
• ONLAND access to historic Land Registry information from Service Ontario