Standing tall at the top of the hill is the Wellington County Museum and Archives. The photos at right show the museum section (left) while the other shows the archives section at the back (right).
The Wellington County Museum & Archives is the designated repository for the municipal records generated by the County of Wellington, as well as all of the original and current member municipalities within the county excluding the City of Guelph. These records include council minutes, bylaws, tax assessment and collectors rolls, voters lists, etc.
The Archives also collects donations from individuals and organizations.
The archival records include photographs, family histories, maps, diaries, minutes, newspapers, etc. An online catalogue provides access to the holdings. Several collections have been digitized including the Women’s Institute Tweedsmuir Histories, Wellington County Historical Society essays and journals, as well as Wellington County local history newspaper articles.
If the reading room pictured on the left and the microfilm room pictured on the right don’t make your researching a pleasant experience, the staff is sure to do so.
If you would like an opportunity to peek inside the Museum’s storage rooms or see what they do behind the scenes at the Museum be sure to visit their Virtual Tours page. You will also find short videos on the following:
• Secrets of the Poorhouse
• Prohibition Trouble in Aberfoyle
• Water Ram + Lime Kiln
• Harriston and Hurricane Hazel
• Glen Allan and the Queen’s Bush Settlement
• Dr. McNaughton, the First Doctor in Erin and His Mysterious Adventures
Learn more about how to use the WCMA Online Databases from Karen Wagner, Archivist at WCMA. This article first appeared in Traces & Tracks in March 2021.
The Archives are open seven days a week, located on Wellington Road 18 between Fergus and Elora [MAP]. Be sure to check out their website and holdings.