Simply Montreal :
Glimpses of a Unique City
Complete texts of the exhibition
presented at the McCord Museum.
Permanent Exhibition
Table of Contents
Introduction
4
1. Surviving Winter - Brrrr !
1.1. Crossroads of the Winds
1.2. Below Zero
5
5
6
2. Surviving Winter - Cozy Mittens, Winterproof Walls
2.1. Second Skin
2.2. Warm and Cozy
2.3. Everyday Comfort
8
8
11
12
3. Surviving Winter - Montreal, Winter City
3.1. Getting Around
3.2. Ice for Sale
3.3. After the Storm
15
15
18
19
4. Different Cultures Meet - A Northern Mosaic
4.1. Montreal Portraits
4.2. A New Land
4.3. Migratory Waves
20
20
31
35
5. Different Cultures Meet - Living Together
5.1 Conflicts and Alliances
37
37
6. Different Cultures Meet - Alliances and Passions
6.1. Family Ties
6.2. Couples: Alliances and Passions
6.3. Garden of Cultures
43
43
44
46
7. Prospering - They Came from the Sea
7.1. Trading Routes
7.2. The Fur Rush
7.3. The Fur Barons
53
53
57
59
8. Prospering - City of Promise, Land of Trade
8.1. Commercial Hub
8.2. Place of Transit
8.3. At the Center of the Web
8.4. St. Catherine Street
63
63
66
67
69
9. Prospering - The Highs and Lows of an Imperial Jewel
9.1. The Wheels of Progress
9.2. A City of Contrasts
73
73
74
2
10. Enjoyment - From Cricket to Arm-wrestling
10.1. Something for Everyone
78
78
11. Enjoyment - Open-air City
11.1. A Spirit of Adventure
11.2. The National Sport
11.3. Hand in Hand
11.4. Winter Wonderland
82
82
87
90
91
12. Enjoyment - A Swinging City
12.1. Open City
12.2. 1001 Nights
93
93
94
Credits
100
3
Introduction
By turns dazzling and dark, dignified and frivolous, steamy-hot and icy-cold,
Montreal - city of a thousand spires, crossroads of a continent - casts its eternal
spell. Like a tune that lingers in the mind, its history speaks to the hearts of all:
Montrealers, people experiencing its charm for the first time, and those who just
keep coming back. The McCord Museum's permanent exhibition, entitled Simply
Montréal, offers myriad glimpses of this unique city and immerse visitors into the
very heart of the rich and varied experience it offers.
An array of First Nations objects, full of symbolism and emotion; a selection of
extraordinary photographs by the renowned Canadian photographer William
Notman; a variety of sports equipment and charming toys; a series of splendid
gowns and outfits worn by illustrious Montrealers - over 800 objects from the
McCord's famous collection will bring the great Montreal adventure to life.
Accented with interactive installations and enveloped in evocative atmospheres,
Simply Montréal is an invitation to people of all ages to steep themselves in the
city, surround themselves with its sounds and sensations - even to brave an
authentic “made in Montreal” snowstorm!
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
4
1. Surviving Winter - Brrrr!
Montreal can be beautiful under a cloudless January sky, but sometimes its
inhabitants would willingly exchange their seemingly endless winter for a milder
climate.
Occasionally, a sudden mid-season warm spell causes the mercury to rise,
swelling the rivers and hinting at an early spring. But a couple of days later,
winter's back, the temperature drops to twenty below, and the city is trapped in a
straitjacket of ice.
Fascinated by the weather's whims, Montrealers never tire of discussing it―what
it's like today, what threatens for tomorrow, the power of the "storm of the
century, when my father was a boy". Which will be next to visit the plains of the
St. Lawrence Valley―the nor'easter, the vicious arctic gale or the balmy
southwesterly breeze? The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind…
1.1. Crossroads of the winds
During the first half of the 19th century, John Samuel McCord, father of the
Museum’s founder, took daily readings of climatic variations and noted them in
his meteorological journals.
Thermometer
About 1843
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M8461
The Museum’s founder, David Ross McCord, inherited this thermometer from his
father, who would consult it religiously each morning to check the temperature.
The instrument shows degrees in the Réaumur scale on one side and in degrees
Fahrenheit on the other. The weather is still, for present-day Montrealers, a major
subject of interest and discussion.
Letter
From Charles Lyell to John Samuel McCord about the barometrical height of
Mount Royal
1842
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, P001-D12/36-820.11
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
5
Facsimile
Travels in North America with Geological Observations on the United States,
Canada, and Nova Scotia
1845
Author : Charles Lyell
McCord Museum, RB-0576
Barometer
Early 19th century
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M8464
During the first half of the 19th century, John Samuel McCord, father of the
Museum’s founder, took daily readings of climatic variations and noted them in
his meteorological journals. Using this barometer, he could observe rises and
falls in atmospheric pressure and thus predict if the weather was going to
change.
Weathervane
19th century
Gift of Mrs. Margaret de Volpi
McCord Museum, MC989.119.20
The weathervane often took the form of a rooster, perched atop the church
steeple. Feathers unruffled, it would twist and turn, indicating the wind’s direction
by the four cardinal points mounted at the ends of its crossed shafts.
1.2. Below Zero
Each winter, nature invades and besieges Montreal for months on end. During
the 19th and early 20th centuries, Montrealers used wooden shovels to dig
staircases and sidewalks free of the all-invasive snow.
A FOUNDER, A CROSS
In 1643, Paul de Chomedey, sieur de Maisonneuve, founder of Ville-Marie,
erected a wooden cross on the summit of Mount Royal. He made the gesture in
thanks to God for having protected the colony from a flood. The rising spring
waters remained a threat to the town until the building of protective walls in 1896.
But Ville-Marie survived the elements, and the cross still reigns over Montreal's
skyline.
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
6
Shovel
1910-1920
Manufactured by Arthur Leblanc
McCord Museum, M22431
Snow shovel
Late 19th century
Gift of Air Canada
McCord Museum, M993.115.10
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
7
2. Surviving Winter - Cozy Mittens, Winterproof Walls
Montrealers have always had to struggle against a capricious and ever-present
enemy: the cold. To fight it effectively, considerable ingenuity had to go into the
design of both clothing and housing.
The area's first inhabitants created soft, warm garments out of the skins of wild
animals, and the mittens and anoraks made by early European settlers mimicked
these age-old clothes. Aboriginal peoples, for their part, appreciated the warmth
and practicality of the woven fabrics and woollens made by Europeans. Houses,
too, had to be protected from the cold. Montrealers knew this only too well, and
took great care to ensure that their homes were weatherproof, solidly built and,
above all, equipped with an efficient heating system, the heart of the house. A
faulty furnace or inadequate insulation was the only invitation the north wind
needed to take over the living room.
Despite every effort, a sneaky little draft might still work its way in, so even indoor
clothing was warm and cozy in wintertime.
2.1. Second Skin
HANDILY HOT!
Aboriginal people decorated much of their clothing, including gloves and mittens.
In the 17th century, they began using fabrics and glass beads imported by
Europeans, blending a range of styles and materials. They also sometimes made
clothes for Canadians of European origin.
Hat
1987
Inuit (Iglulingmiut), maker unknown
McCord Museum, ME987.202
Belt
1850-1880
Dene, maker unknown
Gift of Mr. Randolph Routh
McCord Museum, ME982.568
Gloves
1920-1940
Northern Plains, maker unknown
Gift of Eleanore B. Kennedy
McCord Museum, M2008.75.2.1-2
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
8
Arrow sash
19th century
Gift of Mrs.Ward Pitfield
McCord Museum, M970.29.4
Mittens
1984
Innu (Naskapi), maker unknown
Gift of Gabrielle Gagnon.
McCord Museum, M2008.49.3.1-2
Innu craft item acquired at Blanc-Sablon by archaeologist Pierre Dumais during
an archaeological project in the summer of 1984.
Boots
1900-1930
Inuit (Kablunangajuit), maker unknown
Gift in memory of William Hill Petry (1868-1951) and Elizabeth Petry (18801973), parents of Mrs. L. S.Apedaile
McCord Museum, ME986.104.2A-B
Moccasins
1900-1925
Iroquois (Mohawk?), maker unknown
Gift of Mrs. Nancy Mathias
McCord Museum, M2008.53.6.1-2
Four Indians
About 1825-1836
Reproduction of a watercolour by J. Crawford Young
McCord Museum, M21230
With their European cut and aboriginal decoration, these winter outfits are the
result of a happy blend of cultures.
Canadian Habitants
About 1825-1836
Reproduction of a watercolour by J. Crawford Young
McCord Museum, M21231
For British soldiers like Young, the costume worn by 19th-century “habitants” was
a real revelation. French Canadians braved the cold in warm overcoats made of
a woolen fabric known as étoffe du pays or “country cloth”, which was woven by
their womenfolk.
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
9
ELEGANT… BUT WARM TOO
Montrealers of the 19th and early 20th centuries wore warm but very fashionable
clothing for their the chilly winters. Fur and wool were used to make elegant
winter outerwear. Canadians added warm accessories such as fur mittens, hats
and gloves, not to mention warm wool undergarments.
Fur cap
1870-1900
Gift of Mrs. Deirdre F. Bower
McCord Museum, M2006.51.4
Petticoat
1890-1900
Gift of Mrs. Herbert Vineberg
McCord Museum, M967.87.2
Woman’s shoulder cape
About 1900
Gift of Mrs. Patrick Diamond
McCord Museum, M19618
Woman’s cape
About 1860
Gift of Mrs. Ludlow Haskell
McCord Museum, M974.3.3
Child’s coat
1907
Gift of Mrs. Louise Hurtubise Bousquet
McCord Museum, M2000.41.39
Child’s cap
About 1900
Gift of Mrs. Hélène David
McCord Museum, M988.63.1
Man’s winter overcoat
1900-1925
Gift of Mrs. Rosina Fontein
McCord Museum, M993.94.2
The style of men’s fur-lined overcoats changed relatively little throughout the
early decades of the 20th century.
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
10
2.2. Warm and Cozy
To combat the cold and make sure that the winter remained outdoors,
considerable ingenuity had to go into house construction.
The foundation raises the house off the ground and keeps out the damp. Double
doors and windows keep the heat in and eliminate drafts. Row houses are only
exposed to the cold on two sides.
For two centuries the wood burning stove took pride of place in Canadian homes.
Made out of heavy iron, such stoves were used for both heating and cooking.
From about 1740, stoves were cast in the great Saint-Maurice Forge near TroisRivières.
Box stove
About 1825
McCord Museum, M24632.1-6
This type of cast iron stove revolutionized domestic heating across the country.
With an open fireplace, the heat tended to get drawn up the chimney, whereas
stoves gave off intense heat. This particular model was made at the Forges du
Saint-Maurice near Trois-Rivières, which opened in 1740 and was Canada's first
manufacturing industry.
Miniature cooking stove
19th century
Gift of Mr. Saul Ettinger
McCord Museum, M992.101.194.1-12
The wood stove replaced the open fireplace but remained the heart of the house:
it warmed and fed the inhabitants, dried their clothes, and heated the water for
washing and bathing.
Miniature stove accessories
About 1940-1960
Gift of Mr. Saul Ettinger
McCord Museum, M992.101.172.1-8
Miniature parlor stove
About 1856
Gift of Mr. Saul Ettinger
McCord Museum, M992.101.208
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
11
In Victorian parlors, activity centred around the stove. During the 19th century,
sophisticated conversation among ladies gathered around the ornate stove
became an extremely popular pastime.
Miniature pot belly stove
Early 20th century
Gift of Mr. Saul Ettinger
McCord Museum, M992.101.198.1-4
Called a “pot belly” because of its generous curves, this type of stove gave off
radiant heat. The stove in the general store was an important meeting-place for
many communities. People warmed themselves, argued and discussed the
events of the day.
Miniature box stove
19th century
Gift of Mr. Saul Ettinger
McCord Museum, M992.101.176.1-9
Ember tray
About 1900
Gift of Miss Mabel Molson
McCord Museum, M17900
Before matches were invented, servants in prosperous homes would place
glowing embers in a wooden-handled metal container and then carry them from
room to room to light the household’s various fires.
Lantern
19th century
Gift of Dr. Gordon J. Cassidy
McCord Museum, M986.81.4
Burner
19th century
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M11717
2.3. Everyday Comfort
Montrealers prepared for winter as they would have prepared for a siege, arming
themselves against the cold with a wide range of objects. To protect babies from
dangerous drafts, they were put to sleep in pretty covered cradles.
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
12
Shawl
1860-1870
Gift of Miss Sophia L. Elliott
McCord Museum, M21946
Portrait of Mrs. W. G. Ross (1865-1957)
About 1920
Oil on canvas by John Colin Forbes (1846-1925)
Gift of Mr.W. G. Ross Jr.
McCord Museum, M987.106
Cradle
1777
Gift of Elizabeth Anglin, wife of the late Thomas Gill Anglin
McCord Museum, M2002.57.1
This cradle was brought to Canada by United Empire Loyalists.
Hooked rug
About 1930
Quebec
Gift of Mrs. Nelly MacLean Burke
McCord Museum, M2007.16.10
Edwardian jacquard woven curtain
1900-1910
Gift of Mrs.W. R. B. Bartram
McCord Museum, M965.136.2.2
Quilt
1875-1900
Gift of Mr. Bernard Legris
McCord Museum, M993.37.2
Quilts, hand-made decorative and functional bedcovers, were often prized
possessions and could even be presented as wedding gifts. Once a quilt top had
been pieced together or appliquéd, a group of friends or neighbours might get
together to complete the quilting.
Warming pan
19th century
Gift of the Estate of Miss Elizabeth Carmichael Monk
McCord Museum, M981.56.42.a-b
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
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A chilly room, icy sheets… The warming pan made the nights of the middle and
upper classes a little more comfortable. Servants would fill the instrument with
hot embers and then run it over the sheets and between the covers.
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
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3. Surviving Winter - Montreal, Winter City
In winters gone by, Montrealers adopted unique modes of travel. On snowshoes
and in sleighs, they battled their way through drifts, hail and ice. Those were also
the days, too, when blocks cut from the river's frozen surface were used in the
domestic icebox, ancestor to the refrigerator. Today, the city's inhabitants travel
in warmth and comfort beneath the winter's chills, for modern technology has
given us the metro―as well as salt-laden slush!
Above ground, the streets still have to be cleared. To get rid of the huge
quantities of white stuff that fall on Montreal each year, the city mobilizes a
veritable armada of snowplows, snow-blowers and mechanical shovels.
Winter, supremely confident, makes light of all these efforts. Every year it
paralyzes Montreal with at least one horrendous snowstorm―just to remind
everyone who's boss.
3.1. Getting Around
TRAFFIC NEWS
In days gone by, citizens of Montreal and the surrounding area would no doubt
have appreciated a modern-style traffic report to help them negotiate their snowy
and icebound roads! Early Canadians developed several different types of
sleights, pulled by dogs or horses. Right up to the 20th century, carioles, sleds
and cutters abounded on the region’s thoroughfares.
Sleigh
Second half of the 19th century
McCord Museum, M21647
So you like speed? Prosperous citizens of bygone days competed in cluborganized races in this type of two-place sleigh. Montrealers liked to drive
tandem—a pair of horses one in front of the other—and this type of sleigh, raised
high on its iron runners, would glide swiftly over all types of snow.
Sled
Early 19th century
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Ogden Glass
McCord Museum, M974.70
Equipped with a footwarmer full of hot embers and warm fur rugs, this one-place
horse-drawn sled was extremely comfortable. Many people would have used
such a sled all winter long.
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
15
Child’s sleigh
Late 19th century
Gift of Mrs. Susan Riddell
McCord Museum, M978.158
Sleighs such as this were used to pull young children through the snow on
Montreal streets in the late 19th century.
Sleigh bell
Late 19th century
Gift of Mr. Charles de Volpi
McCord Museum, M975.61.123.1
Crampons
About 1862
Gift of Mr. J. Mias Scott
McCord Museum, M18169.1-2
To avoid slipping on icy sidewalks in their high-heeled shoes and boots, Montreal
women wore metal crampons like these, which were attached to the feet with
leather straps.
Foot muff
1800-1850
Gift of Mrs. C. K. (Doris) Martin
McCord Museum, M981.6.1
For a sleigh ride on a freezing day, well-off Montreal ladies used a foot muff. With
their lower extremities thus protected, their bodies wrapped snugly in fur rugs and
thick winter garments, their hands cozy inside a muff and their heads protected
by a fur hat secured with a fine wool scarf called a “cloud,” they could brave the
bitterest cold.
Foot warmer
19th century
Gift of Miss Mabel Molson
McCord Museum, M17899
This cast iron foot warmer would have been filled with hot embers and used
during sleigh rides.
Gloves
Early 20th century
Gift of Mrs. George S. Currie
McCord Museum, M969.15.129.1-2
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
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Muff warmer
1880-1910
McCord Museum, M975.59.1.1-2
To keep their hands even warmer, women would fill a small earthenware bottle
like this one with hot water and slip it inside their muff.
Muff
About 1930
Gift of T. Eaton Co. Ltd.
McCord Museum, M970.26.53
Muff
About 1930
Gift of Mrs. S. Boyd Millen
McCord Museum, M976.18.10
Muff
1930-1940
Gift of Mrs. A. E. Anderson
McCord Museum, M978.48.2
WALKING ON SNOW
Snowshoes enabled first Aboriginal people and then early Montrealers to meet
winter on its own ground. Different types of snowshoes were used in North
America, depending on the conditions: packed snow, hard ice, wet snow, etc.
Since the 19th century, snowshoeing has also been a leisure activity practiced by
numerous Montrealers.
Snowshoes
1880-1930
Mi’kmaq or Penobscot, maker unknown
Gift of Air Canada
McCord Museum, M993.115.82.1-2
Snowshoes
1923
Anishinaabe (Saulteaux),
Made by Chief John Ferris
Gift of Mr. and Mrs.William Bentley
McCord Museum, M11053.1-2
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
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Snowshoes
1966-1970
Huron-Wendat, maker unknown
Made at Wendake, Quebec
Gift of Lise and Andrée Mercier
McCord Museum, M2005.35.3.1-2
Snowshoes
1906-1909
Innu or Naskapi, maker unknown
Gift of Miss Sybil Ross
McCord Museum, M986.67.3.A-B
Charles Lumkin Half-way House
1885
Oil on canvas, by Henry R. S. Bunnett (1845-1910)
Gift of Mrs. Murray A. Vaughan
McCord Museum, M971.73
Lumkin’s Half-way House, located at the corner of Queen Mary Road and Cotedes-Neiges, was the tavern where Montreal snowshoe clubs stopped after
trekking across the mountain.
ICE BRIDGES
Although the ice prevented water navigation, there were compensations: each
winter, Montrealers made ice roads on the river’s frozen surface, which became a
much-used thoroughfare. Riverside towns thus gained a link with Montreal, which
could be reached by sleigh or even by train!
3.2. Ice for Sale
LOOKING AHEAD TO SUMMER
In 1859, the invention of the refrigerator was still a thing of the future, and
Montreal’s summers were as hot as they are today. In January and February,
when the river ice was thick and clean, the employees of Lamplough and
Campbell – the city’s only ice merchants – cut the ice into blocks to be stored
until summer. Each year Montrealers bought up to 6,000 tons of ice, which was
sold in blocks of 10, 20 and 30 pounds.
Saw
Mid-19th century
McCord Museum, M997X.2.116
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
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In summertime, 19th-century Montrealers were often reminded of the advantages
of winter. Food could be kept much longer thanks to the ice that had been taken
from the frozen river surface the previous winter. The ice was cut into blocks with
a saw like this one, and then stored in cold rooms.
BREAK THE ICE!
In the 19th century, as now, Montrealers looked forward to spring with
considerable impatience. In those days Montreal was a swiftly growing port, and
the river ice prevented the resumption of commercial activities. So, armed with
pickaxes, citizens would descend on the wharves in springtime, eager to lend
nature a helping hand by breaking up the remaining blocks of ice.
3.3. After the Storm
STREETS
Streetcar-snowplow were used to clear the city’s extensive public transport
network. Around 1895, as the city grew, the system had to accommodate the
steady lengthening of roads and the increase in population.
RAILWAYS
Following major snowstorms, as many as four steam locomotives might be
required to clear the snow and open the railway line.
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
19
4. Different Cultures Meet - A Northern Mosaic
Montreal’s very first immigrants were the Iroquoian peoples who settled on the
island long before the arrival of Europeans.
But with the establishment of the French and English colonies, there began a
steady stream of immigration that reached unprecedented levels in the 19th and
20th centuries. Some people came to make their fortune, others to escape
poverty. All worked hard to build a new life.
With the advent of our own century, Montreal began welcoming newcomers from
all over the world. Today's inhabitants, whose roots lie in over a hundred nations,
have transformed the city into a vast human patchwork quilt. They hail from
Europe, the Americas, Asia, Africa and Oceania – but they're all Montrealers.
4.1. Montreal Portraits
A portrait allows the viewer to look the sitter “in the eye”. Up to the middle of the
19th century, portraits required the intervention of the trained painter. The
invention of the photograph inspired a passion for portraiture that has not yet
diminished. Here in miniature portraits on ivory, in oil paintings and watercolors,
daguerreotypes, tintypes, and photographs are the faces of Montrealers.
Miniature portrait painting originated primarily in England and France in the 16th
century, and was popular in Quebec throughout the 18th and early 19th
centuries. The invention of photography reduced the market for painted
miniatures, but with the Arts and Crafts movement of the 1890s, the taste for
portrait miniatures revived in North America and Europe.
Alexander Auldjo
1808-1810
Gerritt Schipper (1770-1825)
Pastel on paper
Gift of Miss Grace Towers
McCord Museum, M969.53.2
Alexander Auldjo (1758-1821) was born in Aberdeen, Scotland and arrived in
Montreal about 1778. He invested considerable sums in the fur trade and by
1800, Auldjo, Maitland and Company were importers of manufactured goods sold
in Lower and Upper Canada. He was an officer of Montreal's British Militia, a
Justice of the Peace and a member of the Legislative Assembly.
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
20
Anne-Charlotte Boucher de la Broquerie
1830-1840
Attributed to Jean-Baptiste Roy-Audy
Oil on canvas
McCord Museum, M966.62.6
Anne-Charlotte Boucher de la Broquerie married Jean-Baptiste-René Hertel de
Rouville (1789-1859) in September 1816, in Boucherville. She was the aunt of
Joseph-Charles Taché (1820-1894), who in 1842 co-founded the Saint-Jean
Baptiste Society in 1842 and la Société canadienne d’études littéraires et
scientifiques in 1845.
Leocadie Boucher La Rocque
1868
John Bell-Smith (1810-1883)
Oil on canvas
Gift of Alfred La Rocque Family
McCord Museum, M994.65.1
Leocadie married Joseph-Aldéric Ouimet (1848-1916), the President of the
Montreal and District Savings Bank founded by her father, Alfred La Rocque.
Joseph-Aldéric Ouimet was active in federal politics and served as both Speaker
and Minister of Public Works. He holds the enviable record of being acclaimed to
the House of Commons five times.
Louis-Tancrède Bouthillier
About 1881
William Raphael (1833-1914)
Oil on canvas
Gift of James F. R. Routh
McCord Museum, M987.230
Louis-Tancrède Bouthillier was a Montreal merchant and sheriff of Montreal. In
1833, he built a large house on Côte Ste-Catherine Road that became known as
“Outre-Mont,” and after which the district of Outremont was later named. He
married Françoise Geneviève Beaubien, the daughter of Basilique-Benjamin
Trottier Desrivières-Beaubien and niece of Clément-Charles Sabrevois de Bleury.
Upon the latter’s death, in 1862, he acquired the Sabrevois de Bleury manor
house at Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, in Laval.
Carlo Honorato Catelli
1903
Wm. Notman & Son
Modern reproduction of an albumen print
McCord Museum, II-148155.1
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
21
The 1861 Lovell’s Montreal Directory lists “Charles” Catelli as a manufacturer of
statuary on Notre-Dame Street. By 1867, Carlo Catelli had established Canada’s
first pasta plant in Montreal, producing handmade vermicelli and macaroni. Carlo
was joined by his brother Pietro, and for some time, they operated as Catelli &
Frère. By 1885, Carlo’s son, Carlo Honorato, had taken over the pasta business.
The elder Catelli was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1894, and knighted in
1901. In 1907, Catelli was President of the Chamber of Commerce. The Catelli
family business was later acquired by Bordens and Catelli brand pasta is now
manufactured by New World Pasta.
Lieutenant-Colonel Alexander Clerk
1808-1810
Gerritt Schipper (1770-1825)
Pastel, pencil on paper
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M322
Alexander Clerk’s great-grandfather was a wealthy farmer from the parish of
Fintry in the Scottish Highlands.
On the recommendation of his cousin, Sir Maxwell Grant, Alexander Clerk was
admitted to the British Army. He was made a Lieutenant-Colonel of the 49th
Regiment, and joined their mission to Quebec City in 1802, followed by further
missions to Montreal (1805), Toronto and Kingston. Clerk participated in the War
of 1812, when his regiment was posted on the Niagara River. He returned to
Europe, and later settled in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1817. He received the title of
Knight of Hanover around 1834-1835, before his passing in 1836.
Sir John William Dawson
About 1885
James Dennison
Albumen print from a glass plate negative
Gift of Mrs. Donald N. Byers
McCord Museum, MP-1979.35.5054
At his death in 1899, Sir John William Dawson was considered one of Canada’s
most eminent men of science and education. He was born in Nova Scotia in
1820, and his early love of natural history and fossil collecting led to a career as a
geologist and palaeontologist. Educated at the University of Edinburgh in the
1840s, Dawson was a pioneer in the discovery and description of Canadian plant
and animal fossils. While geology continued to be his first love, Dawson was
perhaps most renowned as an educator. In 1850, he assumed the newly created
post of superintendent of education for Nova Scotia. In 1855, he became
Principal of McGill College in Montreal. During the more than forty years of his
tenure, Dawson saw McGill grow from a modest institution to one of the world’s
great universities. In 1882, Dawson was the founding President of the Royal
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© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
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Society of Canada, as well as the President of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science. In 1886, Dawson was elected President of the British
Association for the Advancement of Science, an honour he considered the
greatest distinction of his career.
Basilique-Benjamin Trottier Desrivières-Beaubien
About 1860, after the original, painted in 1792
William Raphael (1833-1914)
Oil on wood
Gift of James F. R. Routh
McCord Museum, M987.76
Basilique-Benjamin Trottier Desrivières-Beaubien was a member of a family that
settled in Trois-Rivières around 1650. Born in 1776, he was active in the militia
and became a well- respected lawyer before dying of cholera in 1834. The
miniature portrait on which this copy is based was possibly painted by James
Peale (1749-1831) of Philadelphia, when Desrivières-Beaubien was studying in
the United States. The copy was made around 1860 by William Raphael, a
Montreal portrait painter, who had also worked as an artist in the studio of
photographer William Notman.
Aaron Ezekiel Hart
1830-1840
Artist unknown
Watercolor and gouache on ivory
Gift of Mr. Gerald Ephraim Hart
McCord Museum, M18640
Aaron Ezekiel Hart was born on June 24, 1803 in Trois-Rivières. The son of
Ezekiel Hart and Frances Lazarus, he was a third-generation Jewish Canadian.
He married his cousin Phoebe David, the daughter of Samuel David and Sarah
Hart, and they are thought to have had four children. At the age of 21, qualified to
practise as a lawyer, Hart was the first Jew called to the bar in either of the
Canadas. His singular position was short-lived, however, since the following
month a distant cousin, Thomas Storrs Judah (1804-1895), was similarly called,
as was Thomas’ brother Henry Hague Judah (1808-1883) four years later. Hart’s
own brother, Adolphus Mordecai Hart, was admitted to the profession in 1836.
A prominent lawyer in Quebec, with his brother Samuel Becancour, Hart played a
major role in the effort to have a bill “to declare persons professing the Jewish
Religion entitled to all the rights and privileges of the other Subjects of His
Majesty of this Province,” passed during the 1831-32 session. Concurrently with
his legal career, Hart was interested in the army and rose to the position of major
of the 1st Battalion of the Saint-Maurice militia. He was very attached to his
father, Ezekiel, as well as to the Jewish community, and a faithful member of the
Montreal synagogue, to which he gave financial support.
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Mrs. Jacob Henry Joseph (born Sara Gratz Moses)
1869
William Notman
Modern reproduction of an albumen print
McCord Museum, I-38462.1
Sara (1817-1904) was the daughter of Salomon and Rachel (Gratz) Moses.
Orphaned at the age of 5, she would be raised by her aunt Rebecca Gratz in
Philadelphia. The latter passed away in 1869. Sara married Jacob Henry Joseph
in 1848 and the couple had seven children.
Rebecca Gratz Joseph (Jan. 28, 1849 - Feb.26, 1907)
Lizette (Lizzie Lee) Joseph (Feb. 13, 1851- Aug. 13,1934)
Ada Joseph (May 17, 1853-Aug. 12 ,1854)
Mathilda Innes Joseph (Aug. 27, 1854-1886)
Henry Joseph (Sept. 23, 1855-1951)
Horace Moses Joseph (Oct. 18, 1857-1939)
Caroline Murat Joseph (1859-1955)
Sara and Jacob raised their granddaughter Kathleen, the daughter of Mathilda
Innes, after her mother died.
Miss Lizette Joseph (daughter of J. Henry and Sara Joseph)
1866
William Notman
Modern reproduction of an albumen print
McCord Museum, I-22087.1
Lizette (Feb. 13, 1851- Aug. 13, 1934) was the second child of Jacob Henry and
Sara Gratz (Moses) Joseph. Around 1870, she married John Otho Lawrence, a
captain in the British Army. The couple did not have any children. Lizette died in
London.
Jacob Henry Joseph
About 1893
Wm. Notman & Son
Modern reproduction of an albumen print
McCord Museum, II-112280.0.1
Jacob Joseph (14 Sept. 1814 - 28 Feb. 1907), born in Berthier, was the eighth
child of Henry and Rachel (Solomons) Joseph. After his father’s death in 1832,
he chose the name Jacob Henry Joseph. When he became the eldest son after
his brothers died, his mother asked him to take over his father’s business in
Montreal. He was unmarried, and lived with his mother and his other siblings in
Montreal, on St-Urbain street. In 1837, Jacob served as a militia officer and
during the Patriote Rebellion he was captain of the first batallion of volunteer
militia. After he married Sara Moses in Philadelphia in April 1848, the couple
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settled in Montreal. Jacob Joseph was an exceptional businessman, as well as
being highly involved in community life, various philanthropic projects and within
the Shearith Israel congregation, also called the Spanish and Portuguese
Synagogue of Montreal. The family tobacco-importing business became Jacob
Henry Joseph & Company. In 1868, he dissolved the company and moved into
real estate, the telegraph, railroads and banks. His death in 1907 marked the end
of a generation, all of his siblings having predeceased him.
Jesse Joseph (brother of J. Henry Joseph)
1877
Wm. Notman & Sandham
Modern reproduction from a wet collodion glass plate negative
McCord Museum, II-43721
Jesse Joseph (17 July 1817-24 Feb. 1904), born in Berthier, was the tenth child
of Henry and Rachel (Solomons) Joseph. Jesse served in the Canadian militia
during the Patriote Rebellion. After completing studies in Law, he worked in the
wholesale trade and developed commercial ties between Belgium and Canada.
In 1850, his efforts were rewarded as he was appointed First Consul of Belgium
in Canada, a position he held until his death. He was made a Knight of the Order
of Leopold. In 1890, he was awarded a first class civic decoration by the King of
the Belgians. This marked the start of close ties between the Joseph family and
Belgium.
With his brother Jacob Henry, he became interested in the Shearith Israel
congregation in 1852. He also became very involved in Montreal social life and
that same year had the Theatre Royal built. In 1863 he was elected director of
the Montreal Gas Company and became its president in 1877, holding this
position until 1896. Jesse Joseph helped establish the Montreal Telegraph
Company and became director of the National Bank. His sumptuous residence,
named Dilcoosha, was built around 1864 and housed the first McCord Museum.
Alfred La Rocque
1868
John Bell-Smith (1810-1883)
Oil on canvas
Gift of Alfred La Rocque Family
McCord Museum, M994.65.2
Alfred La Rocque (1819-1890) served as a municipal councillor for Montreal from
1843 to 1850, and in 1854 became the city’s postmaster. His studies in the
United States having convinced him that a savings bank would benefit people
from all walks of life, he helped found the Montreal and District Savings Bank in
1846. He subsequently served as its first Vice-President and twice as its
President. Renowned for his piety and charitable work, he was also an active
member of the committee to erect a monument to the Patriotes of 1837.
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Judge John S. McCord
About 1855
Unknown artist
Daguerreotype
Gift of the Estate of Miss Anne McCord
McCord Museum, M9771
John Samuel McCord (1801-1865), a skilled lawyer and prosperous landowner,
was a second-generation McCord. The family arrived from Ireland around 1760,
first stopping in Quebec City. John Samuel McCord had a brilliant career in the
courts of Lower Canada. A highly influential member of the Montreal bar, he was
made a judge of the Superior Court for the District of Bedford in 1857. With his
wife, Ann Ross (1807-1870), herself a judge’s daughter, he had six children,
including David Ross McCord (1844-1930), founder of the McCord Museum.
The daguerreotype process was the first commercial form of photography.
Developed in France by Nicéphore Niépce and Louis Daguerre between 1826
and 1839, it involves making a single copy of a positive image on a silver-coated
metal plate.
Osborne Morton
1863
William Notman
Modern reproduction of an albumen print
McCord Museum, I-9503.1
Osborn Morton was the owner and operator of the Prince of Wales Livery Stables
from about 1861 to 1871. He entered the 1859 Highland Games in the hurdle
race, sack race, and wheelbarrow race, where he was described in The Gazette
as the “Gentleman in Black.”
Reverend Jehosaphat Mountain
1778
John Downman (1750-1824)
Oil on copper plate
Lent by the Anglican Diocese of Montreal, MEL986.131
After a stormy and anxious crossing from England, the Reverend Mountain and
his family arrived in Quebec in 1793, accompanied by his brother Jacob, the first
Anglican Bishop of Quebec City, and his nephew George Jehoshophat Mountain,
who was to become the third Anglican Bishop of Quebec City. Jehosaphat never
achieved the eminence of his brother and nephew. He began as Rector of TroisRivières, finally moving to Montreal in 1801. Two years later, his church burnt
down, and for the next decade he worked with a number of prominent
Montrealers, including James McGill, Joseph Frobisher and David Ross, to raise
the funds to build a new church. The new Christ Church finally opened in 1814,
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and three years later, the Reverend Mountain’s funeral was the first to be
celebrated in the church he helped to build.
Mr. Thomas Piper Parmentier
About 1840
Artist unknown
Silhouette drawing on paper
Gift of Miss Esther Kerry
McCord Museum, MP-1976.5.5
Mrs. Thomas Piper Parmentier
About 1840
Artist unknown
Silhouette drawing on paper
Gift of Miss Esther Kerry
McCord Museum, MP-1976.5.6
Thomas Piper Parmentier and his wife, born Elizabeth Simon, were the ancestors
of Miss Esther Kerry, of Montreal, who donated these silhouettes to the McCord
Museum.
To “take a silhouette,” an artist traced the outline of a model’s shadow and then
filled it in with ink. Another method used for silhouettes was to make a black
paper cut-out of the model’s profile. The process, the precursor of photography,
owes its name to the 18th-century French artist Étienne Silhouette (1709–1767),
who popularized this type of art. Silhouettes became highly fashionable in the
United States and Canada in the 19th century when artists John Miers and
Auguste Édouard arrived from England and France to work in the United States.
Rabbi Rosenburg
1879
Notman & Sandham
Modern reproduction of an albumen print
McCord Museum, II-53321.1
Ross, Patterson and Hall Family Album
1867-1895
Gift of T. H. Wardleworth
McCord Museum, MP-1974.5.3.1-28
This album contains portraits of the members of the Ross, Patterson, Hall, Allan
and Matthews families taken by Canadian and American photographers. On the
pages displayed here, we see a portrait of W. A. Merry by William Notman in
1867 and a coloured portrait by Frank Cooper, of London, Ontario.
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Clément-Charles Sabrevois de Bleury (1798-1863)
1850-1860
William Raphael (1833-1914)
Oil on canvas
Gift of James F. R. Routh
McCord Museum, M987.231
Clément-Charles Sabrevois de Bleury (1798-1862) was a lawyer and politician,
active in Tory circles in Montreal. From 1809 to 1815, he studied at the Collège
de Montréal, then under his brother-in-law, the lawyer Basilique-Benjamin Trottier
Desrivières-Beaubien, and was called to the bar in November 1819. He at first
embraced the Patriotes’ cause, and in 1832 was elected to the House by
acclamation. Eventually, however, he went over to the government side, and
twice in 1836 fought a duel to defend his honour, under attack first by Ludger
Duvernay, the owner of La Minerve, and then by Charles-Ovide Perrault, the
Patriote member for Vaudreuil. He became a supporter of the Montreal Tory
party and, in 1854, was persuaded to run as an independent in the constituency
of Laval. Here he suffered the most bitter defeat in Canadian political history – he
did not receive a single vote.
Mrs. Sang Lee and family
1897
Wm. Notman & Son
Modern print from original gelatin silver dry plate negative
McCord Museum, II-120280
The Montreal directory listed a “Lea Sang” laundry for the first time in 1894. By
1898, the directory entry had changed to Sang Lee. The first Chinese hand
laundry in Montreal was opened in 1877 by Song Long on Craig Street. By 1911,
there were more than 1,300 Chinese residents, most of whom owned or worked
in 284 hand laundries located throughout the city. Mr. Sang was fortunate that his
wife and children were with him, since the prohibitive costs and restrictions
surrounding Chinese immigration in the late 19th and early 20th centuries meant
that many Chinese men had to live on their own. Even in 1921, there were 19
men for every woman in Montreal’s Chinese community.
Saksarie Sakosem, François Snehe
1876
Notman & Sandham
Modern reproduction of an albumen print
McCord Museum, II-41674.1
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Tier Skanensati, Peter Laforce
1876
Notman & Sandham
Modern reproduction of an albumen print
McCord Museum, II-41670.1
These two men are lacrosse players from the Mohawk community of Kahnawake,
near Montreal. Lacrosse is one of many varieties of stickball games played by
Aboriginal people long before the arrival of Europeans. The first use of the word
“crosse” in reference to the game was made in 1636 by Jesuit missionary Jean
de Brebeuf, who saw Huron men playing it near Thunder Bay, Ontario. In 1876,
the year of these portraits, lacrosse teams comprised of Mohawk players from
Kahnawake and Akwesasne travelled abroad for an extended tour of the British
Isles. The highlight of the trip was a command performance before Queen
Victoria in the courtyard of Windsor Castle.
Mrs. Ernest Stuart
1920
D. N. Inglis
Pastel on paper
Gift of Mr. Okill Stuart
McCord Museum, M2002.104.2
Mrs. Ernest Stuart was the eldest daughter of the late C. J. Brydges, of the
barony of Chandos, who was general manager of the Grand Trunk Railway of
Canada. Her husband, Ernest Stuart, who died in 1903, was a well-known
member of the Canadian legal profession.
Mrs. Stuart was made a Lady of Grace of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem in
January 1918, at the same time as her son, Lieut.-Col. Campbell Stuart, received
his honour of knighthood. Soon after the outbreak of the war, Mrs. Stuart was
chosen as president of the Ladies Executive of the Quebec Provincial Branch of
the Canadian Red Cross Society, and in the Belmont Park headquarters
supervised an army of workers who packed and dispatched 150 cases of Red
Cross supplies every week to Canadian troops overseas. She also organized the
visiting committee that looked after the welfare of returned soldiers in military
hospitals.
Miss Marion Tomlison
January 1913
Ernest Lloyd
Watercolour and gouache on ivory
Gift of Miss Emily LeBaron
McCord Museum, M970.84
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Miss Marion Tomlison of Sherbrooke, Quebec, became Mrs. Morkill of
Vancouver, British Columbia in 1913.
Unknown
1871
Photograph, by William Notman
Modern reproduction of an albumen print
McCord Museum, I-66067.1
William Notman photographed this young woman, who was engaged as a nurse
by Mrs. Cowan.
Abbé Joseph-Zépherin Vincent
About 1906
Ozias Leduc (1864-1955)
Oil on canvas
Gift of Mr. A. Sidney Dawes
McCord Museum, M963.14.2
Abbé Joseph-Zépherin Vincent (1852-1910) was the parish priest of the Church
of Saint-Grégoire-d’Iberville in Mont Saint-Grégoire. The celebrated painter Ozias
Leduc had begun the painting from a photograph, but it so displeased the Abbé
that he refused to accept it. A few years before his death, Leduc cut the painting
into three parts, and sold them. The McCord holds the central portion shown
here, as well as the hands.
Dusty Vineberg (Augusta Vineberg Solomon)
About 1970
Artist unknown
Gelatin silver print
Gift of Mrs. Augusta Vineberg Solomon
McCord Museum, M2005.161.8
Dusty Vineberg Solomon, born Augusta Myers Vineberg (1927) studied
journalism at Columbia University in New York. A member of the Montreal Star
editorial team, she is now retired. She is a major donor to her alma mater, as well
as to Montreal museums. In 1974, she wed Samuel Solomon, son of Nathan and
Rachel (Greenberg) Solomon, born on December 5, 1925 in Brest Litovsk,
Poland. He died on December 13, 2008.
Samuel Solomon arrived in Canada in 1935 with his family. After studies at
McGill University, he taught there and headed up the endocrinology laboratory at
the Royal Victoria Hospital.
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Mrs. John Ward, age forty
August 25, 1809
Artist unknown
Watercolour, gouache and gum arabic on ivory
Gift of James F. R. Routh
McCord Museum, M987.222
4.2. A New Land
Historiæ Canadensis...
by François Du Creux, 1664
McCord Museum, M11712
François Du Creux (? - 1666) compiled this history of Canada from conversations
with missionaries who had worked in New France, including fathers Brébeuf,
Lalemant, Le Jeune and Bressani. He also used the previously published Jesuit
Relations.The plates are among the most important and best executed 17thcentury depictions of Aboriginal people, possibly Huron.
From Historiæ Canadensis...
by François Du Creux, 1664
McCord Museum, M11712
These women are grinding corn. Huron women planted, tended and harvested
the crops, which accounted for perhaps three-quarters of all the food that the
Hurons ate. Although corn was their most important crop, beans, squash and
sunflowers were also grown. Huron cuisine included many dishes, but a staple of
their diet was a thin soup made of corn meal, which was ground by the women in
a hollowed-out tree trunk, using a long wooden pole. The corn meal they
produced was also a valuable trade item.
From Historiæ Canadensis...
by François Du Creux, 1664
McCord Museum, M11712
In the 17th century, most Aboriginal people living in eastern Canada smoked
tobacco and made offerings of tobacco to appease powerful spirits. The Huron
generally obtained tobacco through trade with groups living to the south. Huron
men also grew small quantities of tobacco for their own use, in plots of ground
near their houses. Pipes were made from clay, occasionally from stone, and were
also obtained from Europeans. This man is wearing shell ornaments, an
elaborately decorated robe, and leggings with painted motifs.
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From Historiæ Canadensis...
by François Du Creux, 1664
McCord Museum, M11712
In addition to tending their crops, Huron women were also responsible for the
time-consuming tasks of cooking, sewing, and caring for the children. They made
clothes from deer hides, and decorated them with painted motifs. Porcupine quills
were also dyed vivid colours and then woven into bands or sewn directly onto
garments. These women are wearing headbands, necklaces, and armbands
made of wampum—tubular beads of white and purple shell imported from the
eastern seaboard of the United States. Wampum was highly valued and was
traded across vast distances.
FARMERS OF THE ST. LAWRENCE VALLEY
The “Hochelagans” were an Iroquoian-speaking people who cultivated the fertile
lands of the island that is now Montreal. They also lived by hunting and fishing in
the rich forests and waters of the St. Lawrence Valley. It is primarily through their
distinctive pottery that we know of these people today. When Samuel de
Champlain visited the region in 1603, the Hochelagans had already disappeared,
perhaps the victims of escalating warfare among Aboriginal groups or of diseases
introduced by Europeans.
THE BEGINNINGS OF MONTREAL
In 1860, workmen gathering fill for construction sites stumbled upon the remains
of an Iroquoian settlement. Sir John William Dawson, the principal of McGill
College, was convinced the workmen had uncovered traces of Hochelaga and
proceeded to oversee one of the earliest archaeological rescue projects in
Canada.
Archaeologists today, however, think the Dawson site was probably a
predecessor to Hochelaga, a smaller village occupied during the 15th century.
Hochelaga, as illustrated by Giacomo Gastaldi dans l,ouvrage de G. B.
Ramusio
1556
Bibliothèque nationale, Paris
On his second voyage, in 1535, Jacques Cartier reached what is now the island
of Montreal and there visited the Iroquoian village of Hochelaga. Bordered by
magnificent oaks and fields of corn, the village enclosed fifty longhouses inside a
wooden palisade. A mountain stood nearby, which Cartier named “Mount Royal.”
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Decorated bone tools
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
Rim sherd decorated with a corn ear motif
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
Bone awls
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
Bone tubes
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
These tubes, made from deer, dog and bird bones, may have been used to hold
objects such as bone needles.
Rim sherd from a collared pot
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
Rim sherds decorated with a simple motif
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
Rim sherds decorated with an incised linear motif
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
Bone projectile point with barbs
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
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© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
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Pottery counters or gaming discs
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
Rim sherds decorated with a motif of incised lines and hollow reed
punctates
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
Castellated rim sherds showing a Huron influence
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
Stone scraper and antler flaking tool
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
Coronet pipes
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
Rim sherds
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
These rim sherds are decorated with a hollow-reed punctate and incised
opposed triangle motif.
Bone needles
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
Bone projectile points
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
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© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
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Woodworking tools
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
Clay pipes with a human effigy motif
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
Castellated rim sherds decorated with a stylized human effigy motif
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
Rim sherds from collarless pots
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
Clay beads
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
Rim sherds from small pots
Dawson site
Late 15th or early 16th century
McCord Museum
4.3. Migratory Waves
About 1300
Settlement of St. Lawrence Valley Iroquoians in the Montreal region. They
disappear towards the end of the 16th century.
1642-1659
French immigrants found Montreal in the 1642 and welcome additional groups of
compatriots in 1653 and 1659; new immigrants arrive sporadically up to the end
of the French regime.
1760
Arrival of several dozen British merchants and administrators.
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1815-1850
Massive immigration from the British Isles – Irish (about half), English and Scots.
About 1850
Start of the rural exodus: people from the country, francophones and
anglophones, migrate to Montreal. This movement continues until the 1960s.
1900-1914
New massive immigration of the English people but also, increasingly, of other
Europeans, particularly Jews from Poland and Russia, and Italians.
1946-1967
Post-war immigration, mostly fro Europe – Italy, England, Germany, Greece, the
Ukraine, Poland, etc.,- but also from North Africa (Jews from Morocco and
Egyptians).
1967-1997
A new wave of immigration from outside Europe, largely south-eastern Asia, the
Indian sub-continent, the Middle East, the Caribbean, Latin America and Africa.
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5. Different Cultures Meet - Living Together
Before becoming a commercial centre, Montreal―like many of the world's large
cities―lived through a period when the sword and the musket were in regular
use. The French fought over the territory with Aboriginal peoples, eventually
losing it to the English. Once the clamour of war had died down, those remaining
had to learn to live together.
On the island of Montreal, two worlds took shape. Most of the anglophones
gravitated towards the West, while the francophones settled largely in the East.
St. Lawrence Boulevard, an axis of immigration, formed a rough division between
the city's two societies. Modern Montreal was built on these two linguistic
communities, and since then―especially since the 1960s―dozens of other
cultural groups have swelled the ranks of the island's French- and Englishspeaking populations. The result is present-day Montreal: bilingual and
multicultural.
5.1. Conflicts and Alliances
Throughout its history, Montreal has been a meeting place for people of different
origin, language, religion and cultural tradition: initially Aboriginal, French and
British people, and later such groups as Jews and Italians. The cohabitation of
these groups within the same territory has not always been easy, sometimes
creating tensions and conflict. But on many occasions solutions have been found
and alliances formed. Here are a few examples of these numerous conflicts and
alliances.
1660. The Battle of Long Sault
A small group of Frenchmen, Hurons and Algonquins led by Dollard des
Ormeaux was defeated by several hundred Iroquois. During the 17th century a
long struggle for mastery of the St. Lawrence and the fur trade pitted the French
and their Native allies against members of the Iroquois Confederacy.
1701. The Great Peace of Montreal
This peace treaty was signed in Montreal by the governor general of New France
and the representatives of about forty Aboriginal nations, including the five
nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. It brought an end to the longstanding war
with the Iroquois.
1760. The Capitulation of Montreal
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the North American colonies of France and
England were often at war. After the British victory on the Plains of Abraham in
1759, Montreal capitulated the following year. The British conquest of Canada
became official in 1763, with the Treaty of Paris.
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1774. The Quebec Act
This British statute guaranteed the basic rights of French Canadians, including
the freedom to practice the Catholic religion, and established French civil law.
The Act was an attempt to conciliate French Canadians at a time of mounting
unrest in Britain's American colonies.
1837-1838. The rebellions of Lower Canada
The tensions that existed between the Patriotes on the one hand and the
governor general and the loyalists on the other worsened during the 1830s,
especially in Montreal. Eventually, armed rebellions occurred in the countryside
surrounding Montreal, which were crushed by the British.
1841. The Baldwin-La Fontaine Alliance
The political alliance between Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine and Robert Baldwin,
whose goal was to achieve responsible government (1848), marked the
beginning of a period of collaboration between francophone and anglophone
leaders, which eventually led to the Confederation of 1867.
1885. The Riel Affair
The hanging of the Métis leader Louis Riel triggered fierce protest among
francophones and heightened tensions between them and the English-speaking
population. These tensions were exacerbated by the smallpox epidemic that
struck Montreal in 1885.
1917 and 1942. The Conscription Crises
During the two world wars, the majority of francophones were opposed to
compulsory enlistment for military service overseas, a measure supported by
most anglophones and by the federal government. Demonstrations and protest
rallies were held in Montreal.
1967. Expo 67
The Universal Exhibition held in Montreal in 1967, whose main theme was "Man
and His World", was a celebration of brotherhood between all nations and an
unprecedented opportunity to embrace the world in all its cultural diversity. It was
also an expression of Montreal pride.
1969. The Language Crisis
Montreal’s traditional linguistic balance began to be questioned by nationalist
groups alarmed by the anglicization of immigrants. Feelings reached a pitch in
1969, and there were numerous protests and riots. The crisis led to the adoption
of language laws and the reinforcement of the French in Montreal.
1992. The 350th Anniversary of the Founding of Montreal
Many exhibitions and public celebrations marked this anniversary. It offered
Montrealers of all origins a chance to celebrate the grandeur of their city and
express their collective pride.
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Mother Marguerite d’Youville (1701-1771)
19th century
Oil on canvas, attributed to James Duncan (1806-1881)
McCord Museum, M986.128
During the winter of 1760, marguerite d’Youville opened her hospital to the British
troops which had recently occupied Montreal.
René-Ovide Hertel de Rouville (1720-1792)
1769
Oil on canvas, by John Mare (1739-c.1795)
McCord Museum, M966.62.2
René-Ovide, the son of Jean-Baptiste Hertel and Marie-Anne Baudouin, was
born on September 6, 1720 at Port-Toulouse, Cape Breton.
He married Louise-Catherine André de Leigne in 1741 and had three daughters
and two sons. In 1745 he was named to the office of Lieutenant-General for Civil
and Criminal Affairs at Trois-Rivières. In 1750 he became director of the St.
Maurice ironworks, the only foundry in New France.
In 1765, Governor Murray appointed him Chief Road Commissioner for the
district of Montreal, a position he held until 1775, when the Governor, Sir Guy
Carleton, granted him a commission as “conservator of the peace and
commissioner for the District of Montreal.” Thus he became one of the first two
French Canadian judges under the British regime.
Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville (1668-1722)
Before 1713
Oil on canvas, artist unknown
McCord Museum, M966.62.1
This portrait of Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville (1668-1722) is one of the earliest
civil portraits executed in New france. Born in Trois-Rivières and granted the
seigneury of Rouville at Mont Saint-Hilaire, Hertel de Rouville served on
Governor Brisay de Denonville’s campaign against the Senecas in 1867. He also
led the raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts, in 1704. When he was made knight of
the order of Saint Louis in 1721, Hertel de Rouville had the insignia of the Order
added to the portrait.
Scraper
Late 17th century
McCord Museum, L18.38
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Tomahawk
About 1867
Gift of Mr. W. D McLennan
McCord Museum, M9368
Dueling pistols belonging to Lord Jeffery Amhertst
Mid-18th century
Alicia Hale McCrae Collection
McCord Museum, MEL959.2.4.1-2
Rifle
1800-1810
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M1314
An ardent supporter of Louis-Joseph Papineau, Dr. Wolfred Nelson was one of
the chief leaders of the 1837 Rebellion, where he used this flintlock rifle. After
returning from exile in 1843, he served as mayor of Montreal from 1854 to 1856.
Cannonball
18th century
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M1669
Powder horn
With a contemporary pictorial plan of the siege of Quebec, dated 1759
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M234.1
Helmet
Early 17th century
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M15912
As seen in the illustrations accompanying Champlain’s publication of 1613, this
type of helmet was worn by soldiers in New France in the early 17th century.
Bow
1850-1875
Eastern Great Lakes
McCord Museum, ACC3203C
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Arrow
1820-1840
Eastern woodlands
Gift of the Natural History Society of Montreal
McCord Museum, M16181
Naval cutlass
Mid-18th century
England
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M17729
Sword
About 1799
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M1315
This sword and scabbard belonged to François Jalbert (1780-1854), a captain of
militia during the Revolt of 1837 at Saint-Denis-sur-Richelieu.Accused of killing
Lieutenant Weir and imprisoned without trial, Jalbert was acquitted and released
two years later.
Cross-bow
17th century
Gift of Maj. W. T. Wilson
McCord Museum, ACC739.1
A weapon used widely in medieval times, the cross-bow was still in use in New
France in the early colonial period.
Cannonball
18th century
Iron
McCord Museum, M993X.2.4
Partisan (spearhead)
About 1625-1650
Gift of Dr. W. D. Lighthall
McCord Museum, M932.10.1
We’re referring to an object here, not a person: a partisan was a weapon derived
from the halberd and used by guards in the early 17th century.
Bayonet
Late 17th century
McCord Museum, L19.38
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Cuirass
17th century
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M17674
At the beginning of the 17th century, in the early days of colonial settlement,
Champlain’s soldiers wore cuirasses as part of their body armour. It protected the
torso from neck to waist.
Cannon
Mid-19th century
McCord, M990X.751.53
Club
Eastern Woodlands
Early 20th century
McCord Museum, ME966.175
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6. Different Cultures Meet - Alliances and Passions
6.1. Family Ties
Societies are founded on families. Even though most of the 52 Europeans who
spent the winter of 1642 in Ville-Marie were young unmarried men, family ties
played an important role in the new settlement. Three out of ten of these first
residents were related to one another through family in France.
Family ties continued to influence patterns of immigration to New France in the
17th and 18th centuries, and to Montreal in the 19th and 20th. Sisters and
brothers, parents and children, often settled in Montreal together, generally
residing near one another, on the same street or in the same neighbourhood.
Kinship was the webbing that underlay the growth of the city’s distinct cultural
communities.
Kinship formed not only the basis for social life, but also for the entrepreneurship
and business partnerships that fuelled the city’s growth. In 1840, Montreal was
scarcely larger than Quebec City. By 1900, it was five times bigger, its increase
spurred not only by the high birth rate of the residents, but also by the flood of
new arrivals and their kin.
Portrait of Isobel Richardson
About 1843
Oil on canvas, attributed to Horace Bundy (1814-1883)
McCord Museum, MEL985.227
This is a posthumous portrait of Isobel Richardson, who died of consumption in
1843.The presence of an urn in the painting was a convention of the time to
indicate that the sitter was deceased. Bundy was an itinerant Vermont artist who
may have been in the area at the time of Isobel’s death and was thus able to take
a likeness for the bereaved family.
Anonymous family group
About 1800
Oil on tin
McCord Museum, MEL932.1
Portrait of Violette Catherine Lafleur & Madeleine Félice Lafleur
1907
Oil on canvas by Laura Adeline Muntz (1860-1930)
Gift of Mr. Raymond E. Parsons
McCord Museum, M995.38.3.1-2
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The artist Laura Muntz emigrated to Canada in 1869 and studied art in Toronto,
Hamilton and Paris. She became an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy
in 1895 and was well known for her portraits of children.
6.2. Couples: Alliances and Passions
While at the turn of the 21st century slightly more than 12 percent of Montrealers
live alone, this kind of solitary lifestyle was far less common in the past. The
economic success of a household depended on the collaborative work of at least
two people, usually a married couple.
Marriages established alliances between families and businesses, as well as
between individuals. Many cultural communities discouraged marriage alliances
outside the circle of language and religion. As the city population changed in the
20th century, however, the individual choice of partners began to blur the ethnic
and linguistic boundaries in communities.
In 1901, just over 5 percent of Montreal’s population reported an origin other than
“British” or “French”. By 1921, the number had grown to 115, 582 Montrealers, or
almost 13 percent, and by 1971, that figure had doubled. Today, Montreal’s
population is a vibrant linguistic, cultural and ethnic mix.
Wedding dress
1907
Gift of Deirdre Fairie Falkner Bower
McCord Museum, M2001.76.1.1-2
Portrait of the bride
1907
William Notman & Son
Modern print from original gelatin dry plate negative
McCord Museum, II-166971
This dress was worn by Georgina Clark at her wedding in 1907 to Dr. James
Arthur Fairie. Miss Clark is shown in the photograph wearing her wedding dress.
Wedding dress
1926
Gift of Miss Jean Cameron
McCord Museum, M2004.127.3.1-2
This dress was worn by Gweena Madelaine Ibbotson at her marriage to Walter
MacFarlane in 1926 in Montreal.
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Shoes
About 1905
Gift of the Estate of Mrs. Archie MacFarlane
McCord Museum, M21726.1-2
Hatpin
1900-1910
Gift of Mrs. William Barry
McCord Museum, M972.5
Purse
About 1910
Gift of Mrs. Robert Hanna
McCord Museum, M965.130.25
Pin
1890-1915
McCord Museum, M2009X.1.2
Necklace
About 1925
Gift of Mrs. Marjory Cornett and Mrs. Alison Hopwood
McCord Museum, M994.37.2
Cap and slippers
About 1919
Gift of Mrs. Madeleine Goudreau
McCord Museum, M2007.139.1, M2007.139.2.1-2
Purse
1915-1925
Gift of Mrs. Richard Stevenson
McCord Museum, M979.103.5
The Alliance of Difference
Portraits of Auguste-France Glaubenskind vel Globensky (1754-1830) and MarieFrançoise Brousseau dit Lafleur (1764-1854)
1823
Oil paintings on canvas by
Jean-Baptiste Roy-Audy (about 1778-1848)
Lent by André Robitaille
These portraits symbolize the fusion of different cultures that occurred with the
marriage of a man born in Germany of Polish parents and a woman from a
French-Canadian family. Auguste-France Globensky came to Canada in 1776 as
a member of the Hessian troops sent by Great Britain to combat the American
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Revolution. After the war was over, he decided to remain in the country and
share his life with Marie-Françoise Brousseau, with whom he had some fifteen
children.
6.3. Garden of Cultures
CULTURAL EXCHANGES
A traditionally agrarian society, the Mohawks of Kahnawake produced highly
prized fruits and vegetables for Montreal markets. Their agricultural fairs were
very popular events in the late 19th century.
A fair in Kahnawake
About 1910
Notman Photographic Archives
McCord Museum, MP-0000.115.5
AN APPLE A DAY
Summer and winter alike, for over one hundred years, the Jacques-Cartier
Market teemed with apple stands, to the great pleasure of passers-by. Built
between 1845 and 1852, the Bonsecours Market bustled with activity up until
1963. It was also the site of Montreal’s City Hall until 1878.
Apple Stand, Jacques Cartier Square, Montreal
About 1930
Notman Photographic Archives
McCord Museum, MP-1984.105.24
TO MARKET! TO MARKET!
Montrealers still go to the city’s market to buy local produce, imported fruits and
vegetables and fresh baked bread. Prior to the widespread use of refrigeration in
the 1930s, shopping for most women was an almost daily task.
In the 19th century, many foods were sold in bulk, and a grocer, by definition,
sold in the gross, or in large quantities. Sugar, for example, came in tall cones of
loaves that had to be broken into limps by the grocer, then further cut and ground
at home before it could be used. In the 20th century, pre-packaged foods came
into general use. In 1912, Redpath Sugar of Montreal introduced bags of ground
sugar, making it easier to buy and easier to use.
Cheese, seasonal vegetables and fruits, fish, meat, coffee, tea, biscuits, flour and
cocoa were processed and packaged in cans, boxes and bags. Even bread
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became more convenient. The introduction of a bread-slicing machine in 1928
made uncut loaves a thing of the past, and pre-packaged sliced loaves “the best
idea since sliced-bread!”
Many women in well-to-do households ordered their groceries by telephone. Milk,
bread and ice were delivered door to door. The less well off shopped locally,
buying their meat and staples at a corner grocery. In 1927, the Montreal business
directory listed more than 2,800 grocery stores, some large but most small.
Bonsecours Market Scene in Winter
About 1850-1860
Oil on wood, by James Duncan (1806-1881)
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M316
All walks of society congregated in Montreal’s 19th-century marketplaces. As
food was a daily necessity, the market was open throughout the year—allowing
customers to catch up on the latest news and gossip.
Jacques Cartier Market Place
About 1929
Oil on canvas, by Alice Des Clayes (1890-1968)
Gift of Mrs. Leonora McCarney
McCord Museum, M995.50.1
The Jacques Cartier Market reflected Montreal’s dependence on the rural
community for fresh produce. It was an indispensable meeting place where
farmers, city dwellers, craftsmen and tradesmen exchanged their goods and
services.
Sugar loaf
Purchased in Montreal, February 2001
The grocer would break the conical sugar loaf into lump sugar with the aid of a
loaf breaker. Sugar nippers in the household were used to further break up the
lumps, so that the sugar could be used in cooking, or in beverages.
Sugar nippers
19th century
Iron
Gift of Charles de Volpi
McCord Museum, M975.61.282
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Stoneware jug, Toronto pottery Co.
1880-1890
McCord Museum, M994X.2.134
Used by A. Paquette, Spice, Wine and Liquor Merchant, 185-187 rue St. Paul,
Montreal.
Tinned tea caddy
Early 20th century
Chromolithographed Japanese motif
Gift of Eddy Echenberg
McCord Museum, M2002.69.1788.1-2
Tinned lard pail
Early 20th century
John Nichol & Sons Regd., Lennoxville, Quebec
Gift of Eddy Echenberg
McCord Museum, M2002.69.556.1-2
Tinned lard pail
Early 20th century
Canada Packers Limited, Montreal
Gift of Eddy Echenberg
McCord Museum, M2002.69.1780
Glass milk bottle, Laiteries des producteurs Inc., Montreal
1929-1930
Gift of Mr. Bill Bliss
McCord Museum, M994.47.43
La Laiterie des producteurs de lait de la province de Québec Inc. was
incorporated in Québec (provincial charter) on December 9th 1929 and ceased to
exist in 1958 or 1959.
Coffee grinder
Late 19th century
Germany
Lent by Mrs. Sophie Dutoy
Cookbooks
1950-1961
Gift of Mrs. Joyce Billing and Mrs. Madeleine Tremblay
McCord Museum, M2000.92.15, M2003.40.23.
Inexpensive cookbooks were distributed by manufacturers during the second half
of the 20th century.
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Tin coffee canister, Wood’s Canadian Souvenir Coffee
1904
Package registered by A. L. K. Browns
McCord Museum, M996X.2.349.1-2
Glass bread platter “give us this day our daily bread”
Late 19th century
Gift of Mr. & Mrs. Newlands Coburn
McCord Museum, M992.6.54
Tin tea caddy
1937
Photolithographic images of King George VI, Queen Elizabeth and HRH
Elizabeth and Margaret
Gift of Eddy Echenberg
McCord Museum, M2002.69.1789
Bread knifes stamped “Patapfor & Speery”
19th century
Gift of Miss Sybil Ross
McCord Museum, M986.107.7A
Bread board
Late 19th century
Gift of Mr. J. C. Elliott
McCord Museum, M966.15.3
Mortar and pestle
Early 20th century
Gift of Air Canada
McCord Museum, M993.115.34.1-2
Spice box
Patented in 1858
Used by Mrs. John MacFarlane, about 1880-1890
Gift of Mrs. F. R. Terroux
McCord Museum, M974.61.1-9
Citrus squeezer
Early 20th century
Gift of Charles de Volpi
McCord Museum, M975.61.261
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Earthenware salt box, Bennington Pottery
Late 19th century
Gift of Dr. Huguette Rémy
McCord Museum, M999.85.32.1-2
COOKING
The kitchen is often seen as the centre of the household. During the 19th and
early 20th centuries, most women spent a good part of their day in the kitchen,
preparing food for the family. If she were well off, a woman might have a cook
and even a maid to help make and serve meals. But for the majority of women,
the only help they received came from within the family, or through the purchase
of labour-saving devices.
The replacement of the open hearth with a cast iron stove meant that a woman
no longer had to cook over an open fire. At first, wood and then coal fueled the
new stoves, but by 1914 more then half the homes in Montreal were “on gas”.
Although Montreal was electrified in the late 1880s, electric stoves did not come
into general use until the 1930s.
Cooking over a wood fire at an open hearth meant meals were either roasted,
toasted, or cooked in a single pot. Modern stoves made it possible for women to
prepare more elaborate meals-more work for mother!
Copper kettle manufactured by John Philips & Co, Glasgow
Early 19th century
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M2389.1-2
Enameled bleu graniteware toy kitchen utensils
Early 20th century
Gift of Mrs. Louise Hurtubise Bousquet
McCord Museum, M2000.41.160
Wooden rolling pin
Late 19th century
McCord Museum, M22006
Wooden ladle
1900-1920
Gift of Air Canada
McCord Museum, M993.115.66
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Stoneware bowl
Late 19th century
McCord Museum, M979.85
Cookbooks
1939-about 1955
Gift of Mrs. Joyce Billing, René Villeneuve, and Mrs. Madeleine Tremblay
McCord Museum, M2000.92.19, M2001.68.3, M2003.40.13
Inexpensive cookbooks were distributed by manufacturers in the 20th century.
Cast iron roll pan
19th century
McCord Museum, M985X.93
Earthenware mould
Late 19th century
Gift of Air Canada
McCord Museum, M993.115.71
Earthenware bowl, Glasgow Pottery Company
1877-1883
Gift of Dr. Huguette Rémy
McCord Museum, M999.85.24
Enameled spoon
About 1920
Gift of Mr. John David Holmes
McCord Museum, M988.120.7
Wooden eggbeater
19th century
Gift of Mrs. J. S. Leo
McCord Museum, M17859
Graniteware mould, General Steelware Ltd, Montreal
1875-1900
Gift of Mrs. Olive Wilson
McCord Museum, M998.65.2
Electric Kit Kitchen range, “Kokomo Little Lady”
1920-1930
Kingston Products Corp., Kokomo, Indiana
McCord Museum, M992.101.4
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Cast Iron Toy Cooking Stove
Late 19th century
Gift of Mr. Saul Ettinger
McCord Museum, M992.101.12.1-2
Cast Iron Toy Cooking Stove, “Queen”
Early 20th century
Gift of Miss Rose Beatrice Simpson
McCord Museum, M982.590.1-7
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7. Prospering - They Came from the Sea
Montreal, located at the juncture of numerous waterways, has been an important
trading centre since time immemorial. Before the arrival of Europeans, Aboriginal
peoples travelled up and down the St. Lawrence and its tributaries in their
birchbark vessels, trading a variety of goods. Groups in the West exchanged the
precious copper of the Lake Superior region for the shell beads produced by
Atlantic coast peoples.
Then, one day, from far away across the ocean came huge canoes like none
ever seen before. They bore men with white faces―les Français―eagerly
seeking the wealth and resources of this "new world", particularly furs. Some
among them, who shared the Aboriginal people's fierce love of freedom and
space, took to the forest and became coureurs des bois―woodsmen.
After the Conquest, the British―including many Scots―were even more active in
the fur trade than the French had been, offering tools, alcohol and firearms in
exchange for hides. Some fur traders became immensely rich.
7.1. Trading Routes
The Montreal region was the main gateway to the continent: the St. Lawrence
was linked to the Ottawa River and the Great Lakes, the Richelieu and Lake
Champlain, but also to the Atlantic. The area was controlled by the St. Lawrence
Iroquoians, who were the inhabitants of Hochelaga. They interacted with the
numerous other Aboriginal peoples inhabiting the surrounding areas.
Birchbark canoe, Ancienne Lorette
About 1950
Lent by Mrs. Joan McKim
Map of interaction
About 1530
Reproduction
After Atlas historique du Canada, vol.1
Presse de l'Université de Montréal,
1987, plate 33
The Montreal region was the main gateway to the continent: the St. Lawrence
was linked to the Ottawa River and the Great Lakes, the Richelieu and Lake
Champlain, but also to the Atlantic. The area was controlled by the St. Lawrence
Iroquoians, who were the inhabitants of Hochelaga. They interacted with the
numerous other Aboriginal peoples inhabiting the surrounding areas.
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Canoes
Late 17th century
Reproduction
Watercolour and brown ink on parchment, by Louis Nicholas (1634-after 1678)
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
Model canoe
1930-1960
Atikamekw, maker unknown
Gift of Jean-Paul Demers, O.M.I.
McCord Museum, M2006.48.36
Shells
Undated
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M128, M998X.3.3
Aboriginal people made beads before the arrival of Europeans. They would break
shells into small pieces, which they then polished and pierced to make necklaces
and belts. Native beads were white or purple, depending on whether the shell
came from the whelk or the quahog clam.
Wampum strings
Undated
Gift of David Ross McCord and
Sir William Dawson
McCord Museum, M1898.1-6, M13321
Strings of wampum or shell beads played a very important role in ceremonies
and adornment, and were exchanged over long distances. Aboriginal people
used shell beads to make a wide range of ornaments, including necklaces,
bracelets, earrings, belts, headbands and hair ornaments.
Modern tobacco
“Quyecta” was the name of the tobacco smoked by Cartier with the Aboriginal
people he met during his trip to Hochelaga in 1535.The Iroquois believed that
tobacco had the power to keep the body warm and healthy.
Pipes
Undated
Crouse Collection
McCord Museum, M13499, M13543, M962X.1
Long before the Europeans arrived, the Iroquoians were makers of very fine
earthenware pipes, which they produced in large quantities. Early European
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settlers soon copied these ancient models. Later, the Iroquois drew inspiration
from European pipes.
Native chief
Late 17th century
Reproduction
Watercolour and brown ink on parchment, by Louis Nicholas (1634-after 1678)
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
Modern corn
Native people in the New World had many traditions, stories and ceremonies
revolving around corn or the “three sisters” (corn, beans and squash)— evidence
of how important these plants were to them. Long before the Europeans arrived,
Native groups that grew corn traded it for meat, shells and other goods. Later,
Algonquin middlemen supplied French fur traders with pelts that they had
obtained in exchange for corn from bands living farther north.
Native copper
Gift of the Arctic Institute of
North America
McCord Museum, M21200.1-4
In the prehistoric period, various Aboriginal peoples used nuggets of native
copper bartering. The Lake Superior region an important source for copper.
Between 5,000 and 1,000 B.C., a copper route ran from the Great Lakes to
mouth of the Saguenay River.
Native cooper lance
Old Copper Culture
5,000-4,000 years ago
McCord Museum, L20/38
Cradleboard
Iroquois
1865-1925
McCord Museum, M978X.51
Aboriginal mothers securely bound their infants to elaborately decorated
cradleboards in order to carry them and place them out of harm’s way while they
worked. The hoop around the top of the cradleboard protected the infant’s head if
the board fell, and the child’s feet rested on the footboard, preparing him/her to
stand and walk. Such ornately decorated cradleboards would be passed down
from generation to generation, and the care put into their creation reflects the
importance of children in Iroquois society.
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Glass bead necklace
Mi’kmaq
Mid-19th century
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M1320
Glass bead necklace
Eastern Woodlands
17th century type beads
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M54
Glass beads
Mid-19th century
McCord Museum, M998X.3.5.1-204
Glass bead necklace
Eastern Woodlands
19th century
McCord Museum, M998X.3.4
Glass beads were a major trade item. Their introduction into North America had
considerable impact on the decorative arts of Aboriginal people, who quickly
appreciated the possibilities offered by the wide range of shapes and colours.
Moreover, they invested beads and beaded objects with power and meaning that
went well beyond the aesthetic realm.
Brass cooking pots
17th century type
McCord Museum, M10944, M10943
Spiked tomahawk
Algonquin
About 1750
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M2151
Clay pipe
1846-1891
McCord Museum, M988X.144
Pipe-tomahawks
Eastern Woodlands
Before 1850
McCord Museum, M8888, M989X.105, ME986X.115
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Pipe-tomahawks did not exist before the advent of the fur trade. Symbols of both
peace and war, they are an accurate reflection of the political climate that reigned
after the arrival of Europeans.
Powder horn
19th century
McCord Museum, M19276
Gunflints
Undated
Crouse Collection; Messieurs Papineau
McCord Museum, ACC1387.1-6, M10521, M10631, M10635
Northwest Company Trade Gun
Late 18th century
Gift of Mr. Gordon T. Écuyer Howard
McCord Museum, M965.67.1.1-2
Wall pocket
1875-1905
Woodland Cree
Maker unknown
McCord Museum, M12528
Aboriginal people adapted European materials to their traditional ways of making
clothing and accessories. Embroidery floss and cotton thread were used here to
beautifully embroider this tanned hide wall pocket.
7.2. The Fur Rush
SILVER LINKS
Silver ornaments played an important role in exchanges with Native peoples
during the fur trade period. From 1750 to 1850, Montreal was one of the most
important manufacturing centers of trade silver, and thousands of silver items
were produced there. In 1801 alone, one of the city’s best known silversmiths,
Robert Cruickshank, made 50,000 pieces. Other famous makers of trade silver
were Jonathan Tyler, Charles Arnoldi and Charles Duval.
Costume of Domiciliated Indians of America
1814
Oil on board by E. Close (active in 1814)
Gift of Dr. Michel Allard and
Dr. Célyne Drolet
McCord Museum, M992.83.1
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The painting is based on an aquatint published by George Heriot in 1807 in
Travels in the Canadas.
Cross of Lorraine and chain
Late 18th century-early 19th century
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M1893.2, M1893.1
This cross of Lorraine was made by the Montreal silversmith Charles Arnoldi
(1779-1817). The cross was introduced into North America by missionaries, but it
soon became a secular item used for trade. Aboriginal people used such crosses
as ornaments.
“Council square” brooch
Undated
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M10547
Buckles, star- and heart-shaped brooches, round brooch
Undated
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M996x.3.78-190, M996x.3.327, M996x.3.330, M996x.3.344,
M995x.3.1, M10545
Armbands
After 1760
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M173.1-2
This type of ornament was worn by Native people around either the arm or the
leg, next to the skin or over a garment. Generally worn by men, such decorative
bands were originally made of bark, leather and a variety of other materials.
Circular gorget
About 1817
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M410
Round brooch
Late 18th century
McCord Museum, M984.301
This brooch was made by the silversmith Charles Duval (1758-?) of TroisRivières. Such round brooches may be related to European military ornaments,
but their shape was definitely influenced by the shell disks worn by Aboriginal
people long before the arrival of Europeans.
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
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Round brooch
After 1860
Gift of Miss I. C. McLennan
McCord Museum, M19191
7.3. The Fur Barons
By the late 18th and early 19th centuries, fur-trading activities had become highly
organized, with the various tasks being divided between merchant-suppliers,
“voyageurs” and employees. The North West Company was a group of
independent merchants who had formed an association to counter competition.
However, in 1821, the North West Company was absorbed by its main rival, the
Hudson’s Bay Company. This takeover virtually put an end to trading activities
directed from Montreal by the North West Company.
A Portage
1874
William Henry Edward Napier (1829-1894)
Watercolour
Gift of Mrs. D. Ross McMaster
McCord Museum, M986.132.1
Journal of the Labrador fur trading voyage of William Oliver Kennedy Ross
1909
Gift of Miss Sybil Ross
McCord Museum, P384/A.01
This is a hand-written account of one of the author’s voyages from Quebec City
to Labrador. The primary purpose of the voyage was to purchase furs from local
trappers and agents. The journal relates his daily activities over a period of close
to three months, during which he travelled nearly 1,600 kilometres. In it, he notes
events from the journey, speaks of people he met, and offers a look at the early
20th century fur trade.
Interior of a fur trading post, Labrador (?), NF (?)
About 1909
Artist unknown
Gelatin silver print
Gift of Miss Sybil Ross
McCord Museum, MP-1986.9.2.22
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
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Shootings the Rapids
About 1870
Reproduction of an oil on canvas by Frances Ann Hopkins (1838-1918)
National Archives of Canada, C2774
Very large canoes known in French as canots de maître were widely used during
the fur trade era. Made by people of European descent, they were of Native
inspiration, the “voyageurs” having learned the techniques for making them from
Aboriginal people. A canot de maître could easily be as much as eleven metres
long and one metre seventy wide. The crew of such a canoe consisted of
between 6 and 10 people or more, and it could carry a load of approximately
1,450 kilos.
Portrait of Joseph Frobisher (1740-1810)
About 1805
Oil on canvas by Louis Dulongpré (1754-1843)
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M393
The wealth engendered by the trade in beaver fur gave birth to a privileged class
of Montrealers. In those days, having one's portrait painted was a symbol of
success. Joseph Frobisher, who sat for this portrait, was one of the most
powerful fur traders in Montreal.
Deed
Engagement between Alexander Henry and James Milne
1792
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, C002/A,87.1
A notarial deed in which James Milne agrees to serve as a clerk for Alexander
Henry for a term of five years in the fur trade.
Print
Furs for the European Market: The Hudson Bay Company's Trappers at Work
1902
McCord Museum, C069/A,189.1
A full-page illustration from the Illustrated London News, dated November 22,
1902. It is divided into three sections: two images in the upper part show Fort
Chipewyan and “trappers returning from the winter campaign,” and the main
image depicts “trappers delivering pelts at headquarters.” The drawings are
signed “P[aul] Frenzeny.”
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
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Portrait of George A. McVicar
1900-1925
Oil on canvas by J. Collin Forbes (1846-1925)
Gift of Mrs. George A. McVicar
McCord Museum, M18256
Appointment of Vernon W. West as factor of the James Bay District for the
Hudson’s Bay Company
1929
Gift of Mrs. A. M. West
McCord Museum, M986.68.3
An official deed on vellum paper with the official header of the Hudson's Bay
Company, and an embossed seal in the lower right part of the document. Signed
by the company's Governor, Charles Vincent Sales.
Memorandum
The two last surviving partners in the Northwest Company
1859
Gift of Dr. W. D. Lighthall
McCord Museum, M18638
Plate with armorial bearings of Sir Alexander Mackenzie
Motto “Luceo Non Uro” [I shine but do not burn]
Late 18th century
Chinese porcelain
Gift of Bruno Raudnitz
McCord Museum, M965.3
Cane
1800-1825
McCord Museum, M20978
This cane belonged to Simon McGillivray, who worked in subsidiaries of the
North West Company in London and Montreal. Moreover, the knob of the cane
bears the fur-trading company's arms: a beaver gnawing a tree trunk,
accompanied by the motto “perseverance”.
Portrait of John Macdonald of Garth (about 1771-1818)
Before 1922
Oil on canvas by
Donald Richings Hill (1900-1939)
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M1594
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
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Beaver Club medal
About 1785
Gold
Gift of Mr. McGillivray Dawkins
McCord Museum, M20987
To belong to the Beaver Club, one had to have completed one trading voyage
and spent at least one winter at one of the posts in the Pays d’en haut, as
western and northwestern Canada was called at the time. The prestigious club
was founded in 1785 by nineteen traders who had completed the initiation rite.
These members dined together every second Wednesday evening in winter,
which they spent in town. At each meeting, they were required to wear their
medals hung around their necks.
Portrait of Charles Jean-Baptiste Chaboillez (1736-1808)
About 1922
Oil on canvas by Donald Richings Hill (1900-1939)
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M1588
Portrait of Isaac Todd (about 1742-1819)
About 1922
Oil on canvas (copy) by Donald Richings Hill (1900-1939)
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M1595
Portrait of James McGill (1744-1813)
1800-1810
Oil on canvas after Louis Dulongpré (1754-1843)
McCord Museum, M10284
Teapot
1807
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M2615
Beaver pelts
On loan from Natural Furs International Inc.
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
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8. Prospering - City of Promise, Land of Trade
From 19th century Montreal―strategically located on its great river, wheat,
livestock and all the immense riches of the New World flowed towards London.
To become a metropolis, Montreal lacked only a link from one ocean to the other:
and the railroad was born.
Across mountains and rivers, the lines of the Grand Trunk and Canadian Pacific
railways ran like the strands of a vast net, connecting the country and
symbolizing progress.
In those days, Montreal's harbour was abuzz with noise: the screeching of
pulleys on grain ship cranes, the wheezing of the boiler on the Accommodation, a
steamboat that made the Quebec City run in a record 36 hours. And the sound of
money, too, being deposited safely in the Bank of Montreal by the McGills, the
Molsons, the Massons and the island's other wealthy businessmen.
It was during these vibrant years that Sainte-Catherine Street became a place of
light, colour and large department stores. The vivid display of Dupuis Frères and
Henry Morgan’s Colonial House offered everything, from children’s toys to the
luxurious fabrics demanded by Montreal’s most elegant citizens.
8.1. Commercial Hub
A FLAIR FOR BUSINESS
Around 1850, most of Canada’s commerce took place between Montreal and
London. As early as 1817, merchants with names like Richardson, McGill, Moffat,
Masson and Allan had founded Canada’s first bank, the Bank of Montreal. A
short while later, in 1822, the Committee of Trade (ancestor of the Board of
Trade) was created. By the start of the 20th century, Montreal had become the
most important financial center in Canada.
Montreal Board of trade Council
1926
Notman Photographic Archives
McCord Museum, II-270673
“Wooton” desk
1874
Gift of Mr. Bruce and Mr. Alexander McNiven
McCord Museum, M988.103.1.1-53
This impressive desk was both a status symbol and a highly functional object.
Before the filing cabinet was invented, the “Wooton” desk was the ultimate
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
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“organizer”. An advertisement in the May 17, 1884, issue of The Graphic
magazine reads as follows:“ One hundred and ten compartments, all under one
lock and key. A place for everything and everything in its place. Order Reigns
Supreme, Confusion Avoided. Time Saved. Vexation Spared…”
Cane
About 1890
McCord Museum, M981X.79
Cane
About 1905
Gift of Mrs. Ernest E. Scharfe
McCord Museum, M977.34.4
Cane
Late 19th Century
McCord Museum, M21685
Umbrella stand
Late 19th century
Terracotta, Takoname ware, Japan
Gift of Mrs. Lorne Lindsay and Mrs. Alton Smith
McCord Museum, M974.35.35
Bowler hat
1900-1925
Gift of Mrs. John F. Aitchison
McCord Museum, M971.52.1
Cane
About 1890-1900
Gift of Mrs. H. C. Hayes
McCord Museum, M976.24.28
Oliver Standard Visible Typewriter, No. 7
“The Printype, Patented, Nov. 5, 1912”
Made in Great Britain, distributed in North America from Chicago
Gift of Professor D. D. McWethy
McCord Museum, M987.102.8
This model was made about 1912 and was a three-bank machine with the downstrike from the side. It changed very little until it was discontinued in 1940.
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
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Smith Premier Typewriter No. 4
Gift of Miss Gwyneth Bedford Jones
McCord Museum, M976.141
Model No. 4 was made in 1900 at the Smith typewriter plant in Syracuse, New
York. Lovell’s Montreal Directory of 1901-02 lists Wm. M. Hall & Co. as agents for
the Smith Company.
Top hat
1850-1870
Gift of Mrs. Jean Norman
McCord Museum, M992.42.1
Gloves
20th century
Gift of Mrs. Donald A. Baillie
McCord Museum, M976.47.6.1-2
Underwood Standard No. 5 Typewriter
Made in Hartford, Connecticut
About 1925
Canadian distributor: United Typewriter Co. Ltd., Toronto
Gift of Professor D. D. McWethy
McCord Museum, M987.102.5
This typewriter features a forward strike with a vertical carriage and French
keyboard. Typewriters were first introduced commercially in 1873.
Seal
Late 19th century
Gift of The Presbyterian College
McCord Museum, M985.115.1.A
Cheque printing machine
1919
Gift of Mrs. F. R.Terroux
McCord Museum, M976.156
With the growing mechanization of the early 20th century, offices became more
modern: typewriters, carbon paper and dictaphones were now commonplace.
There were even machines for printing cheques, which gave them a much more
professional look.
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
65
St. James Street, Montreal
About 1910
Notman Photographic Archives
McCord Museum, MP-1978.207.1
MONTREAL STOCK EXCHANGE
Bonds were first issued in Italy in the 14th century. Montreal companies only
began trading in stocks and bonds in the 1830s, but in 1842, Montreal had a
Board of Stock and Produce, and in 1874 the Montreal Stock Exchange was
founded. The Bank of Montreal was the first bank to promote Canadian bond
issues both in Canada and abroad.
Tickets
Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad Company.
Three pounds sterling
About 1940
Gift of Mr. Seymour Schulich
McCord Museum, C095/K.13
Certificate
Compagnie française des mines d’or
About 1929
Gift of Mr. Seymour Schulich
McCord Museum, C095/J.31
8.2. Place of Transit
The expansion of Montreal’s harbour was largely due to John Molson and other
leading Montreal merchants, who introduced steam navigation to the St.
Lawrence. The motor of the steamship The Accommodation was made at the
Forges du Saint-Maurice, and it was actually the first ship in the world to be
equipped with a motor not built in Great Britain. In 1809, The Accommodation
made its maiden voyage from Montreal to Quebec City in 36 hours.
Platter representing a view of Montreal from St. Helen’s Island
1830-1840
Earthenware, Davenport, England
McCord Museum, MC988.1.9
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
66
The steamship Quebec of the Richelieu and Ontario Navigation Co.,
Toronto
1894
Thomas Audet
Watercolour
Gift of Canada Steamship Lines Inc.
McCord Museum, M982.532
Platter decorated with a transfer printed view of Montreal representing the
steamship British America
1830-1840
Earthenware, Davenport, England
McCord Museum, MC988.1.78
Based on prints by Robert Auchmuty Sproule (1799-1845).
The Accomodation
Undated
Bibliothèque et Archives nationales
Québec
The expansion of Montreal’s harbour was largely due to John Molson and other
leading Montreal merchants, who introduced steam navigation to the St.
Lawrence.The motor of this steamship was made at the Forges du SaintMaurice, and The Accommodation was actually the first ship in the world to be
equipped with a motor not built in Great Britain. In 1809, The Accommodation
made its maiden voyage from Montreal to Quebec City in 36 hours.
Account book
Construction of the Lachine Canal
1822-1829
Bagg, Abner and Stanley Fonds
Gift of Barbara Chapman and Clare Fellowes
McCord Museum, P070-A/17.2
8.3. At the Center of the Web
A GREAT BRIDGE, A GREAT CELEBRATION
If the railways were going to endure, it was vital that Montreal be linked to the
Grand Trunk network by a railway bridge. The Victoria Bridge―the first bridge to
span the St. Lawrence―was constructed between 1853 and 1859, with the help
of a large contingent of Irish labourers. The bridge’s inauguration on August 25,
1860, marked by lavish celebrations, a regatta and performances by local
Mohawks, took place in the presence of none other than His Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales.
Simply Montreal
© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
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View from below south abutment, Victoria Bridge, Montreal, QC
1859-1860
Lithograph from a photograph by William Notman (1826-1891)
Published by John Weale, London, 1860
McCord Museum, N-0000.1626.5002
Model locomotive
1991
Gift of the Estate of Omer Lavallée
McCord Museum, M992.110.11.1-2
In 1856, the Grand Trunk Railway opened huge workshops at Pointe-SaintCharles, in the Sainte-Anne district, where rolling stock was built and repaired.
Model locomotive and tender
1905-1920
Gift of Air Canada
McCord Museum, M992.7.59
Model train
Late 19th century
Gift of Mr. B.W. Mosher
McCord Museum, M975.55.3.1-3
Map of the Great International Route
About 1862
Reproduction
Brome County Historical Society
This map shows the network of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada and its
connections with the United States and Europe. The name “Grand Trunk”
reflected the large aspirations of Montreal merchants, whose aim was to create a
link between the ocean and the Great Lakes and to breach the U.S. border. But
the greatest advantage of the Grand Trunk was that it remained unaffected by
the winter, which had hitherto paralyzed Montreal's harbour for several months
each year (generally from November to April).
Booklet
Montreal, Quebec and Ottawa / The General Passenger Department, Grand
Trunk Railway System
About 1920
Gift of Ms. Jean K. Chaplin
McCord Museum, M2002.12.3
Simply Montreal
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Trowel
1859
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M1153
This silver trowel was used to inaugurate a very special commemorative
monument. In 1846 and 1847, 6,000 British immigrants, for the most part Irish,
died of fever contracted on board the ships that were bringing them to North
America. When construction of the Victoria Bridge was complete, the workmen
suggested placing a large boulder at its entrance, in memory of their dead
compatriots.
The first daily passenger train
1887
Notman Photographic Archives
McCord Museum, MP-0000.298.7
8.4. St. Catherine Street
DEPARTMENT STORE DELIGHT
In the late 19th century, a new type of business appeared on St. Catherine
Street: the large retail department store. Establishments like Colonial House
owned by Scottish-born Henry Morgan, Dupuis et Frères, and Ogilvy’s offered a
wide range of items, including dry goods, dresses, fashion items and imported
products. Mr. Morgan’s family business, which later became Henry Morgan &
Co., was the largest of these new retail outlets. During the 1960s, the store was
sold to the Hudson’s Bay Company. The name of Morgan did not disappear until
1971, however, when it was replaced by “The Bay”.
Folding camera
About 1916
Gift of Mr. Henry B. Yates
McCord Museum, M986.293.2.1-2
Stereoscopic viewer
About 1901
Gift of Mrs. Elizabeth Lewis
McCord Museum, M988.183.1
Magic lantern and slides
About 1893
Gift of Mrs. Ron F. Naylor
McCord Museum, M968.55.2.1-18
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Doll’s dinner service
1845-1850
Gift of Mrs. Hilda Freeland Stephens
McCord Museum, M997.56.1.1-43
Doll’s chair
1920-1930
Gift of Miss Edna Wootan
McCord Museum, M993.104.2
Miniature stove
1900-1950
McCord Museum, M991X.2.118
Miniature bucket, water can and bath
1840-1875
Gift of Mrs. Raymond Caron
McCord Museum, M973.1.219.1-3
Bisque headed doll
1920-1925
Ernst Heubach, Germany
McCord Museum, M19552.1-4
Child’s sled
1920-1940
Gift of Air Canada
McCord Museum, M996.8.30
Toy rifle
1900-1920
Gift of Mr. Morley Swan
McCord Museum, M993.54.9
Toy sewing machine
About 1930
Manufactured by Singer Manufacturing Company
Gift of the Estate of Miss Warda Drummond
McCord Museum, M997.40.1.1-2
Miniature bed
1850-1870
McCord Museum, M996x.2.236
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Wooden horse
19th century
Gift of Miss Emily LeBaron
McCord Museum, M974.170
Doll house
About 1950
Louis Marx & Co., New York
Chromolithographed tin
Gift of Mrs. Nora Murchison
McCord Museum, M974.82.54.3.1-14
Wax-headed doll
Probably English
About 1860
Gift of Baylis Wait
McCord Museum, M19547.13
Hard plastic doll
1954
Dee & Cee Toy Company, Toronto
Gift of Mrs. Francine Monière
McCord Museum, M2007.64.5.1-6
Doll’s chair
Late 19th century
McCord Museum, M973X.60
Goal skittles
Before 1938
Spear’s Games, Germany
Gift of Mrs. Marcelle Ringuette
McCord Museum, M973.72.2.1-6
Toy piano
1868-1900
Gift of Mrs. William Van Horne
McCord Museum, M970.23.70
Rag doll
About 1970
Gift of Ms. Moira McCaffrey
McCord Museum, M2008.23.1
Simply Montreal
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Doll’s toilet accessories
Late 19th century
Gift of Mrs. Austin de Sainte-Croix
McCord Museum, M973.171.3.1-3
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© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
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9. Prospering - The Highs and Lows of an Imperial Jewel
At the start of Canada's industrial era, around 1850, capitalism reigned
unchallenged. Efficiency, productivity, speed―these were the new watchwords of
progress. And that suited Montreal just fine. Canada's metropolis was one of the
Empire's largest cities outside the British Isles―one of the jewels in the Imperial
Crown. In the downtown core the garment factories hummed, while towards the
east-end spinning mills and shoe factories abounded. The rumble of huge metal
foundries echoed through the west part of the island.
The lives of the city's working-class inhabitants, however, were controlled by the
captains of industry, and the new prosperity had its share of social injustice.
While hosts of workers had nothing of value but their jobs, the elite of the Golden
Square Mile – the richest neighbourhood in the country – enjoyed a lifestyle of
great luxury.
9.1. The Wheels of Progress
NO TIME TO LOSE!
Time was of the essence for factory workers: the industrial era was also an era of
high productivity, high profits and strict timekeeping. To make sure that
employees were punctual, some employers locked the doors at the hour work
was scheduled to start.
Women Ironing a Starched Petticoat
About 1901
Notman Photographic Archives
McCord Museum, MP-1985.31.179
Pocket watch
1772
Gift of Mrs. W. A. Ramsay
McCord Museum, M18240
Pocket watch
Early 20th century
Gift of Mrs. Donald A. MacInnes
McCord Museum, M973.137.11
Pocket watch
Early 20th century
Gift of Mr. R. L. Régor
McCord Museum, M988.47.9
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Pocket watch
1829
McCord Museum, M993X.1.1
Pocket watch
About 1895
Gift of Mr. Eric D. McLean
McCord Museum, M992.17.1
Pocket watch
About 1880-1900
McCord Museum, M971X.18.1-2
Pocket watch
Mid-19th century
Gift of the McCord Family Estate
McCord Museum, M20982
Pocket watch
About 1855
Gift of Mrs. B. Jean Stapleton
McCord Museum, M989.158.1.1-3
Pocket watch
About 1895
Gift of Mr. R. L. Régor
McCord Museum, M988.47.1.1-2
Pocket watch
About 1850-1875
McCord Museum, M993X.1.2
9.2. A City of Contrasts
The elite and a sizeable middle class were soon joined by a new working class,
which had emerged as a result of industrialization. This new social group was
composed largely of French-Canadian and Irish people with little or no training.
Workers of English descent were generally better qualified, better paid and better
protected.
Although their living conditions gradually improved during the 20th century, life
was not easy for the members of Montreal’s working class. In fact, until the
1930s, unskilled workers’ salaries were often below the poverty line, obliging
families to restrict themselves and to find other sources of revenue.
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Panoramic view of Montreal
1896
Notman Photographic Archives
McCord Museum, VIEW-2936 to 2944
Between 1840 and 1860, numerous workshops and factories sprang up along the
banks of the Lachine Canal, and after 1880 Montreal underwent a second
industrial boom. At that time, there were three industrial centres: the old town,
with its leather, garment and nonferrous metal factories; the Sainte-Anne district
towards the west, which was a focus for heavy industry; and Sainte-Marie in the
east, which specialized in the textile, leather, food and tobacco industries.
THE WORKING CLASS
Workers house
1903
Notman Photographic Archives
McCord Museum, II-146359
The elite and a sizeable middle class were soon joined by a new working class,
which had emerged as a result of industrialization. This new social group was
composed largely of French-Canadian and Irish people with little or no training.
Workers of English descent were generally better qualified, better paid and better
protected.
Plate, The St. Johns Stone Chinaware Company, St. Jean, Quebec
1873-1900
Earthenware
McCord Museum, M992X.2.8.34
Knife and fork, cold steel with bone handles
1890-1900
Gift of Jacqueline Beaudoin-Ross
McCord Museum, M994.57.2.3, M994.57.1.2
Kerosene lamp, Diamond Glass Company, Montreal
1865-1880
McCord Museum, M966.130.11.1-3
Bishop of the Province of Quebec
Early 20th century
Artist unknown
Chromolithograph
Gift of Mrs. Berthe Gauthier-Juneau
McCord Museum, M2001.56.7
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© McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2009
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Spitton
1890-1910
Glazed Earthenware, Quebec
Gift of Dr. Huguette Rémy
McCord Museum, M998.14.5.16
Side chair, Île d’Orléans type
Late 18th century
McCord Museum, M2001X.2.2
Hooked rug
1935 -1945
Québec
Gift of Mr. Barry Cole
McCord Museum, M2007.125.36
Table
19th century
McCord Museum, M2000X.2.3
THE ELITE
Oak curio cabinet
About 1880
Gift of Mrs. Grace C. Culmer
McCord Museum, M990.760.1.1-5
The Honorable Mrs. Hugh Graham and her daughter Alice
About 1900
Oil on canvas by Robert Harris (1849-1919)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Hallward
McCord Museum, M977.159
In March 1891, Annie Beckman Hamilton married Hugh Graham, the owner and
publisher of The Montreal Star. Their daughter Alice was born on January 5,
1892.
Chandelier
About 1850
Gift of Misses Cécile and Lucienne Desbarats
McCord Museum, M988.148.3
Simply Montreal
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Occasional chair
1900-1901
Made in France
Gift of Mrs. Murray A. Vaughan
McCord Museum, M968.7.88.1
Sugar bowl
About 1906
Gift of Mr. Henry Trenholme
McCord Museum, M987.169.5a-b
Child’s dress
About 1893
Gift of Mrs. Gordon Dorey
McCord Museum, M984.150.37
Coffee pot
About 1906
Gift of Mr. Henry Trenholme
McCord Museum, M987.169.3
Dress
1890-1893
Gift of Mrs. Barbara Quinn
McCord Museum, M2004.118.2.1-2
Tea set
About 1840
Porcelain, Bloor Derby, England
Gift of Mrs. Peter M. Laing
McCord Museum, M990X.751.48.1-20
Simply Montreal
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10. Enjoyment - From Cricket to Arm-wrestling
In late 19th-century Montreal, sports were a matter of class. Following the
example of the island's wealthy English merchants, the more prosperous citizens
were keen on equestrian and field sports. The most sophisticated followed the
hunt, while others flocked to the city's various select clubs, there to wield the
cricket bat, the golf club and the polo mallet with elegance and style. In
wintertime, curling matches were held on the river, and snowshoeing, skating and
sledding parties were all the rage.
In working-class neighbourhoods, sporting events consisted largely of
demonstrations of strength and endurance among well-muscled males. Armwrestling tournaments never failed to attract large and enthusiastic crowds.
10.1. Something for Everyone
Blanket coats were the requisite uniform for snowshoeing in the late nineteenth
century. Snowshoeing was a very popular sport in Montreal, and the city boasted
many clubs, each of which had its own uniform recognizable by the color and
patterns of stripes on the coat.
The high cost of maintaining a string of polo ponies meant polo was a sport for
the very wealthy, like the Ogilvie family, who owned the largest flour mills in the
British Empire. Members of the Montreal Hunt Club introduced the game to
Montreal, as they did with other equestrian sports.
Curling brooms
20th century
Gift of The Montreal Thistle Curling Club
McCord Museum, M2000.38.100.1-2
Master Melville Bell and friend skiing on Mount Royal, Montreal
About 1923
Artist unknown
McCord Museum, MP-1976.263.1.10
Snowshoeing ensemble
1890-1900
Gift of Miss Emily LeBaron
McCord Museum, M980.42.1.1-2
Blanket coats were the requisite uniform for snowshoeing in the late nineteenth
century. Snowshoeing was a very popular sport in Montreal, and the city boasted
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many clubs, each of which had its own uniform recognizable by the colour and
pattern of stripes on the coat.
Sash
1875-1900
Gift of Mr. T. Palmer Howard
McCord Museum, M985.187.1
Wooden skis
1930-1940
Made by CCM, Canada
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Fernand Bolduc
McCord Museum, M997.62.1.1-2
Sleigh
1892-1893
Manufactured by Mr. Doré
Gift of Mr. Jacques Brosseau
McCord Museum, M993.67.1
Children in Montreal used sleighs like this one to slide down the snowy slopes of
Mount Royal. Many North American toy manufacturers produced them at the
time. A Montgomery Ward catalogue from about 1871 advertised sleighs for 60¢
and $1.15, depending on the size.
Curling stone
20th century
Gift of The Montreal Thistle Curling Club
McCord Museum, M2000.38.97
Snow snakes
Mohawk
1998
While some consider snow snakes the Iroquois national sport, it was played by
other Aboriginal peoples, as well. Official competitions still take place today. The
game involves hurling the "snakes" down a specially prepared frozen surface; the
winning team is one whose snakes go fastest and furthest.
Trophy
About 1955
Gift of McGill University
McCord Museum, M996X.2.639.1-3
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McGill students were excellent skiers. This trophy was won at the International
Intercollegiate Ski Meet.The silver-plated bowl has interlocking wire mesh that
held roses in place during the presentation ceremony.
Duster
About 1910
Gift of Mrs. Denyse Laliberté
McCord Museum, M988.153.1
For automobiling, a woman wore a duster to protect her clothing from the dust
and dirt of the road. She usually wore a veil over her hat as well to protect her
face and hair.
Bathing suit
About 1920
Gift of Mr. C. Wallace Gowdey
McCord Museum, M980.49.1
Although intended to modestly cover a woman’s body, this one-piece knit bathing
suit would cling revealingly to its wearer when wet.
Scooter
1950-1955
Gift of Mrs. Annabelle Laliberté
McCord Museum, M2008.55.1
Cricket bat
1920-1926
Gift of Mrs. D. Lorne Gales
McCord Museum, M994.80.1
In the game of cricket, players use a bat like this one to hit the ball when it is
thrown by the pitcher at the wickets. Similar to baseball, although far more elitist
in its origins, cricket is an English game played outdoors by two teams with
eleven players each.
Golf shoes
About 1940
Gift of Mrs. L. M. Hart
McCord Museum, M966.37.92.1-2
Child’s golf clubs and bag
1920-1930
Gift of Ms. Delphine Bishop
McCord Museum, M980.82.1-6
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Polo mallet
1915-1925
Gift of The Trustees of the Montreal Hunt Club
McCord Museum, M976.190.19
The high cost of maintaining a string of polo ponies meant polo was a sport for
the very wealthy, like the Ogilvie family, who owned the largest flour mills in the
British Empire. Members of the Montreal Hunt Club introduced the game to
Montreal, as they did with other equestrian sports.
Riding boots
1900-1925
Gift of Ms. Carroll Guerin
McCord Museum, M993.60.4.1-2
Football trophy
Annual Games of the Montreal
Caledonian Society
1896
Simpson, Hall Miller Co., Wallingford, Connecticut
Gift of 34th Combat Engineer Regiment, Montreal
McCord Museum, M2008.57.1.1-2
Mans’ cabana set
About 1955
Gift of Mrs. George B. Dorey
McCord Museum, M973.46.5.1-2
Cabana sets, popular in the 1950s and 1960s, consisted of swim trunks and a
matching shirt.
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11. Enjoyment - Open-air City
Montreal has always had its share of fresh-air fiends. During the 19th century,
members of the fashionable Montreal Hunt Club gave free rein to their passion
for hunting, while other citizens enjoyed the calmer pastime of fishing.
In those days, there were far fewer leisure activities to choose from, and the
Montreal carnival offered a precious opportunity to take a more positive view of
the long winter. Organized by the city's snowshoeing clubs, the carnival was
nevertheless an elite event.
For Montrealers, ice hockey soon became far more than a sport―it was a
religion, whose saints were the members of the avidly supported home team, Les
Canadiens. The game's vigorous style derives from the aboriginal game of
lacrosse, which requires both strength and courage.
Ever popular, skating is an activity for people of all ages that's ideally suited to a
northern city. Outdoors or in, Montreal’s many rinks abound with grandparents in
fine fettle, grandchildren getting the feel of their first blades, and lovers gliding
hand in hand.
11.1. A Spirit of Adventure
Portrait of Lieutenant Colonel D. S. Forbes
About 1925
Oil on canvas, by Kenneth Forbes (1892-1980)
Gift of Mrs. D. S. Forbes
McCord Museum, M983.174
Fishing rod
Late 19th century
Gift of Mrs. Ruth Crabtree
McCord Museum, M993.136.1.1-4
This two-handed wooden salmon rod is nearly five metres long and is
constructed in three pieces.
Spearhead
About 1860-1880
Gift of the Air Canada Corporation
McCord Museum, M992.7.113
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Spearhead
About 1860-1880
Gift of the Air Canada Corporation
McCord Museum, M992.7.117
Reel
About 1920-1940
Gift of Senator Hartland de M. Molson
McCord Museum, M987.54.2
Spearhead
About 1860-1880
Gift of the Air Canada Corporation
McCord Museum, M992.7.115
These fishing spears were all hand forged by local blacksmiths in the mid-19th
century. The six-barbed spear was for catching sturgeon; the three- and fourbarbed spears were for other large fish, such as salmon. The spearheads would
be attached to long wooden poles and used to spear fish in shallow waters.
Waterfowl decoy- Loon
About 1930
McCord Museum, M2001.26.56
Goose decoy
1980-1989
Carver : Claude Desaulniers (b. 1958)
Gift of Mr. Jean-Pierre Picard
McCord Museum, M2007.81.1
Weathervane – horse
19th century
McCord Museum, M22493.1
From 1875 to 1900, weathervanes in the shape of horses were commonly
mounted on stable roofs.
Duck Decoy- Mallard
1940-1960
McCord Museum, M965.141.9
Weathervane – horse
19th century
Gift of Mrs. Margaret de Volpi
McCord Museum, MC989.119.10
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Canada Goose decoy
About 1940
Carver : Lorne Campbell (1902 - ?)
McCord Museum, M2001.26.41
Duck decoy
About 1900
McCord Museum, M2001.26.64.1-2
Weathervane - horse
1900-1920
Gift of the Air Canada Corporation
McCord Museum, M992.7.62
Weathervane - horse
19th century
Gift of Mrs. Margaret de Volpi
McCord Museum, MC989.119.9
Child’s saddle
1920-1925
Gift of the Estate of Ruth Cowans Mackay
McCord Museum, M2006.123.1.1-3
Weathervane - horse
1875-1900
Gift of Mrs. Margaret de Volpi
McCord Museum, MC989.119.34
This gilded weathervane was probably owned by a person of means, as it cost
$15 when advertised in 1875.Typically, the horse is captured in full trot: people
were so enamoured of horse racing in the 19th century, that it was not
uncommon for them to “shout” their enthusiasm from the rooftops.
Salmon flies
1996
Gift of Mr. Stephen Molson
McCord Museum, M2005.109.1-11
Carving - fish
1960-1980
Gift of Mr. Lyle Elder
McCord Museum, M978.157
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Weathervane - fish
1890-1900
Gift of Air Canada
McCord Museum, M992.7.42
Carving - pike
1960-1980
Gift of Mr. Lyle Elder
McCord Museum, M978.156
Anglers who fish Quebec’s lakes and streams are familiar with the pike, known
for putting up a good fight once hooked. This is one folk artist’s rendition.
Duck decoy- Lesser scaup
1940-1950
Carver : Hormidas Thibert (1900-1962)
Gift of Margot and Serge G. Morin
McCord Museum, M2008.27.2
Duck decoy - Mallard
About 1955
Carver : Ken Anger (1905-1961)
McCord Museum, M2001.26.101
Duck decoy - Goldeneye
About 1935
Carver :William (Billy) Ellis (1865-1963)
McCord Museum, M2001.26.98.2
Black duck decoy
About 1950
McCord Museum, M2001.26.43
Duck decoy - Bluebill
About 1940
Carver : Orel Leboeuf (1886-1968)
McCord Museum, M2001.26.45.1
Race Horse
1896
Oil on canvas by L. Galarneau (active 1882-1892)
Gift of Dr. & Mrs. Raymond Boyer
McCord Museum, M972.34.1
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Full Cry
1877
Oil on canvas by Alfred Baumgarten (1842-1919)
Gift of The Montreal Hunt Club
McCord Museum, M993.82.8
This painting depicts the Montreal Hunt in full gallop over the fields on the east
side of Mount Royal.
Powder flask
19th century
Gift of Mr. Charles de Volpi
McCord Museum, M975.61.76
These flasks held black powder, an explosive containing a mixture of sulphur,
potassium nitrate and carbon. Made of copper, gunmetal, leather or tin, the flasks
were designed to keep the powder dry.
Powder can
1875-1900
Gift of Mr. Charles de Volpi
McCord Museum, M975.61.113
Hunting rifle
About 1810
Gift of the Natural History Society of Montreal
McCord Museum, M7052
Gentlemen in the first half of the 19th century would have hunted game birds with
this double-barrelled muzzle-loading percussion cap gun. The incised design
shows a hunting dog, used to retrieve birds shot out of the sky.
Shotgun
About 1800
Gift of the Natural History Society of Montreal
McCord Museum, M7050
Shotgun
1850-1875
Gift of Mr. Charles de Volpi
McCord Museum, M975.61.350
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Powder flask
19th century
Gift of Mr. Charles de Volpi
McCord Museum, M975.61.51
Powder flask
19th century
Gift of Mr. Charles de Volpi
McCord Museum, M975.61.68
Montreal Hunt Club Expenses Ledger
1850-1862
Gift of the Montreal Hunt Club
McCord Museum, P161/D01.1
This ledger contains an inventory of expenses for the Montreal Hunt Club
between 1850 and 1862.The end part of the booklet also contains lists of
hounds, expenses and subscriptions.
John Crawford’s Subscription Booklet
About 1890
Gift of The Montreal Hunt Club
McCord Museum, P161/H01.2
This document is a booklet in which were noted the monetary contributions of the
members of the Montreal Hunt Club for the commission of a painting by Robert
Harris (for a fee of 600$). The painting was offered to John Crawford at the
annual dinner in January 1890.
Trophy
About 1904
Gift of The Montreal Hunt Club
McCord Museum, M993.82.1.1-2
Foxes were the most common quarry of hunters and their hounds. This sterling
silver trophy in the shape of a fox head was presented to the owner of the best
horse at the Montreal Hunt Club hunter trials.
11.2. The National Sport
IT’S IN THE NET!
Local Aboriginal people gave us a taste for new outdoor sports with such games
as lacrosse, the precursor of ice hockey. Lacrosse was played by two teams of
ten to fifteen players each. A hard rubber ball, carried in a small basket mounted
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on a stick, was passed back and forth as the players ran down the field, trying to
throw the ball into the opposite team’s net.
Lacrosse stick
1900-1910
Iroquois, maker unknown
McCord Museum, M966.12.3
Kahnawà:ke Lacrosse Team
1867
Notman Photographic Archives
McCord Museum, I-29099.1
Lacrosse stick
Late 19th century
Gift of E. Lionel Judah
McCord Museum, M934.29.1
A long stick like this one was used when the object of the game was to throw the
ball as far as possible.
TI-GUY, A HAB AT HEART
The Club de hockey Canadien was founded in 1909, thus beginning a passionate
love affair between Montreal and a hockey team that still has people of all ages
and backgrounds cheering and screaming on Saturday night. The National
Hockey League, established in Montreal in 1917, remains the most prestigious
ice hockey league in the world.
Ti-Guy
About 1985
Sculpture by Marcel Dargis (1928- )
Gift of Mrs. Janice Herbert
McCord Museum, M986.211
This boy is wearing the “sacred” sweater of the Montreal Canadiens. Montrealers
are hockey fans almost by definition, and children fill rinks across the city,
enjoying their favourite winter sport.
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Caricature
Three Hab Graduates: Lafleur, Robinson ans Shutt
1977
Reproduction
Ink and felt pen on paper, by Aislin
Gift of Mr. Abner Kushner
McCord Museum, M988.176.322
Hockey pucks
Late 19th century
Reproductions
McCord Museum
Hockey stick
About 1879-1881
Gift of McGill University
McCord Museum, M995.18.1
Hockey puck
Late 19th century
Reproduction
McCord Museum
This wooden square was not yet called a “puck,” although it is indeed the
precursor of the round rubber disk. An article in The Gazette of March 4, 1875,
reported that,“Hockey is usually played with a ball, but last night, in order that no
accident should happen, a flat black disk of wood was used, so that it should
slide along the ice without rising.”
Skates
About 1940
Made by Daoust
Gift of Mrs. Louise Hurtubise Bousquet
McCord Museum, M2000.41.169.1-2
Skates
1910-1920
McCord Museum, M996X.2.871.1-2
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11.3. Hand in hand
GLIDING ALONG…
Ice skating, which originated in Europe, was perfectly suited to the Montreal
climate. In the early days, people skated on lakes, rivers and even on frozen
fields.
Photograph of Mrs. Particia Gault Pilecka
Unknown photographer
Gift of Mrs. Patricia Gault Pilecka
McCord Museum, M999.80.1.1-2
These skates were used by the donor when she won the Canadian Junior Figure
Skating Championship in 1941 in Montreal.
Skates
About 1955
Gift of Mr. Martin Boucher
McCord Museum, M2002.68.1.1-2
Skates
About 1850-1860
Gift of The Lampshade Shop
Gift of Mrs. Anne Beaulieu
McCord Museum, M973.70.1-2
In the 1850s, these elegant skates with the distinctive brass finial at the end of
the C-curve would have attracted considerable attention.
Skates
About 1885-1900
Gift of Mrs. George H. Motherwell
McCord Museum, M970X.98.1-2
Skates
About 1900-1910
Gift of the Air Canada Corporation
McCord Museum, M993.115.42.1-2
These skates were made by a local blacksmith. The spade-shaped front is novel
and practical, improving the stability of the foot.
Skates "Playmaker"
About 1975
Manufactured by Canadian Tire
Gift of Mrs. Caroline Bourgeois
McCord Museum, M2004.106.1.1-2
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11.4. Winter Wonderland
PARTY TIME!
Winter carnival fever took hold in Montreal from 1883 to 1889. A typical carnival
week would include curling bonspiels, hockey games, snowshoe competitions,
sleigh rides, costume balls on skates and toboggan races. The ice castle was
always the main attraction: A. C. Hutchison drew up the plans for the first one in
North America in 1883.
NOT JUST FROZEN WATER – A PALACE!
The 1887 ice palace was described as "by day, a house of alabaster, by night, a
giant lantern." It was made of 25,000 blocks of ice and stretched 44 meters long.
Its main tower was 32 meters high. But the glory of the ice palace was fleeting,
for at the peak of the carnival it was stormed by snowshoe club members.
Torch
1880-1890
Gift of Mr. Conrad Graham
McCord Museum, M983.230.2
The metal container of this torch would be filled with kerosene. A wick would be
inserted and lit, providing the perfect illumination for nighttime processions and
events.
Silver Carnival Trophy
1883
Gift of McGill University
McCord Museum, M976.188.1
Booklet
Over the Snow or the Montreal Carnival
1883
Author : Dr. W. George Beers
Publishers: W. Drysdale &. Co.; J. Theo. Robinson
McCord Museum, PHA0046
Booklet
Constitution and By – Laws of the Montreal Snow Shoe Club, established 1843.
1870
Gift of David Ross McCord
McCord Museum, M5627
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Program of the 1928-1929 Season of the Winter Club, Montreal
1928-1929
McCord Museum, C069/C,174.1
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12. Enjoyment - A Swinging City
At the turn of the century, Montreal was beginning to grow up. At events like the
Montreal Hunt Club Ball and the Scottish community's St. Andrew's Ball, much
fun was had by all―but always safely within the limits of strict Victorian morality.
The magnificent mansions of the Golden Square Mile also witnessed frequent
parties.
As the century wore on, however, the metropolis loosened up a little,
unconcerned by Prohibition, the ban on alcohol that had dried things up south of
the border. On St. Lawrence―the Main―things were really hot during the 20s,
30s and 40s. The choice was wide: there were taverns and nightclubs, the
burlesque houses so dear to francophones, and the best Yiddish theatre in the
land. And from cabaret doorways wafted the strains of a new kind of music that
raised many a moralist eyebrow and set young hips aswaying: jazz!
12.1. Montreal, Open City
While Prohibition was in effect in the United States from 1919 to 1933, many
Americans came across the border to Montreal, the most open, liberal city in
North America. Clubs and cabarets flourished as musicians, entertainers and
tourists flocked north for the nightlife.
Under American influence, jazz began gaining popularity in Montreal in the
1920s. By the 1940s, jazz could be heard throughout the city, which was
producing its own legendary musicians, such as Oscar Peterson.
Evening dress
About 1921
Ida Desmarais
Gift of Mrs. Saul A. Silverman
McCord Museum, M971.102.42
Bat girl
1912
Porcelain
Made by Goldscheider, Vienna, Austria
Gift of the Estate of Robert Snowball
McCord Museum, M981.105.26
Evening dress
1920-1930
Gift of the Estate of Dale Wiedeman
McCord Museum, M996.9.9
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Mr. Kirsh’s Jazz Band
1921
Wm. Notman & Son
McCord Museum, II-240920
Under American influence, jazz began gaining popularity in Montreal in the
1920s. By the 1940s, jazz could be heard throughout the city, which was
producing its own legendary musicians, such as Oscar Peterson.
Cocktail shaker and glass
About 1930
Lent by Mr. Conrad Graham
Syphon
1920-1935
Made by the British Syphon Mfg. Co.
Gift of Mr. Bill Bliss
McCord Museum, M994.47.3.1-4
Etched on the side of the glass syphon is the name of the bottling works that
would add the carbonated water “J. H. Bryant, Sherbrooke, Quebec.”
Rye bottle
Early 20th century
Gift of BCE Inc.
McCord Museum, M999.70.20
Bottle
Late 19th century
McCord Museum, M994X.2.79
12.2. 1001 Nights
WHEN NIGHT FALLS…
Women’s evening attire in the 1950s was based on the fashionable hourglass
silhouette, with a narrow defined waistline and fitted bodice. A full skirt reached
either to the floor or just below the knee. Stiff crinolines added volume to skirts of
taffeta, chiffon, brocade, lace or beaded and sequined net. Strapless bodices
were very fashionable. Shoes were often dyed to match dresses. Rhinestone
jewellery, a small cocktail hat and wrist or elbow-length kid or nylon gloves
completed an ensemble.
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Pine Avenue, Montreal
About 1960
Gift of Mrs. Jane Harris Putnam
McCord Museum, MP-1987.15.5013
Shoes
About 1950
Vogue Shoe Shop Ltd.
Gift of Mrs. Eric Cushing
McCord Museum, M982.48.3.1-2
Necklace and bracelet
1940-1950
Gift of Mr. Mario Laroche
McCord Museum, M988.70.14.1-2
Purse
1950-1960
Gift of Ms. Mary Elizabeth Tweedie
McCord Museum, M2002.108.6
Shoes
1953
Mayfair Shoe Salon
Gift of Mrs. Frank Lafferty
McCord Museum, M986.40.3.1-2
Purse
About 1953
Berger de Paris
Gift of Mrs. Frank Lafferty
McCord Museum, M986.40.2.1-2
In the 1950s, colour harmony in all items of an ensemble was considered the
ultimate fashion statement.
Gloves
About 1940
Gift of Mrs. S. Boyd Millen
McCord Museum, M976.18.37.1-2
Long gloves were an important accessory for a strapless or sleeveless evening
gown.
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Necklace
1940-1950
Gift of Mr. Mario Laroche
McCord Museum, M988.70.8
Shoes
1950-1960
Saks Fifth Avenue
Gift of Mrs. J. Patrick Henderson
McCord Museum, M976.37.27.1-2
Scarf
About 1950
Gift of Mrs. Armand Mathieu
McCord Museum, M972.123.13
Purse
1940-1950
Henry Birks & Sons Ltd.
Gift of Mrs. A. Murray Vaughan
McCord Museum, M967.11.33
Cocktail menu
Le Panorama Restaurant, Queen Elizabeth Hotel
About 1960
Gift of Ms. Marjorie D. Cooper Gawley
McCord Museum, M2004.94.22.56
Paper napkins
Cordials
1954
Gift of Dr.Victoria Dickenson
McCord Museum, M2002.123.13.1-27
Wine list
Chez son Père Restaurant
About 1965
Gift of Ms. Marjorie D. Cooper Gawley
McCord Museum, M2004.94.22.53
Menu
Chez son Père Restaurant
1963
Gift of Ms. Marjorie D. Cooper Gawley
McCord Museum, M2004.94.22.43
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Menu
La Tour Eiffel
1963
Gift of Ms. Marjorie D. Cooper Gawley
McCord Museum, M2004.94.22.40
Menu
La Tour Eiffel
1963
Gift of Ms. Marjorie D. Cooper Gawley
McCord Museum, M2004.94.22.55
Shoes
About 1955
Delman
Gift of Mrs. A. Murray Vaughan
McCord Museum, M971.149.2.1-2
Purse
1940-1960
McCord Museum, M991X.1.41
Necklace and bracelet
1950-1960
McCord Museum, M2009X.1.1.1-2
Shoes
About 1958
Vogue Shoe Shop Ltd.
Gift of Miss Barbara Chadwick
McCord Museum, M966.95.1.1-2
Hat
1950-1960
Fanny Graddon
Gift of Mrs. W. Longdale Holland
McCord Museum, M987.6.1
Hats of the 1950s were frequently adorned with feathers or flowers fashioned of
fabric, straw, plastic or other materials. Cocktail hats were often small and
hugged the head closely, and might be trimmed with sequins. A small veil
sometimes covered the upper part of the face.
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Brooch and earrings
1950-1960
Schiaparelli
Gift of Mrs. Beatrice Marelli Pearson
McCord Museum, M2000.39.1.1-3
Scarf
About 1950
Jacqmar
Gift of Mrs. Frederick Cleveland Morgan
McCord Museum, M957.5.4
FASHION IN THE 1950S
Post Word War II and through the 1950s, women’s fashion was inspired by
traditional notions of femininity. The New Look introduced by Christian Dior in
1947 featured a silhouette which continued to hold sway for well over a decade.
Full skirts, fitted bodices, and a nipped-in waistline characterized the fashionable
hourglass shape. Dior’s designs were licensed to Holt Renfrew in Montreal;
European couture garments and copies were sold in department stores and
boutiques. Local Montreal couturiers also created custom-made garments for
their clients.
Dress
About 1958
Jacques Fath
Gift of Mrs. Gerald Bronfman
McCord Museum, M967.29.4.1-2
Dress
About 1950
Jean Dessès
Gift of Mrs. Bruce Smith
McCord Museum, M974.34.1-3
Dress
About 1950
Jacques Griffe
Gift of Mrs. L. M. Hart
McCord Museum, M966.37.63
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Dress
About 1954
Digby Morton
Gift of Mrs.T.H.P. Molson
McCord Museum, M972.71.2.1-2
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Credits
The exhibition Simply Montreal, is a realisation of the McCord Museum.
Project Director
Carol Pauzé
Guest Curator
Andrea Hauenchild
Designer
Luc Perreault
Artist-Designer
Pierre-André Vézina
Consultants
CULTURA, bureau d’études
Historians
Jean Lamarre
Kathryn Harvey
Daniel Turcotte
Advisory Commitee
Kanatakta Beauvais
Joanne Burgess
Anne Casavant
Kanien’kehaka Raotitiohkwa Cultural Center
Jean Lamarre
Sylvie Vincent
John Zucchi
Audio-Visual Production
TOP! Musée
Animation
Atelier Multi-Versions Inc.
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