Accessible Washroom at Redhill not available
The accessible washroom at Redhill is not available. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Holds Processing and Delivery Delays
Holds processing and deliveries to Branches will be delayed for the next week due to Staff capacity.
We are working to move materials as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience.
Phishing Statement
Please be aware of online phishing attempts impersonating Hamilton Public Library and Library Staff. HPL does not solicit paid freelance opportunities through social media or other messaging applications. HPL does not request personal or banking information through social media or require financial compensation when reviewing job applications. Please report phishing schemes to communications@hpl.ca. If you think you are a victim of fraud, please call the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre at 1-888-495-8501.
RG 1 -- Minutes
1833-2000
RG1 consists of the original, signed minutes of Hamilton City Council. After 1887, Council minutes were published in printed form. Alphabetical indexes are available, but for the period of 1847-1887, they are incomplete and generally unreliable. A new index, however, is under preparation.
The minutes cover all aspects of Council business and city administration including financing, personnel, and the provision of internal, social, and recreational services. Entries for a meeting of Council typically contain: a list of petitions and correspondence received by the City Clerk; discussion of appointments to city offices and civic bodies; notices of motion; debates on the recommendations of city departments; and divisions on by-laws. By-laws passed during the session are attached to the end of each entry. The recommendations of the Committees and Boards of Council are incorporated into the minutes as are, frequently, the reports of various civic departments and officers.
Council minutes are the indispensable first source to which researchers examining municipal government in Hamilton should turn. Detailing the activities of the legislative branch of city government, they permit a study of the formulation of policy and provide insiqht into the formalization and expansion of the functions of municipal government and the evolving ideology underpinning it. They furnish information concerning the role of the individual politician and pressure groups in formulating policy and directing the operations of government. Particularly for the early period, Council minutes contain much material concerning the workings of civic departments which is not duplicated in their own series. For example, early minutes include detailed hospital accounts which cannot be found in RG13 (Hospital) and the only extant reports of the Industrial Commissioner's Department (RG17).
Access Arrangements
The Hamilton Public Library, Local History & Archives, holds the original handwritten minutes of City Council, a microfilmed copy for the years 1833-1984, and printed copies for the later period. Minutes 1887 to the present are located in the City Clerk's Department, Hamilton City Centre.
