To apply for this service, patrons must outline the nature of their request via regular mail or electronic mail, providing any information that can serve as a "handle" on which staff can proceed. Please be as specific as possible. Avoid general requests such as “Please provide any information you have on the Smith family” or “I’m looking for information about Elgin County railway history.” We are much more likely to find useful information if requests are limited and specific. Wherever possible, limit requests to a particular individual, organization or company and request specific classes of records – census data; registrations of birth, death or marriage; photographs; cemetery records, etc. To further assist us and to avoid duplication of effort, please also provide a summary of your existing research, identifying any information you have already found and the information sources you have already investigated.

Before proceeding with any long-distance research request, we must have assurances of a tangible link to Elgin County. Work will not commence until a $40 deposit for the first hour of research is received (cheques payable to: Elgin County Archives). Most requests can be addressed in two hours or less. If the time is likely to be more than this, staff will contact the patron to inform them of the potential cost. Contact us for more information.

Before applying for long-distance research services, we suggest that patrons investigate ancestry.ca , a subscription-based online genealogical research service providing access to census, vital statistics and many other key classes of records for family history research. For researchers who are able to visit us in person, the Elgin County Archives provides no-charge, self-service access to this resource under license to the Elgin County Library.