Municipal, provincial and federal government bureaucracies are excellent sources of information and documents. Government documents are generated by an official state agency for official purposes. For instance, the National Archives of Canada (located in Ottawa) holds the records of government departments such as the Department of Justice. Historians often have a great deal of access to these types of documents because they are generally retained and archived as a matter of course.
There are relatively few government documents about the Donnellys specifically. What does exist gives us insight into their interaction with the state. For instance, James Donnelly’s liberation interview from the Kingston Penitentiary tells us about how James viewed the penal system. Similarly, James' wife and neighbours petitioned for his sentence to be commuted and the Minister granted that request.
Federal government documents can be accessed at the National Archives of Canada. In addition, a provincial government archives exists in each province. The provincial archives of Ontario are located in Toronto. To help patrons locate documents, archives use something called “finding aids”, some of which are accessible on-line, which explain how the government documents are catalogued and indexed. Even with these finding aids, however, sorting through government documents can be a tedious and time-consuming process.