McCord Stewart Museum

The McCord Stewart Museum (French: Musée McCord Stewart), formerly known as the McCord Museum of Canadian History, is a public research and teaching museum dedicated to the study of social history and the history of Montreal. The Museum’s Archives, Documentary Art, Dress, Fashion and Textiles, Indigenous Cultures, Material Culture and Photography collections, containing 2.5 million images, objects, documents and works of art, position it as the custodian of a remarkable historical heritage. It is located directly across the street from McGill University, in the downtown core of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. History On October 13, 1921, the McCord National Museum, as it was then called, moved to the former McGill Union building, designed by Percy Erskine Nobbs in the Arts and Crafts tradition. The collection was based on the McCord family collection. Since 1878, David Ross McCord had been adding to the already considerable collection assembled by his family since their arrival in Canada. Over the years, he developed the plan of founding a national history museum in Montreal, at that time Canada's metropolis. Starting August 31, 2022, the museum was renamed the McCord Stewart Museum. This followed the permanent closure of the Stewart Museum in February 2021 and the integration of its collection into that of the McCord Museum. The Stewart collection consisted of approximately 27,000 artefacts related to the European presence in New France and North America. The building that now houses the museum was administered by McGill University for over sixty years, when it was the seat of the student government. After riots targeted at the Students' Society of McGill University (SSMU) led to the building's storming and several executives being taken hostage, McGill University set out to build a more secure building, University Centre, the current seat of SSMU. Leading members of the community lent their support to the museum over the years. Today, the McCord Stewart Museum is supported by the governments of Canada, Quebec and Montreal, and by a large network of members, donors and sponsors. Collection The museum was founded in 1921 by David Ross McCord, based on his own family collection of objects. Since then, the museum's holdings have increased substantially. The museum's exterior features the sculpture Totem urbain / histoire en dentelle, an allegorical representation of Montreal history, by Pierre Granche. Indigenous Cultures This collection of more than 16,000 objects that documents many aspects of the ways of life, arts, cultures and traditions of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis people living primarily in Canada but also in regions of the United States, Siberia and Greenland. In this collection, there are more than 7,300 historical indigenous objects, dating from the early 1800s to 1945 (clothing, accessories, headgear, domestic tools, baskets, hunting weaponry, etc.) and more than 8,500 archaeological objects dating from about 10,000 years ago to the 16th century (stone tools, potsherds). Dress, Fashion and Textiles This collection of 27,000 garments and accessories consists of women's dresses, parasols, hats, fans and footwear, many created by some of Montreal's greatest 20th century designers. The menswear in the collection includes suits, coats and accessories. There is also an important selection of embroidered samplers, quilts and other textiles, including North America's oldest known patchwork quilt (1726). In 2019, the museum launched EncycloFashionQC, the first online encyclopedia devoted to Quebec fashion, featuring over 500 entries on who’s who in Quebec fashion. Photography This collection of more than 2,15 million images consists vintage Canadian photographs including prints and glass negatives, stereograms, composites, painted photographs, daguerreotypes and other types of early photographic processes, family albums, vernacular photographs, documentary photographs, artist portfolios, cameras and photographic equipment from 1840 to the present day. Notman Photographic Archives This collection includes 400,000 photographs and various items of early photographic equipment and accessories. It provides a visual history of Montreal and Canada from the 1840s to the present. The collection contains the William Notman & Son Photographic Studio fond constituting more than 400,000 photographic images (including 200,000 glass negatives) dating mostly from 1840 to 1935. The collection also includes approximately 700,000 images taken by other photographers. Documentary Art This collection of 92,000 iconographical pieces illustrates the personalities, places and events that made the history of Montreal, Quebec and Canada, from the 18th to the 21st centuries. It includes paintings (oils, acrylics and watercolours, mostly from the 19th century), miniatures, silhouettes, prints (maps, plans, portraits, mostly from 1751 to 1900) and caricatures from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries (John Collins, Serge Chapleau and Terry Mosher alias Aislin). Material Culture The more than 63,000 objects included in this collection documents the material environment within which Montrealers, Quebeckers and Canadians lived in past centuries. This collection consists of furniture, glassware, ceramics, ironware, sculpture, hunting equipment, sports equipment, items of folk art and a major collection of 19th century toys. Archives This collection, which total 346 linear meters, and 3,670 rare books includes manuscripts, correspondence, personal journals and other documents showing the history of Canada from the 18th century to the present. The documents come from families (the Dessaulles, McCord, Armstrong-Deligny-Philips and Bacon families); from well-known individuals (Sir George-Étienne Cartier, Maurice-Régis Blondeau, Hélène Baillargeon Côté); from companies and associations (Women's Art Society of Montreal, Victoria Rifles of Canada, Gibb & Co.); and from collections (New France, British Empire, Concert and Theatre Programs, Valentines). Affiliations The museum is affiliated with the CMA, CHIN, and Virtual Museum of Canada. References Bibliography (in English) Exhibition Catalogue (1992). Wrapped in the Colours of the Earth.Cultural Heritage of the First Nations. McCord Museum. ISBN 1-895615-07-0. (in English) Exhibition Catalogue (1992). Form and Fashion. Nineteenth-Century Montreal Dress. McCord Museum. ISBN 1-895615-00-3. (in English) Exhibition Catalogue (1992). The McCord Family. A Passionate Vision. McCord Museum. ISBN 978-0-7735-6373-5. (in English) Exhibition Catalogue (1992). Eclectic Tastes. Fine and Decorative Arts from the McCord. McCord Museum. ISBN 1-895615-02-X. External links McCord Stewart Museum