To read a history of the Creston Valley, click here!

The Archives is able to respond to requests for information on a wide variety of topics.  Most of our requests are genealogical in nature, and a good number seek the history of a particular building, organisation, or even street in the Valley.

Requests are welcomed in person, by phone, fax, mail, or email.  Click here for contact information.  If you're planning to visit in person, here's a Map to help you find us.  Requests are answered in the order they are received; we try to get a response back within two weeks.  However, depending on the volume of requests received, the availability of volunteers researchers, and the complexity of the request, replies may take longer.  When requesting information, please be as specific as possible; the more details you can provide, the easier it will be for us to give you an answer.  For example, if you are looking for information about an event that happened in the Creston area, try to give us as accurate a date as possible:  "May or June 1947" is much more manageable than "sometime in the 1940s."

Birth, Marriage, Death Indexes Partial genealogical indexes are now available online in PDF format - see for yourself whether we have that obituary you're looking for!  The articles themselves are not yet online; to order a copy, please read the section on "Document Reproductions" below and send us an email.

Archives Collections

Unpublished documents on all aspects of local history, from organisations and individuals, to industries and politics, can be found in the Archives. These documents are supplemented by thousands of photographs, mostly black-and-white, showing images of the Valley's development.

The Archives holds back-issues of the two local newspapers: the Creston Review from 1909 to 1983, and the Creston Valley Advance from 1958 to the present. These are available in both paper copies and on microfilm.

Birth, death, and marriage indexes have been completed from 1909 to 1973, and from 1990 to the present. The Creston Review is partially indexed from 1909 to 1975, and the Creston Valley Advance is thoroughly indexed from 1990 to the present. Unpublished materials are catalogued and cross-referenced by subject. Card files and paper indexes provide finding aids for locating specific documents and photographs.

The Archives also holds a number of published works that either focus on or touch on local history. These include locally-written histories such as Forests to Field; Kitchener: The First One Hundred Years; and Memories of West Creston Volumes 1 and 2. More general books that touch on elements of local history include Ted Affleck's publications on steamships.

Research Costs

Research services $10.00 per hour: This fee is applied to all research conducted by our paid or volunteer staff.  Generally, we ask only a donation for requests that take less than half an hour to complete.  These fees help us cover the costs of maintaining the archives collection, and do not include costs of reproducing photographs or documents

Microfilm use (newspapers only) $2.00 per hour: This fee is applied to researchers who use the microfilm machine themselves; the $10.00 per hour research fee does not apply in these cases.  If Archives staff use the microfilm on behalf of researchers, the $10.00 per hour fee is applied.

Document Reproductions

Archival material is reproduced only in accordance with Canadian copyright law, and only if no restrictions have been placed on the use of the material by the donor.  Copies will not be made of especially fragile documents.  Purchase of reproduced archival material does not give the purchaser permission to make additional copies of the material, or to publish it in any way.  Fees for materials to be used in publications are negotiated on an individual basis.  Taxes and shipping costs will be added where applicable.

Reproduction Costs:

Copies and Reprints:

• Photocopies: Colour or B&W,  up to 8-1/2" x 11" - $0.50 each
• Microfilm Printouts (available for some newspapers only, or from microfilms borrowed from other libraries/archives), B&W only - $0.50 each
• Laser Copies:
  • Colour or B&W,  up to 8-1/2" x 11"  - $2.50 each;
  • Colour or B&W, up to 11" x 17" - $3.80 each
• Photographic Reprints Colour or B&W, available 4" x 6" size only -   $2.50 each

Digital Copies:

• Images captured by Archives staff, JPGs, delivered via email, up to 300 dpi - $2.50 per image
• Images captured by Archives staff, JPGs or TIFFs, delivered via CD, up to 600 dpi - $3.50 per image plus $2.00 per CD
• Images captured by Archives staff, PDFs, delivered via CD or email - $3.50 per image plus $2.00 per CD if requested.
• Images captured by research via own digital camera or scanner - $0.50 each

Other Formats:

• Typed transcriptions of newspapers and documents that cannot be photocopied - $10.00 per hour plus $0.50 per page if printed, $1.00 for PDF format if requested, or $2.00 per CD if requested.

Important Notes:

• Reproduction costs stated above reflect actual costs to the Archives, and are subject to change without notice.
• A minimum $2.00 shipping charge, or actual shipping costs (whichever is greater), will be added to all copies sent via regular mail.  Copies requiring special packaging, additional postage above Canadian lettermail rates, international shipping, or priority shipping will be charged actual costs.
• Reproductions of larger documents and maps may be available.  Reproduction methods, quality, and costs will vary; please discuss your request with Archives staff.
• Some documents are too fragile to be copied.  In addition, Creston Valley Advance newspapers from 1991-1998, inclusive, are only available in bound volumes that cannot be separated.  Articles printed along the inside column of the pages, nearest the spine, will not photocopy clearly.  Typed transcriptions may be the only reproduction method available for these articles.  Archives staff will advise you before making the transcriptions if this is the only reproduction method available.
• We recommend colour photocopies and laser copies, even of black-and-white photos.  The colour process results in much clearer detail than the black-and-white process.