Nova Scotia Online Historical Photos Research

​An old proverb states that “the eyes are the windows into the soul.” A genealogy corollary is that “a photo is a window into the lives of your ancestors.”

I love old photos, whether they are portraits of my ancestors or historical photos for the period when they lived. And it is important to a complete research that one attempts to understand the environment that surrounds our ancestors’ lives if one wants to truly appreciate what they went through. 

So where can they be found?  Obviously, the best resource is our own photo albums and those that our relatives possess. But what about other resources? Many archives, historical societies, libraries, and genealogical societies have collections of old photos. And in the past few years, there has been a massive movement towards making these historical photo collections available online. Some have search capabilities where you can actually put in a surname or a location, the name of a building, or a historical event and find what is available.

For the province of Nova Scotia, what collections are available for you to browse and/or search online?  Here is a list of sites to start with. Please feel free to add in the comments other online resources that you might be aware of in the province.

Please be aware that there may be very strict rules regarding downloading or other use of the images that you may find. Copyright and other legal protections may be in force. Make sure that you read the limitations of use for any image that you find in these collections and wish to download and/or copy. It is your responsibility to adhere to the rules for all of these collections.

Please note that links to these sites may change in the future. The author (me) will not be constantly checking and updating these links, so if you find a broken link, please use your favorite search engine to locate the new link.

This is just a sampling of some of the larger collections. By no means is this an exhaustive list. Almost every city and county library in the province, college, and university library, as well as a historical society, has a photo collection. Many are not available online, yet many do have online access.

(Updated May 2023)

Nova Scotia Photo Archives

Nationwide

• Canada BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives
• Canada Science and Technology Museum Picturing the Past
• Canada, Photographs from the New York Public Library
• Canadian Letters and Images Project
• Dead Fred
• Images of Canada
• Ingenium Canada Digital Photo Archives
• Library and Archives Canada – Flickr
• The Canadian Jewish Heritage Network
• UK – Canada Photo Collection
• Unwritten Histories
• Veterans Affairs, Canada – Photographs

Provincewide

• 1917 Photos of Halifax Explosion
• Antigonish Heritage Photos
• Antigonish Postcard Collection
• Atlantic Baptists Built Heritage Project
• Beaton Institute
• Cape Breton during the First World War – Photographs
• Cape Breton Old Photos and Memories
• Chestico Museum Archives
• Dalhousie University Photographs
• Digby County Photography Collection
• Eastern Shore Archives – Online
• Halifax Municipal Archive Photos – Flickr
• Halifax Municipal Archives
• Halifax Public Libraries Postcard Collection
• Halifax Works Department Photographs – 1948-1982
• Haskett-Smith North Shore Nova Scotia
• Historic Halifax
• Historic Nova Scotia
• Historical Aerial Photographs
• Historical Nova Scotia
• Images of Nova Scotia (1870-1940)
• Mahone Bay Museum, Photographs
• Mainland South Heritage Society Photographs
• MemoryNS
• Noba Scotia, FamilySearch Memories
• Nova Scotia Archives – Royal Canadian Navy, Photogarphs and Postcards
• Nova Scotia Books, Photos and Images
• Nova Scotia Community College Historical Photograph Collection
• Nova Scotia from the Air
• Nova Scotia Legislature Photo Galleries
• Nova Scotia Museum’ Mi’kmaq Portraits Collection
• Nova Scotia Photo Archives – Flickr
• Nova Scotia Photos from The Toronto Star Archive
• Nova Scotia Virtual Archives – Photos
• Nova Scotia, Ancient Faces
• Nova Scotia, Keystone-Mast Collection
• NovaMuse
• NovaStory
• Old Black and White Pictures of Halifax
• Old Halifax and Nova Scotia Pictures
• Old Photos of Halifax
• Photo Collection of Pictou County Characters
• Pictou County Photos and Images
• Pictou Historical Photograph Society
• Preserving Yarmouth Memories
• Queens County Museum Photos and Postcards
• Saint Mary’s University Photo Collection
• The Book Room Limited Postcard Collection
• Waldren Studios Photograph Collection – New Glasgow and Antigonish
• Western Counties Regional Library Collecrions
• Windsor Photo Galleries

​​​For historic photos from other provinces as well as articles about photo research, please visit the Photos page.