Highway Reconstruction in the 1930s

Resources

The Department of Highways Annual Reports are a rich resource of detailed information about highway and bridge construction and maintenance, including detailed descriptions of work being done, costs involved, contractors performing the work, and statistical information. Nova Scotia Archives Library, J104 K3 R29 H638

Department of Highways and Public Works fonds. Series: Roads and Bridges photograph collection. Documents construction and maintenance of roads and bridges across Nova Scotia, ca.1909 - 1959. May contain additional photographs of the 1930s Highway Reconstruction project.

Department of Highways and Public Works fonds. Series: Highway Specifications and Contracts. Contains signed agreements (contracts) between the Minister of Highways (the Province) and the Mayors of incorporated towns, followed by detailed specifications for local construction work. Also includes additional information such as correspondence, technical drawings, plans, etc.

‘Canada's Ocean Playground: The Call of the Open Road.’ A virtual exhibit about the development of the tourism industry in Nova Scotia and, in this section, automobile tourism. Features digitized tourism materials, maps and photographs from the Nova Scotia Archives holdings, including photographs from the Department of Highways fonds, Roads and Bridges photographs collection.

‘Clara Dennis Tours Nova Scotia.’ A virtual exhibit featuring photographs taken by Clara Dennis, one of the province´s first native-born travel writers. In the 1930s, few women drove their own vehicles up into the Cape Breton Highlands and the 'motoring tourist' was still a novelty, but the call of the open road was already ushering in a completely new travel audience.

Joan Dawson, Nova Scotia's Lost Highways: The Early Roads that Shaped the Province (Halifax: Nimbus, 2009). Nova Scotia Archives Library, FC 2312 D272 2009

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