Collections

Saanich Archives collects municipal and private records that document the history of Saanich. Records are available to researchers Monday to Friday 10 am to 4:30 pm at our reference room located within the Saanich Centennial Library at 3100 Tillicum Road (next to Pearkes Recreation Centre). Holdings include:

• The Archives has more than 15,000 images including photographs, family albums, slides, negatives and postcards from the earliest days of the municipality to recent times
• Photographs are available to search online

• Clerk’s Office correspondence, 1906-1980
• Council Minute books, 1906-1969
• Mayor’s Office Records, 1915-1927, 1947-1984
• Planning Files, 1955-1980
• Board of Cemetery Trustees, 1906-1957
• Tax Rolls, 1895-1913
• School Board Minutes, 1878-1906
• Private records of families and organizations featured in the formative years of the municipality (these records may be searched on the MemoryBC)

• Approximately 3,500 plans, 1906-1980, including residential and commercial structures, sketch plans of proposed additions and outbuildings, subdivisions, and public works proposals
• Fire Insurance Plans, 1925 and 1968
• Air photographs

• More than 100 interviews with long time Saanich residents, municipal retirees, past Mayors and Council members have been recorded since 1978
• Audio and video cassettes as well as transcripts of the interviews are available for reference at the Archives
• The oral history program at Saanich Archives is ongoing. Please contact Archives staff if you would like to suggest the name of a long time Saanich resident who may be willing to share his/her memories about the municipality.