Canadian Periodical Index

The Canadian Periodical Index is a tool which can help when searching for articles about a specific topic.  The information provides correct periodical, the specific date, volume and Canadian Periodical Indexissue, and page numbers for the article. The Canadian Periodical Index works like a subject catalog for the articles inside magazines and journals with a particular eye to Canadian content.

In 1928, librarians at the Windsor Public Library began to index important articles from twenty-one English language, Canadian journals and magazines. This was the first type-script edition of The Canadian Periodical Index. The first mimeographed copies of this earliest form of the Canadian Periodical Index are still housed at the library.

As the scope evolved and more journals added, the Index was taken over by Angus Mowat, formerly the editor in Windsor, and production shifted to the public library in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in 1932. The Windsor librarians, in their final edition, apologized for the “variegated hues” as “paper was low and finances lower.”  The Canadian Periodical Index became a publication of the Canadian Library Association, and is currently available online as CPI Q.

Sources:

Printed Periodical Indices and Abstracts in the A.J. Pratt Library

Canadian Periodical Index. (1932). Windsor, Ontario: Windsor Public Library