Discover Library and Archives Canada

By Library and Archives Canada

Society & Culture Arts Literature History Government & Organizations Music Visual Arts National

What's Discover Library and Archives Canada about?

The Discover Library and Archives Canada podcast is where Canadian history, literature and culture await you. Each month, we will showcase treasures from our vaults, guide you through our many services and introduce you to the people who acquire, safeguard and make known Canada’s documentary heritage.

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Discover Library and Archives Canada episodes:

12.14.2023
Treasures Revealed: Episode 15
In this episode of Treasures Revealed we follow the journey of a rare document which is considered to be the first publication in English entirely about Canada, with the help of Senior Special Collections Librarian Meaghan Scanlon. Once carelessly discarded,...
11.06.2023
Treasures Revealed: Episode 14
Did you know that 22% or roughly one in five Canadians under the age of 34 either hadn’t heard about the Holocaust, or were unsure if they had heard about the Holocaust? In this episode, Michael Kent delves into the...
10.11.2023
Treasures Revealed: Episode 13
In this episode we speak with Steve Moore about the most successful silent film in Canadian history, Back to God’s Country – a lusty tale of jealousy, murder and betrayal starring trailblazer Nell Shipman, Canada’s first female director. Tune in...
08.16.2023
Treasures Revealed: Episode 12
In this episode we speak with Krista Cooke about the curious absence of pregnant women in photos from the birth of photography in the 19th century up to the Second World War. Tune in to learn why the photo of...
07.12.2023
Dawson City: A Ruby in the Rough
In celebration of National Parks Day we have partnered with our friends at Parks Canada and have featured an episode from their wonderful new history and archaeology podcast ReCollections, in our feed. Through the remarkable lives of Madam Ruby Scott...
05.10.2023
Treasures Revealed: Episode 11
Robert Hood was only 24 in 1821, when he participated in the 1st of the infamous Franklin Expeditions. Hood was to take navigational, geographical and meteorological observations, and to make drawings of the land and of various objects of natural...
01.18.2023
Treasures Revealed: Episode 9
In the 9th episode of Treasures Revealed, LAC Curator Forrest Pass unravels the mystery of a Masonic tracing board dating back to the early 1800s.
11.30.2022
Treasures Revealed: Episode 8
In this episode of Treasures Revealed, Indigenous Research Archivist Elizabeth Montour relies on knowledge and instinct to decipher the story of a Kanienhkenha:ka woman she observes in a 19th century watercolour. As Elizabeth examines the painting, she imagines what life...
11.14.2022
Treasures Revealed: Episode 7
In the 7th episode of Treasures Revealed we speak with Senior Archivist Christine Barrass about an extraordinary scroll, or Sefer Torah, that is part of the Shearith Israel synagogue collection held at LAC. This scroll is a document hand-written...
10.19.2022
Treasures Revealed: Episode 6
In this episode of Treasures Revealed, we speak with Marcelle Cinq-Mars, senior military archivist in the Government Archives Division at LAC. Marcelle tells us about the amazing discovery she made while rehousing documents LAC received from the Department of National...
05.18.2022
Bill Mason: Wilderness Artist
Passionate about nature and art, Bill Mason spent his whole life combining his two passions and creating beautiful, nature-inspired artworks. On today’s episode, we will discuss Bill Mason’s life and legacy with the help of three members of the Mason...
04.27.2022
Kahentinetha Horn: Nothing but the Truth - Part 2
In early 2020, we invited Indigenous activist Kahentinetha Horn and her daughter Waneek Horn-Miller to come to LAC for a visit. As we hosted them, we were thrilled to witness and record their reactions to the material in the LAC...
04.20.2022
Kahentinetha Horn: Nothing but the Truth - Part 1
In early 2020, we invited Indigenous activist Kahentinetha Horn and her daughter Waneek Horn-Miller to come to LAC for a visit. As we hosted them, we were thrilled to witness and record their reactions to the material in the LAC...
10.27.2021
Treasures Revealed: Episode 5
LAC photo archivist Jill Delaney joins us for this fifth episode of Treasures Revealed. She will tell us about LAC’s recent acquisition of the Gabor Szilasi fonds, which covers his life and career as a photographer from 1954 to 2016.
10.06.2021
Treasures Revealed: Episode 4
In the fourth episode of Treasures Revealed, we talk to Meaghan Scanlon, Senior Special Collections Librarian, about the Halifax Gazette, the first newspaper published in the territory that would become Canada. It is the only copy known to exist of...
09.22.2021
Treasures Revealed: Episode 3
For our next Treasures Revealed episode, we speak with LAC Government Records Archivist, and past Discover Library and Archives Canada host, Geneviève Morin. She will tell us about the marriage of art and science in early 20th century Canadian botany.
09.01.2021
Treasures Revealed: Episode 2
In this episode of Treasures Revealed, LAC Head Photo Conservator Tania Passafiume will tell us about her discovery in the collection of a very rare type of early photograph called a pannotype. She will explain what it is, how it...
08.11.2021
Treasures Revealed: Episode 1
In this new podcast series, Treasures Revealed, we’ll speak to a Library and Archives Canada employee and highlight an item that they consider a real “treasure” in the collection. For this first episode, we hear about a letter that Dominion...
07.21.2021
LAC is a gold mine!
Near the Alaskan border with Canada, nestled along the Klondike River in Yukon, sits the Klondike region. On August 16, 1896, local miners discovered gold there. When news reached the United States and southern Canada the following year, it triggered...
01.12.2021
Mount Logan: Moments in Time
High in the mountains of southwest Yukon, as far west as one can go in Canada, lies Kluane National Park and Reserve. The park is home to the country’s highest peak, the 5,959-metre Mount Logan. From its earliest documented...
11.03.2020
Avro Arrow: Uncovering the Myth – Part 2
With the creation of the A.V. Roe Canada company following the Second World War, Canada became a leader in the aerospace industry. The company developed the C-102 jetliner and the CF-100 Canuck, the first Canadian-designed military fighter aircraft. In 1953,...
11.03.2020
Avro Arrow: Uncovering the Myth – Part 1
With the creation of the A.V. Roe Canada company following the Second World War, Canada became a leader in the aerospace industry. The company developed the C-102 jetliner and the CF-100 Canuck, the first Canadian-designed military fighter aircraft. In 1953,...
09.15.2020
Call to Duty: Canadian Nursing Sisters
During the First World War, more than 3,000 women volunteered with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. This force was created by Canada for service overseas, with nurses working as fully enlisted officers in the specifically created all-female rank of Nursing Sister....
08.04.2020
Upcoming Episodes, 2020
2020 has been an interesting year, to say the least. Due to the current circumstances, we haven’t been able to release much new content, but we wanted to give you a quick rundown on some of the things we have...
05.13.2020
I leave you Éva Gauthier
Éva Gauthier’s musical career took her from Ottawa, Canada, to the four corners of the world. Often considered ahead of her time because of her unique style and approach, Gauthier never let the critics stop her from expressing her true...
01.28.2020
Tommy Burns: The Hanover Heavyweight
Our guest today, Dan McCaffery, believes Tommy Burns is considered one of the best pound for pound boxers who ever lived. Measuring a mere 5’7”, Burns was the shortest man ever to hold the world heavyweight title, and the only...
12.23.2019
Tom Longboat is Cogwagee is Everything
In the early 20th century, no spectator sport captivated the world like long distance running. And no runner captured the hearts of Canadians like a Six Nations Indigenous man by the name of Cogwagee in the Onondaga language, or Tom...
12.17.2019
Tom Longboat is Cogwagee is Everything
In the early 20th century, no spectator sport captivated the world like long distance running. And no runner captured the hearts of Canadians like a Six Nations Indigenous man by the name of Cogwagee in the Onondaga language, or Tom...
11.18.2019
Canada's Continuing Memory
As the custodian of our distant past and recent history, Library and Archives Canada is a key resource for all Canadians who wish to gain a better understanding of who they are, individually and collectively. Library and Archives Canada acquires,...
11.06.2019
Upcoming Episodes, 2019-2020
2019 has been an exciting year for us as we continue to work for you, showcasing the amazing items in our collection and the fascinating stories behind them. We wanted to give you a quick rundown on some of the...
08.27.2019
Bill Miner: Last of the Old Time Bandits
On May 8th of 1906, three armed and masked men held up the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Transcontinental Express, at a place called Duck’s Station, 17 miles east of Kamloops in British Columbia. It was a botched robbery to say the...
06.26.2019
Prime Ministers and the Arts
Library and Archives Canada is the main repository for documents relating to Canada’s Prime Ministers. LAC not only has all the political documents relating to each Prime Minister, but also intriguing, less official and often unexpected items. The exhibition entitled...
05.28.2019
UFOs at LAC: The Falcon Lake Incident - Part 2
Falcon Lake, Manitoba. Located in the Whiteshell Provincial Park, 150 kilometers east of Winnipeg. It’s May 20th, 1967, and mechanic, and amateur geologist Stephan Michalak wakes up early to begin his hobby of prospecting for quartz and silver. After a...
05.14.2019
UFOs at LAC: The Falcon Lake Incident - Part 1
Falcon Lake, Manitoba. Located in the Whiteshell Provincial Park, 150 kilometers east of Winnipeg. It’s May 20th, 1967, and mechanic, and amateur geologist Stephan Michalak wakes up early to begin his hobby of prospecting for quartz and silver. After a...
03.06.2019
The Battlefield Art of Mary Riter Hamilton
What drove a successful artist from a comfortable life in Canada to one of hardship in the battlefields of France and Belgium after the First World War? From 1919 to 1922, Mary Riter Hamilton undertook a “special mission” for The...
01.14.2019
Francis Mackey and the Halifax Explosion
On the morning of December 6th, 1917, Pilot Francis Mackey was guiding the French ship Mont Blanc into the Bedford Basin when, at the narrowest point of the harbour, the Norwegian ship Imo collided with it. The Mont Blanc, laden...
12.10.2018
Songs of the Season
Library and Archives Canada has the largest collection of Canadian music in existence. There are over 250,000 sound and video recordings alone, not to mention huge collections of sheet music, printed scores, concert programs and books. Therefore, it goes without...
11.19.2018
Upcoming Episodes, 2018-2019
We're currently working on a number of exciting episodes for you! Here's a sneak peek at what we have lined up: Christmas and holiday songs, Francis Mackey and the Halifax Explosion, the life and work of Mary Riter Hamilton, and...
08.14.2018
Canada's Canoe Archive
For many Canadians, paddling in a canoe serves as a refuge from our hectic day-to-day lives, and as a means of reconnecting with nature, family and friends. But thousands of years before European settlers arrived in what we now call...
06.18.2018
Get Your Summer Read On, Part 2
The TD Summer Reading Club is Canada’s biggest bilingual summer reading program. Developed by the Toronto Public Library, in partnership with Library and Archives Canada, this free program highlights Canadian authors, illustrators and stories. The goal of the program is...
06.04.2018
Get Your Summer Read On, Part 1
The TD Summer Reading Club is Canada’s biggest bilingual summer reading program for kids. Developed by the Toronto Public Library, in partnership with Library and Archives Canada, this free program highlights Canadian authors, illustrators and stories. The goal of the...
05.02.2018
Mr. Lowy's Room of Wonder
Down an obscure hallway at our downtown Ottawa location, there is a mysterious room overflowing with majestic tomes and ancient wisdom. The Lowy Room is a self-contained museum housing over 3,000 rare, often unique Hebraica and Judaica items dating back...
03.27.2018
Gratien Gélinas: One of Our Own
Gratien Gélinas is considered one of the founders of modern Canadian theatre and film. He was a playwright, director, actor, filmmaker and administrator of cultural organizations. His personifications of the common man paved the way for many of Quebec’s leading...
02.19.2018
Mackenzie King: Against his Will
William Lyon Mackenzie King was Canada’s longest serving prime minister. He is also increasingly viewed as one of the greatest. However, King’s accomplishments are not restricted to the realm of politics. He was also a prolific correspondent and kept an...
12.18.2017
A Look inside the Preservation Centre
Ever wonder where Library and Archives Canada (LAC) stores, protects and preserves Canada’s diverse and rich documentary heritage? Join us for this episode as we take you on a walking tour of LAC’s Preservation Centre in Gatineau, Quebec, to celebrate...
11.29.2017
Canada 150: Reflect and Reimagine
As Canada marks its 150th year as a nation, we look back on our past with immense pride, but also with a critical eye. In this episode we teamed up with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to...
11.09.2017
Former Enemies Are Now Friends
In this episode we speak with LAC employee Tim Hack about the amazing journey he undertook to reconnect with his great-grandfathers, who fought on opposite sides of the First World War. Tim came across the Canadian Expeditionary Force files right...
09.01.2017
50 Years of Expo 67
The 1967 Universal and International Exhibition, better known as Expo 67, was the highlight of Canada’s centennial celebrations. It was held in Montréal from April to October 1967, and was considered the most successful world’s fair of the 20th century....
07.05.2017
Healing Journey: Project Naming at 15
Before Project Naming began in 2002, the Aboriginal peoples depicted in the majority of federal archival photographs were nameless. Over the past fifteen years, Project Naming has provided a virtual space enabling First Nations, the Métis Nation and Inuit communities...
05.03.2017
Beyond Vimy: The Rise of Air Power, Part 2
April 2017 marks the 100th anniversary of the attack and capture of Vimy Ridge, when all four divisions of the Canadian Corps worked together for the first time. During the First World War, over 25,000 Canadians served with the British...

What's Discover Library and Archives Canada about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Discover Library and Archives Canada episodes:

Treasures Revealed: Episode 15

Treasures Revealed: Episode 14

Treasures Revealed: Episode 13

Treasures Revealed: Episode 12

Dawson City: A Ruby in the Rough

Treasures Revealed: Episode 11

Treasures Revealed: Episode 9

Treasures Revealed: Episode 8

Treasures Revealed: Episode 7

Treasures Revealed: Episode 6

Bill Mason: Wilderness Artist

Kahentinetha Horn: Nothing but the Truth - Part 2

Kahentinetha Horn: Nothing but the Truth - Part 1

Treasures Revealed: Episode 5

Treasures Revealed: Episode 4

Treasures Revealed: Episode 3

Treasures Revealed: Episode 2

Treasures Revealed: Episode 1

LAC is a gold mine!

Mount Logan: Moments in Time

Avro Arrow: Uncovering the Myth – Part 2

Avro Arrow: Uncovering the Myth – Part 1

Call to Duty: Canadian Nursing Sisters

Upcoming Episodes, 2020

I leave you Éva Gauthier

Tommy Burns: The Hanover Heavyweight

Tom Longboat is Cogwagee is Everything

Tom Longboat is Cogwagee is Everything

Canada's Continuing Memory

Upcoming Episodes, 2019-2020

Bill Miner: Last of the Old Time Bandits

Prime Ministers and the Arts

UFOs at LAC: The Falcon Lake Incident - Part 2

UFOs at LAC: The Falcon Lake Incident - Part 1

The Battlefield Art of Mary Riter Hamilton

Francis Mackey and the Halifax Explosion

Songs of the Season

Upcoming Episodes, 2018-2019

Canada's Canoe Archive

Get Your Summer Read On, Part 2

Get Your Summer Read On, Part 1

Mr. Lowy's Room of Wonder

Gratien Gélinas: One of Our Own

Mackenzie King: Against his Will

A Look inside the Preservation Centre

Canada 150: Reflect and Reimagine

Former Enemies Are Now Friends

50 Years of Expo 67

Healing Journey: Project Naming at 15

Beyond Vimy: The Rise of Air Power, Part 2