Due to campus events, McMaster University's Bookmobile Visits for today (August 26) and Tuesday, September 2 (3:30-4:30 pm) have been cancelled. Service is expected to resume on Tuesday, September 9. Thank you for your understanding.
Cogeco is blocking emails from donotreply@hpl.ca. The estimated time of disruption is unknown as they work through the technical issue. Thank you for your patience.
The accessibility door at Carlisle Branch is not working. We aim to fix it quickly.
Parking lots, the main entrance and the exterior drop box are currently unavailable. Please use alternate entrances and parking as directed on-site.
Due to a mid-day fire drill, Turner Park Branch and Les Chater Family YMCA are closed for a fire drill from noon-1 pm. Thank you for your patience.
Due to roof repair maintenance, the Branch is temporarily closed from September 2 until October 10. Please visit Parkdale and Barton locations as your nearest branches for your library needs. Thank you for your understanding.
Please note that the audio volume levels on our public computers are having issues. The estimated time of disruption is unknown at this time. Thank you for your patience.
The accessibility ramp at Mount Hope Branch is damaged. The handrail is not available. The ramp will not be available while being repaired. We aim to fix it quickly.
Use of Images

Last council meeting in old City Hall, 1960

Terms of Use
Local History and Archives' collection includes images both in the public domain and with active copyright ownership. Digital reproductions are created by Hamilton Public Library and Hamilton Public Library owns the copyright for these digital images. Images that are still in copyright must be licensed from the copyright holder.
All images are covered under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 Canada License.
Images can be used for personal or research use without prior permission. Any other use, including, but not limited to, commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication, or transmission whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission from the Hamilton Public Library is prohibited.
The Library will grant or withhold permission on a case by case basis. Permission requests may be sent to Local History and Archives. Click here for information on purchasing a high-resolution image or sending a permission request.
The city of Hamilton's cybersecurity-related outage has affected some of HPL's services. Our online image database, PreView, is unavailable, and we are not able to provide a timeline for its return.
Some images, such as postcards, can still be found online on Flickr.