viHistory Search Options
Search Avenues and Options
This web site contains over 100,000 records and you can look for information in a variety of ways. The search options provided on this page are the main pathways to the data. The Global Name Search option (below) provides an immediate access point to nearly all of the nominal records on the site.
Click one of the links below to go to that search page.
- Global Name Search
- The Global Name Search allows you to search for names through all census, directory, and tax assessment records at once. There are Basic and Fuzzy search options.
- Census Search
- The Census Search allows you to search through official census records for Victoria and Vancouver Island from 1881, 1891 and 1901. There are Basic, Advanced and Fuzzy search options. There is also a special search for the Victoria 1871 municipal census; the data for that year is not linked to the other census years.
- Directory Search
- The Directory Search allows you to search through city directory records for Nanaimo and Victoria for 1881, 1891 and 1901. There are Basic, Advanced and Fuzzy search options.
- Tax Assessment Roll Search
- The Tax Assessment Roll Search allows you to search through tax assessment records from the city of Nanaimo (1881 and 1891) and the city of Victoria (1901). There are Basic, Advanced and Fuzzy search options.
- Site Search
- The Site Search allows you to search the viHistory site itself. This search does not include any of the Census, Directory or Tax Assessment records; to search those, use one of the searches described in the other topics above.
- Annotations Search
- The Annotations Search allows you to view the annotations sent by users of the viHistory site.
- Other search options
- Click here to search the dataset for special topics — such as the occupations and religions that appear on the census or the names of employers from city directories. You can identify the boundaries of census sub-districts and locate of First Nations bands (1881) here.
Search Help and Tips
Extensive help is available for each of the searches listed above. Click here for the main search help page, or click the "Search Help" button found near the top of each search page for specific help on that type of search.