Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Imperial Oil Limited fonds
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Fonds
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)
Physical description area
Physical description
320 m of textual records. -- 30 m of photographs. -- 550 sound recordings. -- 527 television commercials. -- 1700 video recordings
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
Biographical history
Imperial Oil Company Limited was incorporated in 1880 (its name changed to Imperial Oil Limited in 1919). Initially a refining and distribution company, it expanded into oil production, exploration, marketing and related activities. It was the first substantial oil company to develop out of the oil fields of southwestern Ontario and its main competition came from the American company, Standard Oil, which purchased Imperial Oil in 1898. Despite its origins and head office in Ontario, Imperial Oil's exploration activities were predominantly in western and northern Canada. It opened the Leduc field in 1947, launching Alberta's second oil boom (after Turner Valley, where it participated through a subsidiary, Royalite Oil Company). It discovered and refined oil at Norman Wells, NWT from 1922 and participated in the wartime exploitation of the field during the Second World War, supplying the Canol Pipeline and Whitehorse Refinery from 1943. Since then, it has made major investments in high Arctic exploration and development. It is also a significant participant in heavy oil extraction, both in the Athabasca oil sand (through Syncrude) and the Cold Lake heavy oil production field. The company developed refining operations and a chain of service stations (retail, bulk, rail, marine and aviation) across the country. It developed an international exploration company, International Petroleum, active primarily in Latin America, including Colombia and Peru. Numerous other subsidiaries have been formed to operate in business sectors related to its primary oil business, including transportation (pipeline and marine tankers), natural gas production, petrochemical products (twine, containers, fertilizers, building materials), land development, home heating, travel support (highway restaurants, etc.). It has acquired several companies, including Texaco Canada and Mobil Oil. Imperial Oil is also a major investor in related companies, primarily pipelines.
Custodial history
Scope and content
The fonds consists of records documenting all aspects of the operations of Imperial Oil Limited and includes the corporate records, photographs, publications, sound recordings, television commercials and videotape collection. Also includes records of Texaco Canada Limited and other subsidiary and affliliated companies.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
Gift of Imperial Oil Limited, 2006.
Arrangement
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script note
Most of the material is in English with some in French.
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Minutes of the Board of Directors of Imperial and all Board committees are closed for 40 years from the date of creation.
Records of the Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, President and Senior Vice-Presidents of Imperial are closed for 40 years from date of creation.
Records of Imperial’s Management Committee are closed for 60 years from date of creation; access can only be granted by written application and subsequent approval by the Vice-President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Imperial Oil.
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Finding aids
Inventory available. Please consult before requesting material. http://www.glenbow.org/collections/search/findingAids/archhtm/iolmaster.cfm
Associated materials
Accruals
General note
Call numbers. Please consult inventory.
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number area
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Imperial Oil (Subject)
Genre access points
Control area
Description record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules or conventions
Level of detail
Language of description
- English