Collecting Knowledge: New Dialogues on McCord Museum Collections

Collecting Knowledge: New Dialogues on McCord Museum Collections

Collecting Knowledge: New Dialogues on McCord Museum Collections, a colloquium organized jointly by the research team of Montréal, Dynamic Hubspace, and the McCord Museum, was held November 7-9, 2013.

Attracting 150 participants, this unique event was designed to establish a dialogue about new research frontiers and stimulate discussions to enhance public knowledge of the Museum’s collections. The colloquium was also an opportunity to present recent research findings that have made innovative use of the McCord Museum’s historical collections, one of Canada’s largest sources of documents and artefacts for historical research.

The meeting presented a wealth of information and generated a great deal of interest, proof of the importance of encouraging exchanges between researchers and curators.

Presentations
Over thirty speakers took part in eight sessions, sharing their work with fellow researchers, Museum staff, and a large public audience interested in Montreal and its key role in the history of Canada. The event began with the session entitled Voices from the Vaults: Object Biography and McCord Museum Collections, chaired by Joanne Burgess, from the Université du Québec à Montréal, and featuring presentations by Anne Mackay, Head, Conservation; Guislaine Lemay, Curator, Ethnology and Archaeology; and Cynthia Cooper, Curator, Costume and Textiles. The keynote address was given by Jacques Mathieu, Professor Emeritus, Université Laval, an historian specializing in New France. His talk, entitled Journal intime de l’objet [Diary of an Object], examined the various approaches that may be used to document, study, analyze and present museum objects to different publics.

Programme Abstracts

Visits
Approximately sixty participants also enjoyed behind-the-scenes visits of or workshops on the Museum’s collections, or took a guided tour of the exhibition Wearing Our Identity – The First Peoples’ Collection, all presented by Museum curators.

Comments
“There were many unexpected discussions, new ground broken, and memories of objects and fascinating research that enhance our understanding of what makes this extraordinary city.”
-Dominic Hardy, Chair of the Iconography and Politics session

Dissemination
Presentations were recorded and are featured on the McCord Museum channel on Youtube and on UQÀM.tv.