Finding Aids on Microfiche.

            In the 1970's, the Manuscript Division of the National Archives of Canada established a policy of publishing finding aids on microfiche in order to provide better access to the Archives' manuscript collections. The finding aids were published in Series and could be purchased by subscription or by individual titles.            

            The Finding Aids on Microfiche in the Loyalist Collection were purchased individually and selected for their relevance to the material in the Collection. While many of the finding aids provide direct access to microfilm in the Loyalist Collection, others offer content analysis of similar manuscript sources not in the Collection. By having access to this latter group of finding aids, researchers are able to become familiar with the contents of collections not available locally, and are able to determine if interlibrary loans are required or if a trip to the National Archives of Canada is a necessity. While most of the finding aids concern family records, there are others for military, church, and public records, including Finding Aid 90. This unique finding aid contains volume, National Archives of Canada microfilm reel number, date, and a brief description of British records on microfilm that relate to Canada and are available in the Nation Archives.            

            The author of the Loyalist Collection Inventory has created two lists of the National Archives of Canada Finding Aids on Microfiche that are held in the Loyalist Collection. One list is arranged by the number assigned by the National Archives. The second list is arranged in alphabetical order by title.  Both lists are available in print with the Loyalist Collection Finding Aids and on the World Wide Web.
Also available with the Loyalist Collection Finding Aids in print and as a PDF, are copies of the complete lists of finding aids produced by the National Archives for Series I-IV and Series V-VI.  The lists for both Series are available numerically and alphabetically.