Conferences and Symposia

Costume Balls: The symposium

March 20 and 21, 2025 | 2 days; a wide range of approaches to the unparalleled material and visual legacy featured in the exhibition Costume Balls: Dressing Up History, 1870-1927.

The symposium will share new learning derived from the full spectrum of the process of creating the exhibition, from the slow curatorial process of identification and analysis of the extant garments and visual culture, through the subsequent rethinking of our objectives for conservation interventions, to addressing historical injustices in impersonations of Indigeneity.
See program

Watch the last lectures

McCord Stewart Discoveries

March 22, 2024 | Half-Day Conference

The Museum’s experts present the research projects they’ve been working on and share their recent discoveries related to the Museum’s collections and archives.
The event is geared towards an academic audience as well as anyone interested in history and archives, museum studies, or material culture.

The presentations are available on the Museum Blog, watch them online:

• James Duncan: Art correspondent for The Illustrated London News
  Presentation in French by Christian Vachon, Head, Collections Management and Curator, Documentary Art.
• Uncovering emotions in the archives: The Shared Emotions project
  Presentation in French by Mathieu Lapointe, Curator, Archives.
• The Curious Case of the Kul-e-Tuk Parka: Appropriation of an Inuit Garment
  Presentation in English by Alexis Walker, Associate Curator, Dress, Fashion and Textiles.
• Threads of Black Emancipation in an Eighteenth-Century Dress
  Presentation in English by Cynthia Cooper, Head, Collections and Research; Curator, Dress, Fashion and Textiles

Around Wampum: Histories and Perspectives

February 22 and 23, 2024 | International symposium

Capitalizing on the unprecedented interest generated by Wampum: Beads of Diplomacy, the Museum organized a symposium devoted to these unique cultural objects, bringing together a dozen Indigenous, Quebecois, Canadian and international specialists.

The presentations are available on the Museum Blog, watch them online:

• Day 1
  This recording includes the talks and the three panels from February 22, 2024.
• Day 2
  This recording includes the talks and the three panels from February 23, 2024.