Post Offices and Postmasters: 1851 - 1981
The Post Offices and Postmasters collection traces the openings and closings of post offices in Canada. It includes the names and appointment dates of postmasters for most years between 1851 and 1981.
Search Post Offices and Postmasters
On this page
Search tips
- In the All of these words box, enter the name of a postmaster or a place.
- Optional: for Date, enter a specific year or range of years.
- Optional: in Specific terms, select “Postmaster” or “Electoral District.”
- Please note that historical place names are used. For example, records for present-day Tulita, NT should be searched for under Fort Norman, NT.
- Place names may be anglicized. For example, Isle-aux-Grues becomes Crane Island.
- For help finding an electoral district, see Searching by place on our Census help page, which links to electoral atlases from 1895 to 1924.
Terminology
Electoral districts are geographic areas defined by political boundaries. They may also be referred to as ridings, wards, or voting districts, and can apply to municipal, provincial, or federal levels.
Postmasters manage the operations of a post office.
About the records
The database was created from the Postal history record cards sub-series (RG3-D-3), a set of records that document postmasters employed at individual post offices across Canada.
The cards were created by the Canada Post’s Public Affairs Unit from files and letterbooks now part of the General correspondence sub-series (RG3-B-2) and the Reports sub-series (RG3-D-3). Records for the years 1875–1902 in the Reports sub-series are the surviving portions of original dossiers; the register to these reports did not survive. Correspondence for the years 1875–1902 is available. Please note that there are no employment files for postmasters.
Information from the Postal history record cards for all provinces and territories has been entered into the database, which serves as a digital copy of the records. Cards for what is now Nunavut are listed under Northwest Territories for this period.
Information from the postal history cards has been entered into the database for all provinces and territories. Cards related to present-day Nunavut are listed under Northwest Territories.
The originals have been withdrawn from consultation for preservation purposes. Because the database serves as an exact copy of historical records, database entries cannot be modified.
Each record description includes:
- Province or territory of the post office
- Name of the post office (as stated in the register)
- Name of the federal electoral district of the post office
- Name of the postmaster
- Military status: In this column, you may see the notation “O.A.S.,” which refers to a provision of the Civil Service Act indicating that veterans who had seen overseas active service in the First or Second World War, or their widows, were given hiring preference for government jobs.
- Date of birth
- Date of appointment
- Date of vacancy
- Cause of vacancy
- A dash (-) indicates that the record did not include that information
- An asterisk (*) indicates that personal information has been omitted from the database for privacy reasons. To access these details, you will need to make an ATIP request.
Other places to look
Correspondence about the general activities of post offices can be found in volumes 1–136, which have been microfilmed and digitized for online access on Héritage.
You can use finding aid 3-1 to determine the reel number. There are many other volumes in this sub-series that include documents, such as reports from divisional inspectors. These must be ordered for consultation or reproduction. Please note that some records are restricted by law.
Deputy Postmaster General’s General correspondence sub-series (RG3-B-2)
Letters received are available in volumes 498–524. Consult finding aid 3-81 to locate relevant volumes, which must be ordered for consultation or reproduction.
The Registers to letters received, volumes 525–562, are available as digitized microfilm reels on Héritage. Consult Finding aid 3-82 to locate the relevant volume and reel number. The Correspondence sent, volumes 365–497, is available as digitized microfilm reels on Héritage. Each volume is indexed. Consult Finding aid 3-83 to locate the relevant volume and reel number.
Use Collection search to find other files related to a post office or a postmaster. Use the keywords "RG3" and the name of a person, place or post office.
Access the records
All of these records have been digitized; original documents are not available for consultation. Information from the postal history cards has been transcribed into the database. The originals have been withdrawn from consultation for preservation purposes.
Related links
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