Research tools

Discover Archives

Discover Archives is a shared search portal for exploring descriptions of archival holdings at the University of Toronto and its federated colleges. Descriptions of UTARMS archival collections can be searched here.

Collections listing

These are alphabetical listings of all the collections held in the University Archives, sorted alphabetically by the name of the creator or the creating offices.

• University records - materials that documents the day-to-day operations of the University of Toronto and the work of administrators, staff, and students in the various academic divisions of the university.
• Personal Records - records of individuals and groups affiliated with the U of T, including faculty, alumni and student organizations. These papers document teaching, research, learning and extracurricular activities of the university’s prominent members and groups.

Digitized publications and archival records

A number of our most commonly used university publications and some archival collections have been digitized and can be accessed online.

• Calendars
  • Useful for course information, lists of professors, and some early calendars also include lists of enrolled students
• Newspapers
  • Useful for campus events, student life, and gathering broader contextual information on a topic
• Yearbooks
  • Useful for photographs of graduates and student activities
• Annual Reports
  • Useful for Departmental reports documenting the academic activities of professors
• Board of Governors collection
  • Useful for early university governance reports and records

How to read and search digitized items on the Internet Archive

University of Toronto Libraries catalogue

The Archives holds an extensive collection of university publications such as yearbooks, calendars, annual reports, newsletters, departmental handbooks and student newspapers. The Archives also holds Masters theses from 1897 to 1989 and Doctoral theses from 1900 to 1985.

Theses and many publications can be found in the library catalogue through LibrarySearch. If you are unable to locate the item(s) you require, please contact us.

• NOTE: Most theses are held off-site and require 2-3 business days to retrieve. Please submit a request through Special Collections Access or contact us ahead of your visit to arrange a thesis retrieval.

Example advanced search for a publication on LibrarySearch. Select Search for: 'Catalogue' and set the Search Scope to 'University of Toronto Archives' before searching.  

Reading Room finding aids and databases

When you visit, we will be happy to give you an overview of various types of finding aids available in our reading room from card indexes and file lists to accession and fonds level inventories. There are also guides to some of our media records including oral histories, architectural drawings and maps, photographic images and sound and moving image records. While some of these are not up to date, they provide a good overview of the types of records found in these collections.

We also have several in-house searchable databases that can help in your research. These tools are available to reference staff only but are often searched on your behalf. They can be more specifically searched for university and private records, photographs, university serials and newspapers as well as film and video.

Secondary sources to support research

UTARMS Zotero library 

The UTARMS Zotero library provides a bibliography of published works citing sources from the University of Toronto Archives.

• Researchers are invited to submit the results of their research for inclusion in the Zotero library. Please provide full bibliographic record(s) to utarms@utoronto.ca.

University of Toronto History: A Bibliography 

The UTL Research Guide University of Toronto History: A Bibliography brings together secondary sources exploring various critical aspects of the history of the University of Toronto, from the time of its founding to the mid-to-late twentieth century.