Hours: By appointment only, Monday-Thursday, 9:00am-11:30am and 1:30pm-4:30pm.
Location: Faubourg Guy, FG A112, 1250 Guy St, Montreal, Quebec, H3H 2L3
Contact: (514) 848-2424, ext. 7970; archives@concordia.ca
Access: One user is permitted in the research room at a time. To book an appointment, contact the Records Management and Archives by email. Review website for guidelines.
Website: http://www.concordia.ca/offices/archives.html
Concordia University’s Records Management and Archives is the University’s official archival repository, also housing records from its two founding institutions, Loyola College and Sir George Williams University. In 1974, Loyola College merged with Sir George Williams University to create Concordia University. Records include institutional fonds and private collections related to health, physical education, arts and culture, religion, ethnicity and sexuality.
Concordia’s Records and Management Archives include collections from the Concordia HIV/AIDS project (1988- ). In 1986, the Concordia University Office of the Rector became concerned with the rising of social and health issues related to HIV/AIDS and in 1993 created the HIV/AIDS Advisory Committee, organizing speaker series, courses and internships related to the subject of HIV/AIDS. Concordia was only the fourth university in Canada to define formal guidelines on AIDS. Concordia University’s Department of Recreation and Athletic (1974-2010) and Loyola College Department of Athletics (1901-1975) collections include a list of varsity athletes (1937-1989), recreation program records, photographs, films and correspondence. The Sir George Williams Department of Physical Education (1959-1975) collection includes records related to its active programme of student athletics and health education. The Centre for Human Relations and Community Studies (1963-2008) was established in 1963, simultaneously with the Department of Applied Social Science. It has since developed Canada’s most established Human Relations Training Development Program and academic programs in Family Life Education and Community Service. The International and Ethnic Association Council of Concordia (1981-2014) is an umbrella organization representing nine international/ethnic associations at Concordia University. The Lesbian Studies Coalition of Concordia (1987-1993) works toward integrating lesbian material and perspectives into all applicable disciplines, also acting as a support group for lesbians. The Jesuit Archives collection (1908-1968) includes photographs that document the Jesuit community, buildings and sports teams at Loyola College since 1908.
Notable Private Collections include the Walton Hannah fonds (c. 1912-1966), teacher of theology and a Member of the British House of Commons (1935-1944). His collection includes documentary materials on Freemasonry, providing information on the history, structure, aims, and activities of Freemasonry and other secret organizations with emphasis on Anglophone and francophone Québec. His aim was to expose Freemasonry as an anti-Christian movement. The Thomas D’Arcy McGee collection (1844-1968) provides information on Thomas D’Arcy McGee’s history and his relation with his family. McGee was involved with the Irish nationalists’ cause and called for a new nationality in Canada, the federation of British North America, a transcontinental railway and settlement in the West.
Records and Management Archives also houses the collections of various ethnic and religious organizations including the Young Men’s Christian Association or YMCA of Montréal fonds (1851-2004) contain the mission, structure, senior personnel, administration, programs, activities, facilities, and evolution of the Montreal YMCA since 1851. Initially, the YMCA was a religious (Evangelical Protestant) movement for young men, whose goal was to provide fellowship opportunities for constructive use of leisure time. Saint Patrick’s Total Abstinence and Benevolent Society (1868-1903) claimed to be the first Roman Catholic temperance society in North America whereby members pledged to abstain from intoxicating drinking. The Oral History-Montreal Studies collection (1941-1999) consists of 446 audio reels and 200 compact cassettes of oral history interviews related to Greater Montreal leaders and witnesses of the labour, industrial, cultural, social, religious, and ethnic scene since World War II. The NCCU Hungarian Refugee Student Committee (1956-1958) was established as a request of the Canadian Department of Citizenship and Immigration in order to assess Hungarian refugee … »students and facilitate their integration into Canadian universities and colleges. The Gazette Collection (c. 1940-1945), Montreal’s English-Language daily newspaper, includes 3,456 photographs related to World War II including National Film Board photojournalism on uranium mining for nuclear power in Canada.
There are also various audiovisual excerpts, including most notably Sir George Williams, who founded the YMCA movement in England (1894), the Honourable René Lévesque, Prime Minister of Québec (1976-1985), social activist and Québec union leader Michel Chartrand, supreme court judge Gerald LeDain and scientist and environmentalist David Suzuki.