“To Make a Local History – Women’s Historical Society May Be Formed”

– Ottawa Journal, May 27, 1898

After “considerable talk among the ladies of the city” about the preservation of Ottawa’s rich cultural heritage, the Women’s Canadian Historical Society of Ottawa was founded in June of 1898. Formed in the drawing room of Matilda Edgar and under the motto of Love Thou Thy Land, their goal was “to encourage the collection and preservation of Canadian historical records and relics and to foster Canadian loyalty and patriotism.” The WCHSO, under the leadership of their first president Adeline Foster, laid the foundation for what would later become the Bytown Museum.

Throughout the early years, the activities of the WCHSO consisted of: the writing historical papers, regular meetings, and “Loan Exhibitions” – displays that brought together artefacts from the private collections of the members and local history enthusiasts. By the 1910s the burgeoning WCHSO was in dire need of a permanent home. After many itinerant years the former City Registry Office located at 70 Nicholas Street was acquired by the Society. Tucked away on the fifteenth page of the Ottawa Journal on October 24, 1917 – amidst wartime headlines and local advertisements – the Women’s Canadian Historical Society of Ottawa announced the impending opening of the Bytown Historical Museum by her Excellency the Duchess of Devonshire. The Museum was officially opened at 4 o’clock on October 25, 1917 by Mayor Harold Fisher, representing the Duchess, as “a museum for relics and souvenirs;” celebrating the occasion with its most comprehensive loans exhibition yet. Many of the items loaned would become some of the first permanent accessions into the collection, allowing the WCHSO to finally begin to fulfill its original mandate to collect and preserve.

An article published in the Ottawa Journal the following week detailed the event:

BYTOWN MUSEUM IS AROUSING CITY’S INTEREST

The Bytown Historical Museum, formerly the City Registry Office on Nicholas street,
which was formally opened under the auspices of the Ottawa Women’s Canadian Historical
Society on October 25 by His Worship Mayor Fisher, has an interesting collection of articles
such as old clocks, pewter, china, pictures, furniture… silhouettes of Col. By…and the
mayorality [sic] chair which was presented to ex-Mayor Cook, on the expiration of his
term of office and which he has given to the Museum.

After years of collecting, with a flourishing in the 1920s and 1930s under curators Jennie Russell Simpson and B. Key Eliot, the WCHSO was once again on the lookout for a larger more suitable home. In 1948 the Commissariat at the Ottawa Locks was proposed. Significant funds were raised to make urgent repairs to the dilapidated building and the WCHSO took possession in September of 1951. Despite being described as “encrusted with century-old dust and grime” with deteriorated plaster, a leaking roof and an inadequate electrical system, the Building Committee report described the Commissariat as the “perfect setting” for the Museum – a sentiment shared by staff, volunteers and visitors alike to this day. After much needed renovations, the Bytown Museum opened its doors in the Commissariat (our present location) on June 27, 1952. The ceremony, presided over by Comptroller Powers, representing Mayor Charlotte Whitton, welcomed guests to the Commissariat, a “fine building, rich in historical association;” one cannot help but wonder at the fate of the building had the women of the Historical Society not seen its immense potential. The Society opened its membership to men and changed its name to the Historical Society of Ottawa in 1956.

Over the decades, the Museum grew in both scope and attendance; however, it always maintained its charm. An article in the Ottawa Journal from September of 1976 described it as “not your average museum,” requiring “at least three visits before one can begin to appreciate” the exhibitions and collections held within. Perhaps the biggest change was a newly established acquisitions policy which restricted the collection to items “from Ottawa, or an Ottawa collection, and [pre-dating] World War One.” In 2015 the Museum extended its mandate to include present-day Ottawa.

The 1980s was an era of exciting growth for the HSO; first with the inaugural publication of the Bytown Pamphlet Series and later, under the leadership of their new landlord, Parks Canada, the complete renovation and restoration of the Commissariat between 1982 and 1984. During this time several of the Museum’s key pieces went out on loan while the Museum hosted several exhibitions in temporary buildings on Wellington Street and in New Edinburgh. When the Museum re-opened in 1985, the inaugural exhibition, Bytown Museum Treasures, highlighted key artefacts and recent acquisitions including some of our most iconic pieces, such as the fabulous “Drummond Cup,” the “McDonald Crock” and an autographed silhouette of Lt. Col. John By from 1832.

Today, the MUSÉE BYTOWN MUSEUM is an independent registered charity, not-for-profit. It builds upon the heritage of those intrepid women of the WCHSO; the Historical Society having transferred the artefact collection to the Museum’s care in 2003. We are a small but deeply dedicated team of professionals, Ottawa enthusiasts and history lovers. Our mandate is to collect, preserve, study and make accessible the material and cultural heritage of the Ottawa region’s multicultural and diverse history. Through our important and eclectic collection of over 10,000 artefacts, the Museum strives to tell the stories of an evolving city – from its first inhabitants and the early days of Bytown to present-day Ottawa. We engage in innovative programming, exciting exhibitions, public access projects and community involvement and are active with local, national and international partners. In 2017 the Bytown Museum celebrates its 100th anniversary along with the 10th anniversary of the Rideau Canal’s UNESCO World Heritage Site status as well as Canada’s 150th birthday! Ottawa truly does begin here!

Grant M. Vogl
Collections and Exhibitions Manager, Bytown Museum

MUSÉE BYTOWN MUSEUM: 100^TH ANNIVERSARY EXHIBITION AND CELEBRATION

MUSÉE BYTOWN MUSEUM celebrates one hundred years of serving the Ottawa community in 2017!  Canada was only fifty years old when the Women’s Canadian Historical Society of Ottawa founded the Bytown Historical Museum on October 25, 1917. It was nearing the end of the First World War –a war that defined Canada as a mature and independent country and a world power. The Museum demonstrated that Ottawa, our capital city, would become a cultural heritage centre for Canada and the world.

Your community museum stewards over 10,000 artefacts that represent Ottawa’s robust history; offers insightful exhibitions, as well as fun and educational programs, engages the community in its Community Gallery, strong partnerships and a vigorous appreciation of its Community Museum. Partnerships entail Department of Canadian Heritage, National Museums, Ottawa Tourism, local BIAs and businesses, Parks Canada, City of Ottawa Archives and Museums, local and provincial community museums, City of Ottawa and Ottawa 2017. The BYTOWN MUSEUM proactively enhances its collections management system and reputation and has amazing artefacts on loan to National and International museums, such as the Canadian Museum of History, the Canadian War Museum, the  Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, and the newly established Thomas D’Arcy McGee Exhibition Centre in Carlingford, Ireland.

The Museum has excelled in three priority areas that direct it into the 21^st century: Digitizing its collections management system (over 2,500  records and images are now publically accessible online), a vibrant Youth Council (featured in the Province of Ontario’s Grade 8 textbook –Nelson HISTORY 8, met Minister Melanie Joly representing young professionals, developed and uploaded numerous blogs, and a video on topics of history/heritage for young people); and the development and sharing of a model Policy Manual.

Your community museum, the BYTOWN MUSEUM, has proudly served our community for one hundred years and has evolved and adapted with challenges and by taking advantage of opportunities in ever changing economic realities and to the needs of a diverse and growing city and country.

In order to advance as a vibrant, responsive and relevant community museum and cultural force in the 21^st century, the Museum engaged in a hearty strategic planning process in 2015. It articulates significant, achievable and germane goals to ensure your museum remains proactive and engaged in its 21^st century grounded community. They entail: increased access to the collection by way of digitizing records and images and an online database, modernize the visitor experience by way of a new website and audio tour guide system, build on Youth Council success to continually develop participatory youth programming, and promote the museum locally, nationally and internationally, to name a few goals.

As part of being proactive in the 21^st century, the Museum acknowledges that it is situated on Algonquin or Anishinabeg traditional lands and with humility thanks the Anishinaabe for allowing us to serve the community on their traditional lands.  Coupled with welcoming the diverse communities of Ottawa to mount their displays in our Community Gallery and tell their stories, the First Nations are welcome to mount their displays and tell their stories. Canada and specifically Ottawa is multi-cultural and this feature of Ottawa is its strength moving forward over the next one hundred years. The Museum wants to be part of the growth and future history – in its collections, exhibitions, programs, community development endeavors, partnerships, operations and overall museum services.

The 21^st century is complex and equally has challenges to meet and offers huge opportunities for a community museum. It requires all cultural organizations and definitely the BYTOWN MUSEUM to provide its collection and services online, have a responsive website, keep up with technologies that continually evolve, encourage community and world youth to participate in museums and cultural heritage as they become our leaders of tomorrow, excel at meeting the demands of governance, professional development, fund development and community relevance as our community develops as a world class municipal leader.

Be part of your Community Museum’s next one hundred years of service to our remarkable community of Ottawa. Our exhibitions, programs and activities aim to ensure you and your great grandchildren will always enjoy the Museum as it displays and tells the stories of their achievements and Ottawa’s history as a city, world class urban centre and the Capital of Canada. Be an active museum member, donor and volunteer of and visitor to one of Canada’s oldest museums, as it goes joyfully into its next century of service to Ottawa, Canada and the world!

Thank you and see you in 2017 – BYTOWN MUSEUM: A Century of Community is a superb exhibition and the programming throughout the year is great.  And, after 2017 we have fantastic exhibitions and continued programming already planned for you and your families, friends and visitors to Ottawa.

Respectively,

Robin Etherington
Executive Director, Bytown Museum