Between 1760 and 1774, approximately 8,000 Planters from the Thirteen Colonies of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire migrated north to Nova Scotia, which at that time included New Brunswick. They were in search of better land prospects and the land they settled was viewed as available after the Grand Dérangement of the Acadians (1755-1764), although the territory was inhabited by the Mi'kmaq, Wolastoqiyik, and Peskotomuhkati.
New Brunswick Loyalist Journeys recreates the stories of loyalists of the American Revolution through Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology and the resources found within The Loyalist Collection and UNB Libraries. The project features the lives and Atlantic migrations of loyalists settling in New Brunswick, illustrated through maps, images, primary documents, and biography.
The 250th anniversary of the events of the American Revolution are well underway, with 2026 marking the semiquincentennial the Declaration of Independence. Many institutions have been making use of The Loyalist Collection's resources for projects and exhibits.
A new finding aid is now available, “Researching Members of the British Regular Military During the American Revolution.” Many British soldiers came to North America as combatants in the American Revolution, participated in the war for years, with some returning to Europe while others remained and settled post-war in the British colonies.
Trying to locate people of the African Diaspora in the late eighteenth-century Atlantic World? A new finding aid ''Checklist of Sources for Researching People of the African Diaspora in the Maritime Region'' can help to recover life stories from the Revolutionary period.
Sources for general loyalist research can be used to search for women (see “Researching a Loyalist in The Loyalist Collection”), but loyalist women often require additional work to understand the full story of their lives.
The 250th anniversary of the events of the American Revolution are starting off 2025.
June 1775 - Battle of Bunker Hill
August 1775 - King George III issues the Proclamation of Rebellion
November 1775 - Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation
December 1775 - Battle of Quebec
Are you planning to research an individual loyalist using The Loyalist Collection? The two documents below are your recommended starting point in the research process but are also useful for research which is already underway to make sure you have covered all key and reputable sources.
A new finding aid for The Loyalist Collection listing records with content related to Indigenous history is now available. The records, mainly British colonial documents, are organized geographically and key sources are flagged to highlight primary sources useful to Indigenous research.
The Minutes of the New Brunswick County Courts of General Quarter Sessions are a rich historical source, valuable to a variety of types of researchers including social historians, law students, criminologists, educators, and genealogists. Formatted transcriptions and nominal indexes have been and posted with the corresponding catalogue records on The Loyalist Collection website to make this significant and valuable work accessible to researchers.
Newly added to The Loyalist Collection catalogue, a searchable transcription of Esther Clark Wright’s New Brunswick Loyalist Index, the most valuable finding aid when commencing research on individual New Brunswick Loyalists.
The Marianne Grey Otty Database, which features transcribed Anglican Church records from the early loyalist settler period, has recently been updated for improved searching and usability.
Come explore the newly refreshed catalogue site for The Loyalist Collection. The website now features a new layout and menu, improved searching and browsing, searchable PDF finding aids, up-to-date news on the front page, enhanced access to the Marianne Grey Otty Database, and a tabular version of
Aaron Burr Jr. was a Revolutionary War soldier, lawyer, businessman, United States Senator, and third Vice-President of the United States. The Aaron Burr Papers: 1757-1834 includes Correspondence and Public Papers; Orderly Books and European Journal; and Legal Papers.
Finding aids are key to finding the documents you need in archival collections. Listed below are new finding aids, usually included as PDFs in the catalogue records of The Loyalist Collection, which have been developed recently by UNB Archives & Special Collections.
Visit the Collection’s Black History Guide for primary sources related to Black History in the Atlantic World and the African Diaspora.
For documents specifically related to the history of enslaved people and slavery in what became the Maritime Provinces of Canada, see…
This guide provides a sample of the wide variety of materials in The Loyalist Collection relating to the islands making up the West Indies, today referred to as the Caribbean, and specifically the British island colonies, with an overview of what they contain and how to search them. The material provides a window into this region during the 18th and early 19th centuries, and its place in the wider British Atlantic World.