Conferences and Symposia

Costume Balls: The symposium

March 20 and 21, 2025
The McCord Stewart Museum’s specialists, artists and authors share new learning derived from the full spectrum of the process of creating the exhibition Costume Balls: Dressing Up History, 1870-1927, 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.

Watch the talks online, available on the Museum Blog:

• Day 1
  This recording includes the four talks from March, 20, 2025
• Day 2
  This recording includes the eight talks from March, 21, 2025

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.

Watch the presentations online, available on the Museum Blog:

• 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.

Watch the talks online, available on the Museum Blog:

• Day 1
  This recording includes talks from February 22, 2024.
• Day 2
  This recording includes talks from February 23, 2024.