The Early Canadian Periodicals (ECP) project, accessible through Early Canadiana Online, recently added 1,500 publications documenting the early history of professional architecture, urban planning, and municipal governance in Canada.
Early Canadiana Online describes the collection: “These lavishly illustrated journals emerged between the 1880s and the 1910s and served as mouthpieces for the early architectural and design profession. Subject matter includes town planning and spatial organization, aesthetics (visual variety and coherence, civic grandeur, historical styles), technical and scientific innovations in construction, municipal management, public policy, and social reform.”
Construction, January 1909, Toronto, Ontario. Source: Early Canadiana Online, http://www.canadiana.ca.
The following titles are highlighted on the website:
• The Canadian Builder and Mechanics’ Magazine (1 issue, 1869). The first Canadian journal devoted exclusively to the architectural craft.
• The Canadian Architect and Builder (244 issues, 1888-1908). Unofficial journal of the Ontario and Quebec associations of architects.
• The Canadian Contract Record (657 issues, 1889-1908). A four-page weekly report of contracts, tenders, and awards in construction and public works.
• The Municipal Miscellany (12 issues, 1891).
• The Municipal World (108 issues, 1892-1900).
• The Canadian Engineer (84 issues, 1893-1900).
• The Canadian Municipal Journal (10 issues, 1891-92).
• Construction (157 issues, 1907-20).
• The Municipal Bulletin of the City of Montreal (156 issues, 1913-15).
ECP is an initiative to systematically digitize all periodicals published in Canada prior to 1921. It digitizes more than 250,000 pages annually.
