About Us

Wondering about the history of your house, your family or your Perth County community?

Stratford-Perth Archives can help!

Use public records, photographs, diaries, newspapers, maps, and more.

About Us

History

The Stratford-Perth Archives opened in 1972 as the Perth County Archives based on the Orr Collection and archival material from the Perth County Historical Collection. We were originally housed in the basement of the Perth County Court House. As our collection began to grow we knew we had to move. In May of 1981, we moved from the Court House to the old Registry Office building at 24 St. Andrew Street, Stratford. Two other branches of the archives had also opened, one in the Town of Listowel in 1975 and the Town of Mitchell in 1984. Soon we were outgrowing all three branches and knew we were in need of a new facility. In April 2014 we broke ground on our new building and in June 2015 we held our grand opening. 

Check out the Stratford Perth Archives Business Plan for more information.

Facility

Our facility is a 10,000 square foot state of the art, accessible building. Our Reading Room now offers researchers more space, Wi-Fi and access to Ancestry Library. Our James Anderson Gallery is used for talks about local history. It can be used by schools and community groups, like our good friends at the Perth County Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society and the Stratford and District Historical Society.

We are equipped with Digitization and Preservation Labs. We can digitize parts of our collection to protect the original records and clean or repair documents. Our Collections Room is filled with records that come to us in many formats, such as:  animal skin, paper, ink, bound ledgers, plastic disks, film and photographs. Each format reacts differently to changes in temperature and humidity. The air handling system operates to provide constant, proper levels of humidity, temperature, air movement and filtered air. We also have a fire protection system in place.

Volunteering at the Stratford-Perth Archives

Help wanted! Volunteers assist us with jobs like working with school groups, indexing records and listing what's in new collections. For more information, please contact Betty Jo Belton, Archivist at 519-271-0531 ext. 250 or email the Archivist

Donating Records to the Stratford-Perth Archives

Mandate

We welcome donations of archival records like photographs, family papers, community club minutes and business records. Any documents that help researchers understand the history of Stratford and Perth County are of interest to the Stratford-Perth Archives. All documents donated to the Stratford-Perth Archives are stored in our climate controlled Collections Room that has an air handling system for preservation. For more information or to make an appointment to discuss a potential donation, please contact Betty Jo Belton, Archivist at 519-271-0531 ext. 250 or email the Archivist