The Stewart Museum
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The Stewart Museum is the first and most important project of David Stewart, its founding father. Before its opening in 1955 as the Montreal Military and Maritime Museum, he established the Lake St-Louis Historical Society to gather artifacts that could be displayed in the museum.
Housed in the wooden blockhouse on Île Sainte-Hélène, the small seasonal museum presented objects and documents on the military history of Montreal and Canada, opening with an exhibition on the 7 Years War. From the beginning, David Stewart advocated an educational approach that emphasized the object, the image and the text. This formula is the cornerstone on which the collections were assembled as well as the organization of exhibitions over the years. As the collections grew, the museum had to relocate in 1963 to occupy more suitable space at the arsenal on Île Sainte-Hélène. This was the occasion to inaugurate a permanent exhibition devoted to the objects and documents gathered by David Stewart on the European adventure in North America from the end of the 15th century to the middle of the 19th century. At the same time of the occupation of the Arsenal by the museum, the Lake Saint Louis Historical Society Library was transferred to the fort. Over the years, with several important acquisitions of rare books, manuscripts, prints, iconographies, canadiana and ancient maps it became the most important private rare books library in the province of Quebec. In 1979, the library collection was housed in a new space at the Fort, totally restored to the state of the art, and enhancing the activities of the museum. In anticipation of Expo 67 in Montreal David Stewart created an historical animation program at the museum, the first in Quebec, through the reconstitution of two regiments that had left an imprint on the early history of Canada - the Compagnie Franche de la Marine, a permanent colonial troop in North America and the 78th Fraser Highlanders, the first Scottish troops who fought and then were stationed here, many remaining after the capitulation. Made up of young students from the Montreal area, for many years the troops enlivened the courtyard of the Fort de l'Île Sainte-Hélène with 18th century military manoeuvres. The scope and spectacular nature of their demonstrations were widely recognized and reinforced the attraction of the Fort as a summer destination par excellence in Montreal. For David Stewart this program illustrated the use of the artifacts on display in the museum - bringing history to life. The Museum was also at the origin of the first experiments in education as a pedagogical tool. This initiative, in collaboration with the Department of Education of the Université du Québec à Montréal, led to the creation of the Groupe de recherche en Éducation et Musée, GREM. Thanks to an energetic acquisition program, the museum built over the years a collection of international stature that aims to be representative of all the human activities that made the birth of the New World possible. This collection, which includes rare documents and books, ancient maps, globes, scientific and navigational instruments, as well as decorative and everyday objects, enabled the museum to organize major exhibitions and publish award-winning works. Both exhibitions and publications have enlarged the body of documentary material on Canadian history from its origins. Among these exhibitions, The Canada of Louis XIV; The Discovery of the World: Cartographers and Cosmographers; Madame de Pompadour and the Flowering of the Arts; Napoleon at Île Sainte-Hélène; and Canada-Normandy 500 years of history. Among the award winning books - The Art of Teaching Physics- Jean-Antoine Nollet's Scientific Instruments. The collections, exhibitions and historical animation program enabled the museum to forge fruitful links with many museum institutions both at home and abroad. In order to continue to grow and share its treasures with a wider audience, the Stewart Museum merged with the McCord Museum in 2013 to create an institution that is essential to a broad knowledge of Canada's historical heritage, from the presence of Aboriginal peoples to the present day. In a particularly difficult financial context for museums, notably due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the McCord Stewart Museum has decided to move ahead, earlier than planned, with the physical merger of the two institutions as part of the new museum project, by permanently ending the activities of the Stewart Museum at the Fort on Île Sainte-Hélène during the Winter of 2021. The Stewart Museum's collection, which has been integrated with the McCord Museum collection since 2013, is now housed and displayed by the McCord Stewart Museum in a single location, itself an important heritage building in downtown Montreal. This transfer has increased public and scholarly access to this valuable collection and keeps alive the legacy of David and Liliane Stewart, the founders of the Stewart Museum. The integration of the collections was accompanied by a major financial pledge from the foundation, which has resulted in significant contributions to the McCord Stewart Museum operating budget since 2013. |
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