Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Repository
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
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microfilmed 1957-1982 (Reproduction)
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1730-1958 (Creation)
Physical description area
Physical description
120 microfilm reels of textual records.
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Name of creator
Custodial history
Scope and content
Forms part of Department of Lands and Forests and consists of land grant registration books containing official copies of land grants given by the Government or Crown to settlers in Nova Scotia. The books were used to record Crown copies of land grants as they were issued by the Crown to applicants.
Each land grant recorded in the books identifies the individuals receiving the land and provides the boundary description of the plot as well as the amount of land granted. In many instances grants were made to a number of individuals as part of a common land grant made to a township, or to individuals with some common connection, such as disbanded soldiers. In such cases the grants may not identify the precise location or amount of land received by each person. Additionally while early grants in the 18th century may not include a map showing the location of the grant, later land grants generally include a plot plan.
Each book usually has an internal index. There is also a master index created by the Department and available on microfilm. The index is organized by name of grantee and gives the year of the grant, the acreage of the grant and a reference to the page of the land grant book. The books have been labelled in three systems during the time period from 1730 to 1958 and the time periods for each system overlap to some extent. Generally books designated as "old books" date from the 18th century (1700s); "letter books" are generally before 1847 and "new books" date from 1847 to 1958.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
Location of originals
Originals held by the Crown Lands Records Office, Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources.
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
A master name of grantee index is available on microfilm 12926 for A-G and microfilm 12927 for H-Z.
A list converting book and page references to Nova Scotia Archives microfilm numbers is available.
Associated materials
Within the same fonds the Crown Land Index sheets provide a geographical index to the land grants. Within the Nova Scotia Commissioner of Crown Lands fonds there are a number of related series:
- Cape Breton Island Petitions (1787-1843) contains materials related to land requests the period when the Island was a separate colony or had a separate land office (listing available online); and
- Nova Scotia Land papers, (also known as land petitions and other materials), which contains original petitions for land, warrants to survey, draft land grants and related materials. The materials from before 1801 are available online.