The Kootenay Lake Archives is now able to handle a variety of requests for research and document delivery. Most of the work we do is on a volunteer basis. For this reason, we sometimes take longer to handle requests received through the post or e-mail than those received from walk-in visitors.

On receiving your request, volunteer staff spend up to one half hour researching a particular subject or preparing documents or photographs for delivery. As the Archives is only open five hours a week, we usually have more requests than we can handle at any given time. For this reason we will continue the research, with your permission, for a small hourly fee.

Research
We offer research in a number of areas including geneology, historical personalities, Kaslo property, local history, area mining and Kootenay Lake sternwheelers. Our scope of collection includes an area extending from Ainsworth to Kaslo and north to Gerrard. We also have some materials on ghost towns including Sandon, Retallack and Three Forks. When your request extends beyond our area of collection, we will be happy to direct you to another Archive in the region.

Property search
For a small fee, we perform property searches on lots in Kaslo using City of Kaslo tax roll records from 1892 to 1942 and other information when available. As the condition of some of these documents is poor, we are unable to allow visitors to browse these records alone. Please contact us for further information.

Photograph reproductions
We recently digitized over 80% of our historical photographs, allowing us to offer digital reproductions at affordable prices. We are working on developing our database to better enable searches of the collection by keyword and subject. Come in to browse the collection.

Research assistance
If you have a large amount of research or an ongoing project that requires time, we are happy to provide instruction on how to use the Archives and obtain the information you need. Drop by anytime to speak to one of the volunteers.