About the Foundation
The McCord Museum Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to the protection, preservation, and promotion of the McCord Museum's collections, exhibitions, and educational programs.
Home to more than 1,400,000 objects, images and manuscripts that chronicle and highlight our collective heritage, the McCord Museum has been driven by its mission to inspire its visitors to become informed, open-minded, and engaged citizens. We strongly believe that the McCord Museum plays an integral role in understanding and communicating Canadian culture to the public in an accessible and interactive manner.
Through the financial assistance the Foundation provides, the McCord Museum is able to maintain its internationally recognized collections, weave stories of Montreal, Quebec, and Canada through our award-winning website, educational programs, and breathtaking exhibits, and support rigorous research and publication on the part of our highly trained curators.
We need you during our 90th year!
Your generous donations enable the McCord Museum Foundation to support important education, research, and exhibition priorities at the McCord Museum and to reach out to thousands of local, national, and international visitors each year.
Some areas in which we most need your help:
- Our Collections: The McCord Museum holds an extraordinary number of treasures that are recognized nationally and internationally: our astounding collection of dresses, accessories and footwear make up the largest collection of Canadian clothing and fashion in the world; our ethnology collection comprises Aboriginal art, clothing, tools, baskets, to name just a few and is one of the oldest and best-preserved in the world; our famous Notman Photographic Archives allows our visitors to imagine Montreal past and present; and our archival collections include treasures such as General Wolfe's diaries and other textual memories of both regular and famous Montrealers alike.
- Educational Programs: The McCord Museum's award-winning educational programs inspire youth and adults alike to discover issues relevant to Canadians of all walks of life. Weekly, we welcome elementary, secondary, and university students to partake in educational activities at the Museum that explore a wide number of themes, including historic Montreal, Indigenous peoples, antique toys, and careers such as photography and museology. New Canadians also find a home at the McCord Museum with our language and literacy programs in English and French, as well as our Nomad project that explores what it means to be an immigrant in the eyes of third and fourth grade students.
- Exhibitions: Costs associated with our exhibitions continue to grow, especially given the need of careful conservation and restoration of objects, the expense of rotating exhibitions quickly to respond to a public expectation for new and innovative interpretations, the demand for developed educational programs and cutting-edge technology. Our upcoming exhibitions this anniversary year build on the strengths of our historical collections, while incorporating contemporary art, modern photography, and new interpretations of our shared heritage.
- Technology: With the development of several ground-breaking exhibitions in 2011, come many technology needs, including: video clips from Montreal personalities, historians, architects, and other experts who reflect on our city's place in the world; an interactive exhibition and educational tools on our award-winning website; and the viewing of videos relating to the development of our city. The newest technology helps us create an interactive and immersive approach to our collections, both from within the Museum and from the comfort of one's own home across the globe
There are so many ways to support the McCord Museum!