Collections and Research

For over one hundred years, the Museum has been building its rich collections of objects, images and documents that bear witness to the social history of Montreal, the city’s place within Quebec and Canada, and the vitality of Indigenous cultures.

Discover our collections online or in person at our exhibitions, or make an appointment to consult our collections database in our Archives and Documentation Centre pour consulter la base de données de nos collections.

Online Collections - New platform

To mark its 100th anniversary, the McCord Museum is launching a new open access platform with bilingual descriptions of over 140,000 objects, photographs and archival documents from its collections.

The site also features approximately 130,000 royalty-free images that may be downloaded in the highest resolution available, free of charge, with no restrictions on their use. Created to provide unparalleled access to the McCord Museum’s collections, the project is a first for the institution.

Explore the Online Collections

Collections

Documentary Art

More than 92,000 works
30,800 online

Oil paintings, watercolours, lithographs, etchings, woodcuts, posters, press illustrations, sketchbooks, drawings and cartoons, dating from the 18th century to the present day.

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Dress, Fashion and textiles

More than 27,000 garments and accessories
960 online

Garments and accessories covering three centuries, worn by men, women and children in Canada, primarily in Montreal; fashion from Montreal designers, manufacturers and retailers; handmade domestic textiles, primarily quilts and coverlets.

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Indigenous Cultures

More than 16,000 objets
5,800 online

Clothing and accessories, domestic objects, hunting and fishing equipment, weapons of war, objects used for transportation, ceremonial items, archaeological objects and works illustrating various forms of artistic expression.

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Material Culture

More than 62,000 objets
7,700 online

Furniture, silver, ceramics, glass, pewter and other metal objects, items related to food preparation, interior decoration, household management and tobacco, scientific instruments, terrestrial and celestial globes, toys and games, sports equipment, weapons, hunting and fishing tools, coins and medals.

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Photography

More than 2,150,000 images
83,300 online

Collection of vintage Canadian photographs including prints and glass negatives, stereograms, composites, painted photographs, daguerreotypes and other types of early photographic processes, family albums, vernacular photographs, documentary photographs, artist portfolios, cameras and photographic equipment from 1840 to the present day..

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EncycloFashionQC

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EncycloFashionQC is the unique online encyclopaedic reference for the history of fashion in Quebec. An initiative of the McCord Museum, it aims to be the authoritative source of information on designers, manufacturers, retailers, organizations, and events that have left their mark on fashion created in Quebec throughout the industry’s history.

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Archives and documentation centre

Over 820 sets of documents from the Archives collection as well as the Photography collection, are available for public consultation. The Archives and Documentation Centre also offers users access to a reference library of 9,000 works and specialized periodicals, in addition to more than 3,500 titles from its rare book collection.

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Photographic services and copyright

The Museum is allowing the free use of all the digital images available online of archives and objects believed to be in the public domain. These images are offered free of charge, without restriction, in accordance with the guidelines provided.

Use these images and their descriptions in myriad ways! Historical research, educational program development, illustrations for articles, reports, presentations, and books, commercial or decorative purposes, and much more!

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Blog - Resonance

Collections - Montrealities

The Notman Archives' arrival at the McCord Museum

Follow the journey of the Notman Photographic Archives to the McCord Museum's reserves.

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Collections

David Ross McCord: A lifetine devoted to preserving memory

Learn more about the McCord Museum's founder and the building of his collection.

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Collections - Conservation

Fun with faux fur

Learn about the challenging, meticulous treatments behind the restoration of two fur parkas.

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Conservation

The Conservation Department is at the heart of the McCord’s mandate to preserve, study and present its objects. Our engagement in hands-on and scholarly activities relating to preservation makes our objects more accessible, allowing visitors, colleagues and researchers alike to enjoy and learn from our collections.

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Team

Collections are at the heart of what the Museum does. Meet the people whose job it is to build and care for them.

Their passion is to know their collections inside out, and share that knowledge with audiences that can include Indigenous communities, virtual visitors and specialized scholars, to name just a few.

Meet the team

Donations and loans

DONATIONS

Moratorium
The McCord Museum has decided to place a moratorium on new acquisitions for a period of three years effective on April 1, 2020. This respite period is necessary in order to allow the institution to review its policies taking into account the significant growth of its collections over the past decade, to reorganize its space needs and to undertake the processing of all uncatalogued collections and fonds. We thank all those who wish to donate objects and invite you to contact us when the moratorium is lifted.

OBJECTS LOANS

In accordance with its collections access policy, the McCord Museum authorizes loans of object to other museums under certain conditions.

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