TMU Libraries Omni Search
TMU Libraries Omni Search
For optimum use, sign in. This search engine searches for journal articles (many are available electronically), books, e-books, theses and dissertations, and newspaper articles from some recent and a selection of archival newspapers. It indexes digitized content such as out-of-copyright books and journals that are available from sources such as The Internet Archive and The Hathi Trust. Omni facilitates discovery and borrowing of print books from other universities in Ontario excluding the University of Toronto. The resources indexed here include all issues of the Maclean's Digital Archive and Canadian Historical Review.
Refine your search using the filters on the left.
For more advanced searching across a more targeted set of resources, you may want to try a discipline specific indexing/abstracting database or collection as listed in the next boxes.
- Omni Research Tips and FAQ
There are useful suggestions on how to use this search tool effectively.
Vices. What are they?
In his 1919 pamphlet Wake Up! Montreal!, author E.I. Hart identifies five "master evils."
The Cigarette
The Drug Habit (narcotics or "dope" such as opium and cocaine)
Gambling (including horse-racing, book-keeping, slot machines)
Drink (while acknowledging the legal sale of liquor and beer, also mentions boot-leggers and smuggling)
The Social Evil (prostitution and "white slavery"--what we today call human trafficking especially as applied to minors)
The author later comments on other matters: reformatories, penal institutions, and redemptive homes; dangers of public dance halls and movies; immodest dress.
The Report of the Social Survey Commission of Toronto (Toronto: Carswell, 1915) refers the the social evil in subcategories such as: houses of ill-fame, houses of assignation, prostitutes, prostitution, street soliciting, and massage parlors.
Other topics noted in the table of contents are: illicit sale of liquor, feeble-mindedness in relation to vice and recreational facilities, specifically dance halls, rinks, parks and summer amusement resorts, moving pictures, and theatres (burlesque houses, vaudeville houses, regular theatres).
Some additional keywords that might have been used in historic newspapers and other publications: obscene OR obscenity, gambling OR betting, prohibition OR illegal alcohol, arrest OR raid OR charge, "moral indignation" OR immorality, drugs OR narcotics, "vice squad".
Key Indexing Resources for Historical Aspects
- America : History & Life This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
This link opens in a new window
America History and Life contains citations, with abstracts to social science and humanities literature on all aspects of U.S. and Canadian history, culture and current affairs from prehistoric times to the present.
Maximum of 6 simultaneous users. - Canadiana This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Canadiana is a bilingual digital library of primary (source) documents of early Canadian printed publications including books, annuals and periodicals. Over 1,300 sources (including 350 titles from outside the U.S.) are indexed and abstracted. Of these, 600 are available in full text.
Formerly known as Early Canadiana Online. - Canadiana Heritage Project This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
The Héritage project is a 10-year initiative to digitize and make accessible online some of Canada’s most popular archival collections encompassing roughly 60 million pages of primary-source documents. Chronicling the country and its people from the 1600s to the mid-1900s, this collection represents a vast and unique resource for Canadian historians, students, and genealogists. - Canadian Business & Current Affairs Database (CBCA) This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
This database, with 600 full text titles, is the most comprehensive Canadian reference collection available today. Accessible to readers and researchers at every level, CBCA Complete features a highly-respected, diversified mix of publications, including scholarly journals, trade publications, dissertations, books, newspapers and magazines. - CPI.Q Canadian Periodicals Index This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
CPI.Q is Gale’s award-winning full-text resource specifically designed to provide instant access to the most requested Canadian reference materials. Covering a wide range of disciplines, CPI.Q is the perfect one-stop resource for researchers in need of information from Canadian-focused journals, magazines, newspapers and reference sources.
CPI.Q features a wealth of Canadian and international periodicals, Canada’s national newspaper The Globe and Mail, Maclean’s weekly magazine and Canadian News Facts as well as comprehensive encyclopedic reference material. - Criminal Justice Database This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
ProQuest Criminal Justice is a comprehensive database supporting research on crime, its causes and impacts, legal and social implications, as well as litigation and crime trends. As well as U.S. and international scholarly journals, it includes correctional and law enforcement trade publications, crime reports, crime blogs and other material relevant for researchers or those preparing for careers in criminal justice, law enforcement and related fields.
Archival and Current Newspapers
- ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Calgary Herald, 1883-2010 This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
The Calgary Herald is the largest and oldest daily newspaper in Alberta. Its first publication was as a mining and ranch weekly in 1883 at the height of Western Expansion and the Nation Building period. The coverage gives insight into Canadian history in the early 20th century and important reporting of international, national, provincial, and local events. Other notable coverage includes the first Calgary Stampede in 1912 and the development of the petroleum industry in Alberta and throughout Canada.
Coverage: 1883 - 2010 - ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Globe and Mail This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time.
Coverage: 1844 - 2020 - ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Montreal Gazette, 1785-2010 This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
The Montreal Gazette is Montreal’s only surviving English language newspaper, as well as the oldest daily still in print in all of Canada. Originally founded as The Gazette, the paper offers much insight into Canadian history in the late 19th Century as well as important coverage of international, national, provincial, and local events. Coverage includes past events of current historical landmarks such as the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal, Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal, and the Old Port of Montreal. The paper gives insight into the commercial, social, and cultural life of the future city of Montreal.
Coverage: 1785 - 2010 - ProQuest Historical Newspapers: Toronto Star This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
This historical newspaper provides genealogists, researchers and scholars with online, easily-searchable first-hand accounts and unparalleled coverage of the politics, society and events of the time.
Coverage: 1894 - 2021 - Canadian Newsstream This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
This database offers access to the full text of several Canadian newspapers from Canada's leading publishers. This full text database includes the complete available electronic backfile for most newspapers, providing full access to the articles, columns, editorials and features published in each. Some backfiles date as far back as the late 1970s.
See also Carol Singer's extensive guide from Bowling Green State University Library: Historical Canadian Newspapers Online