Archives
This section is much like a ’shopping list’. It provides a comprehensive list of links to the documents on this site, organized according to the type of document, and listed within each section by chronological order.
Typically an archive is a site (traditionally, a building or set of rooms within a building) where historic documents, images, maps, recordings and film are collected, organized and preserved. Different archives have mandates to collect a range of material. Archival material might include government, corporate, or personal records, and they vary in size from a few boxes of material in a basement to a giant climate-controlled warehouse. Without these sources, it would be almost impossible to study and write about history.
The creators of this site have searched through many, many items from a number of archives. As large and complex as it is, this website holds only a tiny portion of all of the items in existence that relate to Tom Thomson. We have had to make difficult choices about what to include to ensure that the website is comprehensible and informative. It would be impractical to expect you to read all of these documents. We have brought some of the most challenging and intriguing items from a variety of archives to you.
We hope your research on this website will motivate you to go and do original research on Tom Thomson, Canadian art and history, and history in general. Although the web is a fun place to study the world, there is also much to be learned from the vast collections and friendly researchers in your neighbourhood museums and archives.
See and hear audio and video files associated with this mystery.