Visions of Canada: Photographs and History in a Museum, 1921-1967

Visions of Canada: Photographs and History in a Museum, 1921-1967 Heather McNabb A Thesis In the Department of History Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (History) at Concordia University Montreal, Quebec, Canada May 2015 © Heather McNabb 2015 ii iii ABSTRACT Visions of Canada: Photographs and History in a Museum, 1921-1967 Heather McNabb, PhD. Concordia University, 2015 This dissertation is an exploration of the changing role of photographs used in the dissemination of history by a twentieth-century Canadian history museum. Based on archival research, the study focuses on some of the changes that occurred in museum practice over four and a half decades at Montreal’s McCord Museum. The McCord was in many ways typical of other small history museums of its time, and this work illuminates some of the transformations undergone by other similar organizations in an era of professionalization of many fields, including those of academic and public history. Much has been written in recent scholarly literature on the subject of photographs and the past. Many of these works, however, have tended to examine the original context in which the photographic material was taken, as well as its initial use(s). Instead, this study takes as its starting point the way in which historic photographs were employed over time, after they had arrived within the space of the museum. Archival research for this dissertation suggests that photographs, initially considered useful primarily for reference purposes at the McCord Museum in the early twentieth century, gradually gained acceptance as historical objects to be exhibited in their own right, depicting specific moments from the past to visitors. By the early nineteen-sixties, after the arrival of a significant collection of historic photographs, and following the influence of major exhibitions of photography such as Edward Steichen’s The Family of Man, the iv perspective of museum staff had changed. In the wake of a Cold War rise in nationalism, and the enthusiasm of the years leading up to the centennial of Canadian Confederation, the historical photographs in this collection began to be used in ways that reflected some of the concerns of the present, connecting various audiences with issues of modernity, place, identity, and Canadian history. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the support and encouragement of so many people along the way, and it seems that these few words can never be enough to express my gratitude. My first mention of thanks goes to my very patient and understanding supervisor, Dr. Steven High, for his support, encouragement, and very useful and timely critiques of my work. Dr. High very ably helped me to view my dissertation journey in smaller, more manageable sections, making what had sometimes seemed an impossible and distant goal into a reality. I am also indebted to Dr. Barbara Lorenzkowski and Dr. Erica Lehrer, for their kind help in my comprehensives, and for taking the time to be on my committee, and to Dr. Shannon McSheffrey and Dr. Norman Ingram for their support even though they were not directly related to this project. I am also grateful for the great company and sympathetic ears of my fellow graduate students in the early, middle and later parts of my journey. My special thanks in this regard go to Lindsay Pattison, Rosemary O’Flaherty, William Hamilton and Julie Perrone. I would also like to thank Dr. Ronald Rudin, for his kind help and advice when I first applied to the Doctoral programme, as well as for teaching the course on photography and public history that inspired me to get back into academic study, bringing my interests in photography and history together in this project. I could not end without thanking my colleagues and friends at the McCord, who have very patiently listened to my various ramblings about my project, and who have been very supportive of my research, in so many ways. Thanks are due to Marilyn Aitken, Cynthia Cooper, Guislaine Lemay, Anne Mackay, Stéphanie Poisson, Hélène Samson, Céline Widmer, and last but certainly not least, Nora Hague, the fountain of knowledge for the Notman Photographic Archives. vi Finally, I must give thanks to my friends and extended family, primarily for having put up with me all these years, especially recently, when I have been hiding out, hermit- like, in the midst of my books and studies. And my most heartfelt gratitude goes to my husband, Jeff, and my children Carrie-Ann and Iain for their forbearance and their hugs in spite of my increasing distractedness as this project has drawn to a close. I dedicate this project to them, and to my mother, Susan, who, if her circumstances had been different, would have certainly been my “Dr. Mom”. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Visions of Canada: Photographs and History in a Museum, 1921-1967 ................ i SIGNATURE PAGE ..................................................................................................... ii ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES....................................................................................................... x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ..................................................................................... xiii INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 Perspectives on photography and history in a museum ............................................ 1 Mirrors and Magical Details ........................................................................................ 4 Capturing Time ............................................................................................................. 7 Working With Photographs in the Museum ............................................................ 10 Recent Scholarship on Photographs, Museums, and Archives .......................... 13 The Biography of a Photographic Collection ......................................................... 24 Reflecting on the Process ......................................................................................... 28 Looking Back in Time ............................................................................................ 33 CHAPTER 1 .................................................................................................................... 35 History on Display at the McCord National Museum, 1921-1936 .......................... 35 Museum Transformations ......................................................................................... 35 The Founding of the McCord National Museum ................................................... 38 The Waning of Empire History at the McCord National Museum ....................... 49 Continuing Interest in General Wolfe and Aboriginal artifacts ............................ 54 The Fur Trade Grows in Importance ....................................................................... 63 The McCord’s Early Approach to Visitors .............................................................. 65 McGill Historians and the McCord National Museum ........................................... 68 An Active Period for the McCord ............................................................................. 71 The Museum Experts Weigh In ................................................................................ 74 A Noteworthy Donation to the McCord ............................................................... 84 CHAPTER 2 .................................................................................................................... 86 The “handmaid of the arts and sciences” ................................................................... 86 viii Accession Numbers: Finding the Contents of the Early Photographic Collection ..................................................................................................................... 93 The Character of the Collection ............................................................................. 100 “Absolute Material Accuracy”: Photographs in a “Record-Keeping” Role ...... 105 The Aura of “Pastness”: History is collected in photographs at the McCord . 116 An Influential Collection ....................................................................................... 122 CHAPTER 3 .................................................................................................................. 123 Photographs, Power, and Materiality ........................................................................ 123 The arrival of the Notman Collection ..................................................................... 123 Problematic Materiality ............................................................................................ 125 The Material Form of the Collection ...................................................................... 127 Material Concerns during the Acquisition Process ............................................. 131 The first use of the Notman Collection at the McCord ....................................... 135 Miss Bond .............................................................................................................

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