Piecing Together Scotiabank’s History

Digital jigsaw puzzles featuring items from Scotiabank’s archives.

This selection of images has been curated to provide puzzlers a fun challenge while illustrating the diversity of Scotiabank’s collections. You can set the puzzle difficulty for each image and don’t forget to share your accomplishments with friends!

Presented by the Archives and Information Management Office and the Corporate History Program.

Soy Yo Debit Card, 2021

Scotiabank Mexico champions diversity and inclusion with the launch of the Soy Yo community. The platform, co-created with customers, includes a distinctive debit card designed by Elsa Ayala Flores.

Part of RG089

New Puzzle

Detail of Board of Director’s Chair, 1976

The chair is personalized for Marie Wilson McCulloch Saunders, Q.C., of Toronto, the first woman elected to Scotiabank's Board of Directors.

Artifact No.0083.

New Puzzle

Find out more, Detail of Board of Director’s Chair, 1976

New Scotiabank branding at the Yonge & Yonge branch in Toronto, 2020

Across the Scotiabank network, signage is being updated for a more modern look. The new style of branding was first adopted by the Bank in 2019.

Part of RG300. Photo taken by Ludwing Duarte.

New Puzzle

Find out more, New Scotiabank branding at the Yonge & Yonge branch in Toronto, 2020

The National Trust Company Polo Park Shopping Centre branch, Winnipeg, 1965

Celebrating their 60-year anniversary in 2022, the Polo Park branch has been a fixture in the shopping centre since December 30, 1962! Before joining Scotiabank, the Polo Park branch in Winnipeg operated as a location for The National Trust Company. It was converted in May 1999 after the Bank acquired National Trust.

Part of RG300.

New Puzzle

Find out more, The National Trust Company Polo Park Shopping Centre branch, Winnipeg, 1965

Announcement card for the Northgate Shopping Centre branch, [ca. 1971].

This groovy “News from Scotiabank” card announces new hours at the Northgate branch in Sarnia, ON. The announcement card features a branding style typical of the early 70s using blue and a unique dual font, globe and arrow logo. Did you know that the Bank used blue as a branding colour before adopting its signature red?

Part of RG045.

New Puzzle

Find out more, Announcement card for the Northgate Shopping Centre branch, [ca. 1971].

The Bank of Nova Scotia 100-year anniversary advertisement, 1932.

During its 100^th anniversary year in 1932, The Bank of Nova Scotia adopts a new tagline: A Century of Banking Service. The tagline is used as a way of highlighting the Bank’s history of stability and service. This advertisement also calls attention to how the founding of the Bank predates Queen Victoria’s accession to the throne by 5 years.

Part of RG012.

New Puzzle

Find out more, The Bank of Nova Scotia 100-year anniversary advertisement, 1932.

Front cover, Scotiabank Jamaica annual report, 1977

Featured on the cover, the Scotiabank Centre was opened in 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica.

Postcard depicting the Banking Hall at 44 King Street, [195-]

For decades, Scotiabank installed a gigantic live Christmas tree in this space for the benefit customers, employees and visitors.

Commemorative sticker used by The Bank of Nova Scotia during its centennial year, 1932

The McLeod Young & Weir tartan

Traders from this firm wore jackets in this stand-out pattern on the stock exchange trading floor. Founded in 1921, MYW lives on today as Scotia McLeod.

Vestibule in the Havana Main branch, Cuba, ca. 1914

The Bank of Nova Scotia opened its first branch in Cuba in 1906.

Interior of the 41^st & Churchill branch, Vancouver, 1946

This photo was taken shortly after the branch opened in 1945.

The Bank of Nova Scotia coat of arms, ca. 1960

Designed in 1921, the coat of arms was used extensively in the 1950s and 1960s to decorate branches.

Front cover of The Bank of Nova Scotia’s employee magazine, 1960

For many years, starting in the late 1950s, cover images were chosen from employee submissions.

Armoured car featuring an advertisement for Scotia Plan Loans, 1963

The truck also features the Scotiabank dual-font wordmark, which was first introduced in 1961.

Exterior view of The Bank of Nova Scotia branch in Carp, Ontario, March 19, 1947

New Puzzle

The Bank of Nova Scotia Jamaica Limited one pound bank note specimen, 1900

The Bank of Nova Scotia opened its first branch in Jamaica in 1889 and began distributing its own bank notes there in 1900.

Architectural drawing of The Bank of Ottawa Alexandria branch, Ontario, January 1900

Established in 1874, The Bank of Ottawa merged with The Bank of Nova Scotia in 1919 and a Scotiabank sign now graces the exterior of the building depicted here.

Protectograph, ca. 1915

Once an essential tool for banks, these simple machines imprint values that could not be altered onto cheques and other documents to help prevent fraud.

The Bank of Nova Scotia San Pedro de Macoris branch, Dominican Republic, [192-]

Scotiabank opened its first branch in the Dominican Republic on July 1, 1920.

Group photograph of The Bank of Nova Scotia baseball team, [192-]

From baseball to curling, hockey to cricket, Scotiabank employees have participated in a wide variety of commercial and community leagues and tournaments - even tiddlywinks!

Advertisement, February 5, 1926. Extracted from the Monetary Times

After a lengthy search for suitable premises, The Bank of Nova Scotia opened its first European branch in London, England on August 3, 1920.

The Bank of Nova Scotia corporate seal rendered in mosaic, ca. 1929

Before adopting the name Scotiabank and the colour red, branding at branches was more varied. This mosaic was installed in the foyer of a branch in Toronto in the 1920s.

Architectural drawing of centre panel E, in octagonal coffer, November 20, 1930

This detail, depicting a face and pitcher plant, is one of many designed by John M. Lyle to decorate The Bank of Nova Scotia Head Office and Main Branch in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Cheque desk at The Bank of Nova Scotia Head Office and Main Branch, Halifax, Nova Scotia, [1931]

1709 Hollis Street was designed by Canadian architect John M. Lyle, right down to the individual decorative elements and the furnishings.

History of The Bank of Nova Scotia, 1932

This publication, prepared to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of The Bank of Nova Scotia, is one of three histories published by the Bank to date.

Promotional calendar, 1933

The graphic on this calendar, depicting the Cunard ship S.S. Britannia’s first visit to Halifax in 1840, is also reproduced in mosaic in Scotiabank’s historic banking hall on Hollis Street in Halifax.

Branch photograph, 1940

Exterior view of The Bank of Nova Scotia Milton branch, Ontario, August 31, 1940.

Cover page of the More Than A Story of Steel and Stone booklet, 1951

Published to mark the opening of the Bank’s new General Office building at 44 King Street West in Toronto, this booklet also celebrates the “hundreds of Canadians doing hundreds of jobs” that made the building possible.

**Cover page for The Book of Remembrance, 1952**

This beautifully illustrated, hand lettered book was created to memorialize those members of staff who gave their lives in the First and Second World Wars.

Lighter, 1965

Decorated with posters for some of the places Scotiabank operated, such as London, New York and Jamaica, this lighter is a miniature version of an advertising kiosk used by Scotiabank in the early 1960s to promote its international presence.

Promotional piece, 1976

First introduced in 1973, Bank 24 was Scotiabank’s first automated cash dispensing machine. While transactions were initially limited to cash withdrawal, it provided customers with 24 hour access to their funds.