Study Halls at Central Library and Dundas, Red Hill, Terryberry, Turner Park, Valley Park, and Waterdown branches resume on Tuesday, September 2. They will be open after-hours Mondays-Thursdays from 8 pm to Midnight. www.hpl.ca/study-halls
Study Halls Return September 2
All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
Published:
Wednesday, August 27, 2025 - 2:15pm
Branch Closures - Labour Day
All HPL Branches are closed Sunday, August 30, and Labour Day, Monday, September 1st. Bookmobile is off the road, and Extended Access is not available. Regular service hours resume on Tuesday, September 2. www.hpl.ca/hours
All Branches and Bookmobile Stops
Published:
Wednesday, August 27, 2025 - 2:00pm
Bookmobile Stop Modified
Due to campus events, McMaster University's Bookmobile Visits for Tuesdays, August 26 and September 2 (3:30-4:30 pm) have been cancelled. Service is expected to resume on Tuesday, September 9. Thank you for your understanding.
Published:
Tuesday, August 26, 2025 - 12:00pm
Carlisle Branch Accessible Door Out of Order
The accessibility door at Carlisle Branch is not working. We aim to fix it quickly.
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Published:
Tuesday, August 26, 2025 - 10:15am
Turner Park - Rymal Road Entrance Unavailable
Due to continued concrete work, the Rymal Road entrance will be unavailable until Friday, August 30. Access to the parking lot, accessible parking spaces, back entrance, and external drop box is available. Thank you for your patience.
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Published:
Wednesday, August 20, 2025 - 2:30pm
Turner Park - Mid-Day Fire Drill, September 3
Due to a mid-day fire drill, Turner Park Branch and Les Chater Family YMCA are closed for a fire drill from noon-1 pm. Thank you for your patience.
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Published:
Thursday, August 14, 2025 - 1:00pm
Kenilworth Branch - Upcoming Temporary Closure
Due to roof repair maintenance, the Branch is temporarily closed from September 2 until October 10. Please visit Parkdale and Barton locations as your nearest branches for your library needs. Thank you for your understanding.
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Published:
Monday, August 11, 2025 - 8:00am
Research Your House
New House in Westdale
Various sources can be used to document the history of a building. Except for well-known Hamilton-area homes, most do not have a ready-made history to consult. Therefore, the researcher must construct a history from scratch using available sources. This process can take time, and unfortunately, some properties may have very few, if any, historical records. To support your research, please refer to the Houses and Property Research Guide.
Local History and Archives contains various potentially useful resources to research houses. These records include:
These directories show names, addresses and telephone numbers for the Hamilton-Wentworth region.
Researchers and genealogists use city directories to trace individuals, families and businesses. They usually include an alphabetical listing of adult residents, with their occupations and addresses.
Tax assessment records help accurately date a building's construction and disclose its original owner and list of occupants.
These records detail the chain of ownership of a property using plan and lot number.
Local History and Archives has several large scale maps that show the shape, size and exact location of individual buildings.
If your building was known by a name in addition to its address, you can search under that heading in our card catalogue. In the Local History and Archives reading room, check the Where-to-Look card catalogue under Hamilton – Street Address and Number or Hamilton – Name of house for a citation to the Image Collection. You can also check photographs of the street the house is located on to see if your building is shown.
There are also specialized finding aids for other collections available in Local History and Archives.
To obtain more information about the people associated with the building, you may wish to check family papers, clipping files, census returns, genealogical indexes, funeral home indexes, cemetery indexes, promotional booklets, photographs, local publications and other sources within Local History and Archives.
Check in the Where-to-Look under the surname or ask for assistance at the Local History and Archives Information Desk.
There are also invaluable records that can be requested through the City of Hamilton's Property Record Search and through the Ontario Land Registry (OnLand).
