Collections

Notman Photographic Archives

The Notman Photographic Archives, inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World International Register, are composed of about 200,000 glass plate negatives, 400,000 prints and hundreds of record books and ledgers produced by the Montreal studio founded by William Notman in 1856 and operated by his sons until 1935. They constitute a rare, largely intact record of a prolific nineteenth-century photography studio operating at a time when the medium was developing into an industrial form of image making.

As the repository of hundreds of thousands of portraits, landscape views and cityscapes executed over eighty years, the Notman Photographic Archives bear witness to an evolving Canadian society.

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Online Collections

The open access platform, Online Collections, makes it easy to consult over 185,000 images, objects, documents and works of art from the Museum's collections.

The site also features approximately 155,000 royalty-free images and documents 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 Stewart Museum’s collections, the project is a first for the institution.

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Collections

Archives

346 linear metres of archives and 3,670 rare books
4,430 documents online

Correspondence, diaries, minutes, books of account, contracts, maps and plans, dance cards, advertisements, menus and assorted other documents, all reflecting the histories of individuals, families, associations, administrations and businesses, events, and social customs and practices.

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Documentary Art

Close to 100,000 images
34,450 online

Oil paintings, watercolours, lithographs, etchings, wood engravings, posters, press illustrations, sketchbooks, drawings and editorial cartoons, dating from the 18th century to the present day and relating to Canadian history.

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Dress, Fashion and Textiles

More than 27,000 objects
1,070 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 cultural belongings
6,770 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 63,000 objects
19,190 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 3,000,000 images
94,600 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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About exhibition Costume Balls

Step into the world of the exhibition!

Creating the exhibition Costume Balls: Dressing Up History, 1870-1927 is the result of a monumental effort. Explore and meet the Museum's teams of experts and learn more about their work and their discoveries through blog articles, video interviews, behind-the-scenes photos, and much more!

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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 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 850 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 3,670 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 | Exhibitions

The Cowans’ Fancy Dress Ball

Revisiting a ball from 100 years ago, through photographs and costumes of those who attended.

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Collections | Exhibitions

Miss Lily, a role model of femininity

Discover the story behind a 19th-century fashion doll. Before Barbie, there was Lily.

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Collections | Exhibitions | Conservation

Creative conservation

Unravel the complexity of conservation around costumes and objects in exhibition Costume Balls: Dressing Up History, 1870-1927.

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Conservation

The Conservation Department is at the heart of the Museum'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

Moratorium

The Museum has placed a two-year moratorium on acquisitions, effective June 11, 2025.

During this hiatus, the institution will undertake critical collection management tasks: reviewing its policies, reorganizing its storage spaces and processing uncatalogued archival holdings. If you wish to donate objects or documents, please contact us at the end of the moratorium.

Thank you for your understanding.

Objects loans

In accordance with its collections access policy, The McCord Stewart Museum authorizes loans of objects to other museum under certain conditions.

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