Digital Collections

Explore selected digitized special collections developed and hosted by the University of Toronto Libraries and Archives in Collections U of T. Some of the UTL collections below are also made available through the Internet Archive and the UTL Archive-It account.

Agnes Chamberlin Digital Collection
This collection consists of over three hundred original paintings of Canadian flora and mushrooms by Agnes Chamberlin (1833-1913), dating from the period 1863 to the 1900s, as well as Chamberlin's published works, in all editions, and the original subscription books for the first two editions of Canadian wild flowers.
Anatomia Collection
This collection features approximately 4500 full page plates and other significant illustrations of human anatomy. Each illustration has been fully indexed using medical subject headings (MeSH), and techniques of illustration, artists, and engravers have been identified whenever possible. There are ninety-five individual titles represented, ranging in date from 1522 to 1867.
Armorial Bindings

British Armorial Binding is a comprehensive catalogue of all the coats of arms, crests, and other heraldic devices that have been stamped by British owners on the outer covers of their books, together with the bibliographical sources of the stamps. The database reproduces over 3,300 stamps used between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries, associated with nearly two thousand individual owners.

Canadian Government Information image

The Canadian Government Information collection contains over 600 archived federal, provincial (Ontario), & municipal (Toronto) government websites. Coverage for select federal sites begins as early as 2007. Special emphasis is placed on capturing official publications & content of local significance. 

Canadian Labour Unions image

A collection of the documents published on the websites of Canada's public sector unions, private sector unions, and labour federations. The collection is national in scope. Most websites include administrative and organizational information, press releases and newsletters, and collective bargaining information (including some collective agreements).

Canadian Local History
The Canadian Local Histories Collection is a compilation of local historical materials held at the University of Toronto. This collection consolidates pamphlets, books and periodicals into a collection of over 65,000 full-text searchable pages of historical material. This collection is currently available through the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Please contact us if you need support finding an item within the collection.
Canadian Necrology

The Canadian Necrology database is a unique source of obituary and death information for both prominent and lesser-known Canadians, covering a time span from the late 18th century to 1977. It contains over 20,000 records; the majority come from newspapers such as the Globe and Mail, Toronto Daily Star, Gazette, and Mail and Empire; an additional 4,000 records were compiled by William Henry Pearson (1831-1920), a Toronto resident with a lifetime passion for necrology.

Canadian Pamphlets and Broadsides example
Pre-1930 Canadian pamphlets and broadsides from the collections of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. To date the site contains of 596 broadsides (single sheets, printed on one or both sides) and 594 pamphlet titles which amounts to 21638 page images. Additional titles will be added on a regular basis. The collection includes items printed in Canada, by Canadian authors, or about Canadian subjects, mainly of a non-literary nature. Searching, browsing, full text and images are provided for each document.
Canadian House of Commons floor on March 10, 2938

Canadian Political Parties and Political Interest Groups archives the websites of all of the national Canadian political parties, and a number of special interest groups across the political spectrum.

Canadian Printer and Publisher
Canadian Printer and Publisher, which began in 1892 and is still being published today by Rogers Media under the title Canadian Printer Magazine, is the national organ of the printing industry in Canada. It documents the growth and evolution of the trade, during a period of continuous technological and commercial innovation, beginning in the period when machine composition was taking over from hand composition in the 1890s.
Discovery and Early Development of Insulin photo
This site documents the initial period of the discovery and development of insulin, 1920-1925, here at the University of Toronto. It presents over seven thousand page images reproducing original documents ranging from laboratory notebooks and charts, correspondence, writings, and published papers to photographs, awards, clippings, scrapbooks, printed ephemera and artifacts.
Manuscript Fragments
Collection of 190 pieces of vellum in Greek and Latin illustrating the history and development of handwriting from the 4th century until the end of the Middle Ages. Items 1-21 (which are Coptic in origin) illustrate the development of uncial writing from the beginning up to its decline in Egypt in the 9th century. A detailed finding aid is available in the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library.
Fisher Manuscripts

A collection of digitized manuscripts from Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, representing a range of disciplines including history, theology, literature, philosophy, science, and medicine and in languages as diverse as Arabic, English, French, Ge'ez, German, Hebrew, Latin, and Persian

Mexican Political Pamphlets, 1808-1832
One of the most important research collections pertaining to the independence movement in Mexico, 1789-1828, compiled by the late Prof. James McKegney. The collection contains a bibliographic database of more than 11,000 citations and over 1,150 digital copies of pamphlets listed in the database. This database and the accompanying documents are one of the most important archival sources in the world for the study of the political, social and cultural aspects of the independence movement in Mexico. This collection is currently available through the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. Please contact us if you need support finding an item within the collection.
Music Library Collection

Archival Collections documenting manuscripts, correspondence, programs, photographs and recordings of composers and performers associated with the University and the city.

Roberts Book Collection
Browse from over 200,000 digitized Books from Robarts Library hosted on the Internet Archive.
Scott Carter Collection

A collection of drawings, letters and ephemera related to the work of Alexander Scott Carter. Carter was born in 1881 in England and studied art and architecture there before coming to Toronto. He became a member of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada and specialized in architectural decoration and heraldic ornament. His work includes designing various war memorials, statues, bookplates and arms for Toronto individuals and institutions.

The Classics Department Papyrus Collection

The Classics Department Papyrus Collection at Fisher consists of three inventory types: the Paper Towel (PT) Inventory from Egypt; the Oxford University Gazette (OUG) Inventory, and the Rostovzteff-Welles (RW) Inventory

Patent Medicine Collection

The Patent Medicine collection consists of a wide range of materials documenting the patent medicine industry from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1960s and 1970s.

Toronto Korean Language Newspapers
This page contains two significant Toronto Korean-language newspapers: The Minjoong Shinmoon (Jan. 1982; Jan. 1989 - Mar. 1993) and The New Korea Times (May 1982 - May 2003). The collection features approximately 7,420 pages. This digitization project was an international collaborative project funded by the National Institute of Korean History.
University of Toronto Archives Online thumbnail

An online repository of over 20,000 select items from the collections held by the University of Toronto Archives & Records Management Services (UTARMS). 

Wenceslaus Hollar Digital Collection
This digital collection features over 2500 of the prints of Wenceslaus Hollar (1607-1677), a great master of the art of etching. The lion’s share of Hollar’s work was produced in and about his adopted England, but his artistic interest was broad ranging and the site also includes religious and historical prints, maps, portraits, costumes, and natural history.