Canada Science and Technology Museum Library and Archives

• Bibliothèque et archives du Musée des sciences et de la technologie du Canada

• Museum

In its 1951 report, the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences recommended that a Museum of Science be established to “illustrate in general the contributions of Canada to scientific research, to applied science and medicine, to invention and to technical development” (Royal Commission, p. 324). In 1960, J.H. Parkin built on this recommendation with a proposal for a national museum with a dual purpose: “to create a ‘visual record’ of Canadian achievements in science and technology, and to provide an educational resource on the history of science and technology for popular and scholarly visitors alike (Babaian, p. 4).” The National Science Museum Support Committee formed in 1965 and conducted extensive consultations before submitting a brief on 5 November 1965 to Under Secretary of State G.G.E. Steele. In the fall of 1966, David McCurdy Baird was appointed Director of the Science and Technology Branch of the National Museum of Canada” (Babaian, p.11). The National Science and Technology Museum opened its doors 17 November 1967.
The Museum’s building, formerly a warehouse occupied by the local bakery Morrison Lamothe, was intended to be temporary. At the beginning on the 1960s, there had been concurrent proposals for the development of the national museums, including the idea to have a central campus for all National Museum of Canada buildings in downtown Ottawa. This plan did not come to fruition, but the idea to centralize common museum functions was enshrined in the National Museums Act, proclaimed 1 April 1968. The Act created a single corporation comprising the National Gallery of Canada, the National Museum of Man, the National Museum of Natural Sciences, and the National Museum of Science and Technology. The National Museums of Canada Corporation (NMC) was governed by a 14 member board of trustees and a secretary-general. The directors for each Museum acted on behalf of the Board and were responsible for the activities of their respective museums (Babaian, p. 23).
Beyond this common governance structure, the library service was a common service. A NMC reference librarian provided public access to the library collections. Since its first years, the Museum had been acquiring 2-D material (library and archival material) in addition to 3-D artifacts. Staff also built curated collections of historical photographs acquired from a variety of sources. 2-D material was featured and reproduced in museum exhibitions. The Museum also had a records office to preserve corporate records. However, by 1986 the Museum’s Collection and Research Division was concerned about the management of archival resources in the collections and commissioned a study to address this question. At the time, it was decided to continue as before with the transfer of administrative and operational records to the National Archives of Canada and the management of historical archival material with museum materials.
The National Museum of Science and Technology Corporation (NMSTC) was established as an autonomous crown corporation on 1 July 1990 with the passage of the Museums Act. The Corporation included both the National Aviation Museum and the National Museum of Science and Technology. NMC staff assigned to the two museums became the NMSTC staff. Although an agreement was signed with Agriculture Canada to establish the Agriculture Museum back in 1983, the Corporation’s responsibility expanded in 1995, so that the Corporation was said from then on to comprise three museums.
Library staff provided access to 2-D collections from the three museums at the two locations where the library and archival holdings were stored: the National Museum of Science and Technology and the National Aviation Museum. In 1999, the Corporation built a dedicated storage space for archives at the National Museum of Science and Technology and began hiring staff dedicated to archival work. The Corporation was also renamed the Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation (CSTMC) in 1999, and the museums were renamed as well: the Canada Science and Technology Museum (CSTM), the Canada Agriculture Museum (CAGM), and the Canada Aviation and Space Museum (CASM). The Corporation introduced two important web exhibitions and image banks to provide access to the archival collections preserved at CSTM in the 2000s: CN Images of Canada (2001) and Picturing the Past (2006). The Library and Archives remained open when CSTM’s building was closed to the public for repairs in September 2014. The Corporation was rebranded Ingenium in June 2017 and the Museum reopened in November 2017.

-Museums Act S.C. 1990, c. 3.
-Ingenium's Corporate Policy on Collection Development and Management (Policy #100) as well as the Collections Development Strategy (CDS) provide the framework for archival acquisitions.

The Library and Archives of the Canada Science and Technology Museum preserves published and unpublished material relating to the history of science and technology in Canada. The holdings include the archival collections of the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum as well. The archives, monographs, periodicals, trade literature and technical manuals come from Canadian companies and individuals working in such fields as manufacturing, transportation, communication, agriculture, natural resources, and physical sciences.

Archival descriptions will be published on an ongoing basis on Archeion/ArchivesCanada union catalogues. Our digitized archives are available on the Digital Archives platform: https://ingeniumcanada.org/archives. Draft inventories for any collections not yet online are available upon request – please contact: library@ingeniumcanada.org

Wednesday 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Friday 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

please make an appointment

Staff will do a limited amount of research on behalf of distance clients in order to identify whether material relevant to a particular request can be found in our holdings. However, staff cannot perform more detailed or extensive research on behalf of clients. We can recommend local researchers who know our holdings well and may accept contracts.

Information on reproduction services can be found on this webpage: https://ingeniumcanada.org/archives/reproduction-fees

Revised, A. Torrance, 2018-03-07.

-Babaian, Sharon. (Undated.) Making do: The early years of the Canada Science and Technology museum. Available online: http://cstmuseum.techno-science.ca/en/the-early-years-of-the-canada-science-and-technology-museum.php
-Canada, Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences. (1951). Report of the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences 1949-1951. Available online on the website of Library and Archives Canada, accessed 03-08-2017: http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/massey/h5-400-e.html
Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation. (2015). Annual Report 2014-2015. Ottawa: Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation.
-Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation. (2014). Annual Report 2013-2014. Ottawa: Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation.
-Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation. (2013). Annual Report 2012-2013. Ottawa: Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation.
-Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation. (2009). Annual Report 2008-2009. Ottawa: Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation.
-Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation. (2008). Annual Report 2007-2008. Ottawa: Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation.
-Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation. (April 2007). CSTMC Archives Review. Corporate Records, File number 600-0750.
-Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation. (2002). Annual Report 2001-2002. Ottawa: Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation.
-Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation. (2001). Annual Report 2000-2001. Ottawa: Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation.
-Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation. (2000). Annual Report 1999-2000. Ottawa: Canada Science and Technology Museum Corporation.
-Denis, Hélène. (Décembre 1986). Les Musées scientifiques et techniques: L’organisation du Musée national des sciences et de la technologie. Monographie. EPM/RT-86/62. Disponible à la Bibliothèque du MSTC.
-Ingenium. Corporate Records. File NMC-LIB-3290-7 Library Services, National Museum of Science and Technology. Volume 3. 1984-1988.
-Ingenium. Corporate Records. File NMC-LIB-3290-7 Library Services, National Museum of Science and Technology. Volume 2. 1981-1983.
-Ingenium. Corporate Records. File NMC-LIB-3690-7 Library Services, National Museum of Science and Technology. Volume 1. 1968-1981.
-Jarrell, Richard A. (15 March 1985). “Pursuing the mandate: the National Museum of Science and Technology and research into Canada’s scientific and technical heritage.” Ottawa: National Museum of Science and Technology.
-Museums Act S.C. 1990, c. 3. (1990). Available at: http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/M-13.4/page-1.html (Accessed 2017-06-14).
-National Museums of Canada. (197?). Exploring science + technology in Canada. Available from CSTM Library.
-National Museum of Science and Technology Corporation. (1997). Annual Report 1996-1997. Ottawa: National Museum of Science and Technology Corporation.
-National Museum of Science and Technology Corporation. (1996). Annual Report 1995-1996. Ottawa: National Museum of Science and Technology Corporation.
-National Museum of Science and Technology Corporation. (1995). Annual Report 1994-1995. Ottawa: National Museum of Science and Technology Corporation.
-National Museum of Science and Technology Corporation. (1992). Annual Report 1991-1992. Ottawa: National Museum of Science and Technology Corporation.
-Swann, Peter C. (March 1978). Report on a New National Museum of Science and Technology. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada.