Canadian War Museum
Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox museum The Canadian War Museum (CWM) (Template:Langx) is a national museum on the country's military history in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The museum serves as both an educational facility on Canadian military history and a place of remembrance. The Template:Convert museum building is situated south of the Ottawa River in LeBreton Flats. The museum houses a number of exhibitions and memorials, in addition to a cafeteria, theatre, curatorial and conservation spaces, as well as storage space. The building also houses the Military History Research Centre, the museum's library and archives.
The Canadian War Museum was formally established in 1942, although portions of the museum's collections originate from a military museum that operated from 1880 to 1896. The museum was operated by the Public Archives of Canada until 1967, when the National Museums of Canada Corporation was formed to manage several national institutions, including the war museum. In the same year, the war museum was relocated from its original building to the former Public Archives of Canada building. Management of the museum was later assumed by the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation (later renamed the Canadian Museum of History Corporation) in 1990. Plans to expand the museum during the mid-1990s resulted in the construction of a new building at LeBreton Flats. Designed by Moriyama & Teshima Architects and Griffiths Rankin Cook Architects, the new Canadian War Museum building was opened to the public in 2005.
The museum's collection contains more than 500,000 items related to military history, including more than 13,000 works of military art. In addition to its permanent exhibition, the museum has hosted and organized a number of travelling exhibitions relating to Canadian military history.
History
Background
The collections of the Canadian War Museum originated from the collections of the Cartier Square Military Museum, established through a general order on 5 November 1880.Template:Sfn Established with the intention to be a museum of national interest, the institution sought to preserve historical records and materials relating to the Canadian Militia, and any of its colonial predecessors.Template:Sfn A proposal to establish a library operated by the museum was made in 1882, although these plans never came to fruition.Template:Sfn As the museum continued to solicit donations for its collection the museum quickly outgrew its space in the drill hall, and appeals for a new facility were made by 1886.Template:Sfn The museum was closed in 1896, to make room for a new shipment of Lee-Enfield rifles and space training.Template:Sfn
The militia office originally intended for the museum to be relocated, storing its collections in an old military warehouse below Parliament Hill (present location of the Bytown Museum).Template:Sfn In July 1901, the Department of Militia and Defence negotiated a lease to house the museum in a building in Ottawa.Template:Sfn However, little effort was put into reopening the museum, with the department opting to not renew the building's lease in 1905.Template:Sfn On 26 January 1907, the Militia Council was informed by Eugène Fiset, the quartermaster-general of the Canadian Militia, that there was "no interest being taken by the officers of the garrison" to reopen the museum, and recommend to not reopening it.Template:Sfn
The collection from the Cartier Square Military Museum remained at the warehouse until Dominion Archivist, Arthur Doughty, requested the transference of the items to the archives to display some of them.Template:Sfn The militia approved the request, and transferred 105 items to the Dominion Archives between 1910 and 1919; although in doing so, the militia believed the archives had assumed responsibility for establishing any future military museum.Template:Sfn By the 1910s, the militia began to redirect potential donors of military artifacts to the Dominion Archives.Template:Sfn
These artifacts, in addition to captured German weapons from the First World War, were exhibited for the first time in a travelling exhibition in 1916.Template:Sfn In December 1918, the Commission on War Records and Trophies was established to distribute German war trophies and war-related materials to memorials across Canada.Template:Sfn However, the Commission retained several pieces at the Dominion Archives with the hope they would eventually be exhibited in a national museum.Template:Sfn In 1924, the War Trophy Building was built adjacent to the original Dominion Archives building to house the military collection.Template:Sfn In 1935, Doughty struck a deal with General Andrew McNaughton, the Chief of General Staff, for the militia to support the establishment of the museum.Template:Sfn A War Trophies Review Board was established between the archives and militia, charged with selecting the best items to preserve for a future museum.Template:Sfn
Establishment
The Canadian War Museum was formally opened at the War Trophies Building in January 1942; initially operated by the Dominion Archives, and partially funded by the Department of National Defence.Template:Sfn In 1958, management of the Canadian War Museum was assumed by the National Museum of Canada (predecessor to the Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian Museum of Nature).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The museum relocated to the original Dominion Archives building, adjacent to the War Trophies building in June 1967; after the Public Archives of Canada moved its operations to a new facility.Template:Sfn However, the museum continued to use the War Trophies building as a storage facility.Template:Sfn In the same year, management of the war museum was assumed by the National Museums of Canada Corporation; a crown corporation which managed several national institutions, including the war museum.Template:Sfn
In 1983 the museum relocated its storage facilities from the War Trophies building to Vimy House; with the former building demolished to make way for the National Gallery of Canada's new building.Template:Sfn In 1990, the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation (later renamed the Canadian Museum of History Corporation) was formed through The Museum Act, and assumed management of several national museums of Canada, including the war museum.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
By the 1990s, the museum's staff had voiced that the space in the building was inadequate, with some areas of the building deemed environmentally hazardous for the exhibition of certain artifacts.Template:Sfn In 1991, the government established the Task Force on Military History Museum Collections in Canada, whose final report called for more resources to be given to the museum, referring to its shape in the original Dominion Archives building as "embarrassing," and a "national disgrace."Template:Sfn Although the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation invested C$1.7 million for new exhibit designs as a result of the report; funds remained limited for expansion, with the federal government implementing a number of austerity measures during the mid-1990s.Template:Sfn A museum supporter's group, the "Friends of the Canadian War Museum" was established in 1995 to assist the museum in fundraising efforts.Template:Sfn
Between 1996 and 1997, the museum considered opening a large Holocaust exhibition within the museum.Template:Sfn In addition to the exhibition, the architectural expansion plans released in November 1997 included enhanced exhibit spaces, a theatre, and a memorial chamber.Template:Sfn However, the proposed exhibit was opposed by Canadian veterans, who felt a sense of neglect by the museum, and believed an exhibition on the Holocaust would further marginalize them; in addition to some historians who believed the museum was an inappropriate space for such an exhibition.Template:Sfn Following events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War passed, public debate over the museum's future intensified; with the Senate Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs convening a hearing in February 1998 to determine the future of the exhibition and the museum itself.Template:Sfn Following the Senate Subcommittee hearings, the chair of the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, Adrienne Clarkson announced the museum would abandon its plans for a Holocaust exhibition, although proceed with its plans to expand the museum.Template:Sfn
Barney Danson was appointed to the board of trustees and the war museum advisory committee in 1998. This led to an increase in the museum's research capacity and towards the establishment of the Centre of Military History.Template:Sfn Danson later secured for the museum the acquisition of property near CFB Rockcliffe.Template:Sfn
21st century
In March 2000, the Government of Canada formally announced plans to build a new museum building at CFB Rockcliffe.Template:Sfn However, in 2001, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien intervened to have the proposed location changed to LeBreton Flats, a formerly industrial area of the city.Template:Sfn<ref name="OBJ" /> LeBreton Flats was initially rejected as a site for the new museum building during the planning stages of the project as the site was contaminated. However, Chrétien proposed to decontaminate the site, with the museum serving as the centrepiece for the area's revitalization efforts.Template:Sfn<ref name="legion">Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref> In 2001, a design submitted by Moriyama & Teshima Architects and Griffiths Rankin Cook Architects was selected for the design of the new building.<ref name="canen">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Groundbreaking for the new building took place in November 2002, followed by a major decontamination effort of the property by the National Capital Commission.<ref name="legion" />
By 2004 the museum began to move its larger artifacts from its exhibits, as well as its storage facility into the new building.<ref name="legion" /> By the end of 2004, the museum closed its storage facility in Vimy House and closed its facility in the original Dominion Archives building in January 2005.<ref name="legion" /> The new building was opened on 8 May 2005, coinciding with the 60th anniversary of Victory in Europe day.<ref name="legion" /> On the same day the new building was opened to the public, Canada Post issued a 50¢ stamp to commemorate the opening of the new museum.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The total cost to build a new building for the museum, and the exhibitions was approximately C$135 million.<ref name="divisare">Template:Cite web</ref>
Shortly after its opening of the new building, the museum became the centre of controversy over its interpretation of the Combined Bomber Offensive during World War II, in which some 20,000 Canadians participated.Template:Sfn Much of the controversy stemmed from two assertions made on a museum label, that the bombing offensive was largely ineffective until later in the war, and that its morality and value of strategic bombings remained contested.Template:Sfn Complaints from Canadian veterans prompted another Senate Subcommittee to be launched.Template:Sfn Museum staff eventually removed the offending museum label, replacing it with another label with text three times in length that "glossed over the salient facts;" although the offending images remained.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn
Site
The Template:Convert property is situated within LeBreton Flats, a neighbourhood within Ottawa, the capital city of Canada. The property is situated southwest of Parliament Hill and the National War Memorial. The property is bounded by roadways to the east and south, by the Capital Pathway, and the southern banks of the Ottawa River to the west and north. Water from the Ottawa River is drawn into the building for mechanical cooling, and ground irrigation of the larger property.<ref name="legion" />
Directly south of the museum building is an urban park called The Commons, used for various events hosted by the museum.<ref name="divisare" /> A wheelchair accessible pathway built around the building's green roof connects The Commons with the parkland to the north of the museum.<ref name="divisare" />
Building
The Template:Convert was designed by Moriyama & Teshima Architects & Griffiths Rankin Cook Architects;<ref name="pcl">Template:Cite web</ref> with Raymond Moriyama and Alex Rankin as the principal architect.<ref name="divisare" /> Stantec was contracted as the civil engineering consultant, whereas PCL Construction was contracted as the project's construction manager.<ref name="canarch" /> The cost to construct the building was approximately C$96 million.<ref name="divisare" />
Regeneration served as the primary theme for the architectural design team of the building, with the design intended to showcase war's impact on nature;<ref name="divisare" /><ref name="design">Template:Cite web</ref> and nature's ability to regrow and "regenerate" from war.Template:Sfn Tilted and jagged planes, along with roughhewn materials are used throughout the building in a form of "controlled imperfection", intended to create the impression of trauma and disequilibrium.Template:Sfn The building's massing largely remains low to the ground, with only the building's eastern portions only rising high above.Template:Sfn A significant portion of the building is made out of concrete, with Template:Convert of cast-in-place concrete used throughout the building;<ref name="pcl" /> in addition to 3,750 tonnes of reinforced steel.<ref name="legion" /> Many of the exterior and interior walls of the building are placed on a variety of angles, from 90 degrees to 31 degrees, with eight different angles in all used throughout the building.<ref name="pcl" />
Exterior
.jpg){kind=link}
With regeneration being the primary theme of the architectural design, the external lines of the building were designed to evoke the "devastations of war," with the building appearing to emerge from a "scarred landscape".<ref name="legion" /> The angular building was designed to appear as if it was "emerging from the Ottawa River.<ref name="legion" /> The highest point of the building rises Template:Convert off the ground, and faces towards the Canadian Parliament Buildings, and Peace Tower.<ref name="Annex Business Media">Template:Cite news</ref>
A Template:Convert self-seeding green roof, which connects to the surrounding parkland and riverfront, is also situated on the rooftop of the building.<ref name="Annex Business Media" /> The green roof was incorporated into the museum building in order to reflect the building's larger theme of regeneration; with the green rooftop intended to appear as nature fusing with ruins, showcasing the process of regeneration.<ref name="divisare" /><ref name="canarch">Template:Cite web</ref> The green roof also provides the building with some sustainability benefits; being an economical and efficient solution for stormwater management in the area, providing energy savings, and providing air pollution remediation.<ref name="canarch" /> The roof was designed to mimic the urban development of the area, with the western portions of the rooftop closer to the rural areas of Ottawa designed to blend in with the surrounding parkland, while the eastern portion closer to downtown Ottawa features sloped concrete slopes that provide visitors with a view into the museum from the rooftop.<ref name="divisare" />
.jpg){kind=link}
Nearly the entire southeastern façade of the building is covered in glass, providing people outside the museum a view of some of its items on display in the LeBreton Gallery, an open-storage exhibition space in the building.<ref name="legion" /> Near the top of the building's walls are a series of small windows that spell out "lest we forget/n'oublions jamais" in Morse code.<ref name="legion" /> The exposed concrete board-form exterior is fitted with cast-in-place insulated concrete wall panels.<ref name="pcl" /> Conversely, the entrance of the building is fitted with aluminum frames; with the canted curtain wall facing Parliament Hill.<ref name="pcl" /> Template:Wide image
Interior
.jpg){kind=link}
The interior walls of the building are primarily made out of concrete that incorporates up to 15 per cent recycled fly ash, making the walls of the building a large energy-conserving mass.<ref name="divisare" /> The walls are designed to emerge sharply from the ground, in an unusual fashion; whereas the floors were designed with slight slopes within them.<ref name="legion" /> Together, these design features are intended to evoke the feeling of instability with the museum's visitors.<ref name="legion" /> All the galleries within the building include ramps and slopes, making all exhibits in the museum wheelchair accessible.<ref name="legion" />
.jpg){kind=link}
Concrete is a major material used in the museum's lobby; with post-tensioned concrete beams extending throughout the foyer, in addition to 596 tonnes of exposed structural steel.<ref name="pcl" /> One side of the lobby's walls is textured and patterned like rough-hewn wooden planks, whereas the other side is patterned to resemble large blocks of quarried stone. In addition to concrete, copper that was originally used on the roof of the Library of Parliament is used on the walls of the museum lobby and the LeBreton Gallery. However, most of the building's interior space remains austere, to provide visitors with a solemn space for reflection.<ref name="legion" /> A Template:Convert audio-visual presentation of what is contained inside the exhibits is situated at the access point from the main foyer to the exhibition areas.<ref name="design" />
Other educational facilities within the building include the Military History Resource Centre, a museum library and archive; and the 236-seat Barney Danson Theatre.<ref name="legion" /> The war museum's theatre is named in honour of Barney Danson, in recognition of his efforts in supporting the Canadian War Museum.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The building also includes a dedicated group entrance; and a sunlit cafeteria along the riverfront portion of the building, with a seasonal terrace; dedicated climate-controlled vaults; and laboratories for on-site repairs of artifacts.<ref name="legion" /><ref name="pcl" /> Including all areas of the museum, the total gross floor area of the museum building is Template:Convert.<ref name="canarch" />
Exhibitions
The Canadian War Museum functions as a history museum, and as a "palace of memory". As a result, many of the museum's permanent exhibitions function as both educational exhibits, and as a memorial.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Permanent exhibitions at the museum include the Canadian Experience Galleries, Memorial Hall, Regeneration Hall, and the Royal Canadian Legion Hall of Honour.<ref name="canen" /><ref name="exhiboff">Template:Cite web</ref> The Canadian Experience Galleries are a series of four Canadian military history galleries arranged chronologically.<ref name="canen" /> Memorial Hall is the only exhibition that is free to the public, with Memorial Hall being accessible through the lobby.Template:Sfn
_(9450423544).jpg){kind=link}
The permanent exhibitions at the museum were designed by Haley Sharpe Design, based in Leicester, UK, and Origin Studios, based in Ottawa.<ref name="design" /> The design team, together with museum historians, crafted its exhibits in which the themes of brutality, geography, politics, and survival are woven throughout most of the exhibitions in the museum.<ref name="design" /> The museum permanent exhibitions are divided into seven zones, and further subdivided into 25 themed clusters.<ref name="design" /> Graphic interpretive information is spread throughout the exhibits in order to convey textual and visual information to visitors.<ref name="design" />
Exhibition design teams worked in conjunction with the architectural team for the new museum building, providing the exhibition design team with greater influence in how the exhibitions were arranged, positioned, and shaped; a degree of architectural influence not available to exhibition design teams working to fit exhibits in a pre-existing space.<ref name="design" /> The exhibit structures, like the building itself, is angular and trapezoidal, reflecting the museum's theme of regeneration, in addition to enhancing the themes of the exhibits.<ref name="design" /> The exhibition areas in the museum feature austere lines of galvanized steel, concrete, wood, and other hard surfaces with strong, and deep colours. The exhibition areas' design was intended to provide visitors with "little comfort or respite," with the "fragmented structure of the exhibits," intended to the story of war.<ref name="design" /> Although angular lines are prevalent throughout the design of the building and exhibitions, coloured curved structures are strategically placed throughout the galleries, acting as a counterpoint to the angular design of the building.<ref name="design" />
In addition to permanent exhibitions, the museum also organizes and hosts special and travelling exhibitions.<ref name="exhiboff" />
Canadian Experience galleries
.jpg){kind=link}
The Canadian Experience galleries are a collection of four galleries that take up Template:Convert of space. The four galleries document the military history of Canada, with the four galleries being Early Wars in Canada, South African and the First World War, Second World War, and From the Cold War to the Present.<ref name="canen" /><ref name="exhiboff" /> Although some galleries are centred around individual conflicts, events involving Canadians serve as the focus for the galleries, with other events during these conflicts only being briefly addressed.Template:Sfn
The galleries were intended to "enhance the human experiences of war," documenting moments in Canadian military history that helped shape the country; with many of the exhibits drawing links to the events with larger themes of nationhood and national identity.Template:Sfn Many of the exhibits were designed to simulate the "collective perspective" of Canadian service members, and Canadians in the homefront to a lesser extent.Template:Sfn The galleries are themed after four "intertwined principles," geography, brutality, politics, and survival; with each principle serving as the leading theme for a gallery.Template:Sfn Visitors are introduced to these principles before entering the galleries, with conceptual phrases relating to these principles printed on the walls of the rotunda outside the entrance of the Canadian Experience galleries.Template:Sfn
The Early Wars in Canada gallery explores First Nations conflicts, as well as conflicts in New France and British North America, and post-confederated Canada in the 19th century.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Many of the exhibits showcase how early conflicts in Canada were shaped by geography, and centred around lakes, streams, and rivers.Template:Sfn Conflicts covered in this exhibit include the Beaver Wars, Anglo-French conflicts to the Seven Years' War, the American Revolutionary War, War of 1812, and the North-West Rebellion.
The South African and the First World War gallery explores Canadian participation in the Second Boer War and the First World War. The South African and the First World War gallery is styled to resemble Canada during Queen Victoria's diamond jubilee in 1897; intended to mimic the imperialistic fervour that existed during that period.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2015, the museum opened a new portion of the gallery on the homefront during the First World War, highlighting the Conscription Crisis of 1917, the suffragette movement, and stories from individuals during the war.Template:Sfn
The Second World War gallery explores the causes of the Second World War, as well as Canada's participation during the conflict.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Most of the Second World War exhibit focuses on Canada's role in the Battle of the Atlantic, the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, the European theatre, the homefront and the internment of Japanese Canadians.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Small portions of the exhibit are also dedicated to Canadian participation in the Asian and Pacific theatre, and the Holocaust.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Objects from the museum's collection exhibited in the Second World War portion of the Canadian Experience galleries includes a Mercedes-Benz 770K previously owned by Adolf Hitler, entitled Hitler's Car: A Symbol of Evil at the exhibit.Template:Sfn The museum acquired the Mercedes Benz 770K in 1970, under the assumption that the car formerly belonged to Hermann Göring; although a research report published in 1982 revealed that the vehicle belonged to Hitler.<ref name="hitler">Template:Cite journal</ref> The gallery also houses an M4 Sherman tank named Forceful III, and is dedicated to the members of the Governor General's Foot Guards killed during the Second World War.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A memorial plaque to Captain Thomas G. Fuller of the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve is also present in the gallery.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The final gallery, From the Cold War to the Present, explored Canada's role during the Cold War, and the threat of nuclear war in the public eye.Template:Sfn<ref name="coldwar">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2017, the concluding portion of the fourth gallery was updated to include post-Cold War conflicts involving members of the Canadian Armed Forces.<ref name="postcw">Template:Cite web</ref> The final portion of the gallery was designed to confront visitors with the problematic nature of warfare;Template:Sfn and features an interactive space for visitors to leave their own reflections on war, peace, and remembrance.<ref name="postcw" />
LeBreton Gallery
.jpg){kind=link}
The LeBreton Gallery: The Military Technology Collection is an open-space gallery housing several items of military equipment used by Canadians, or other military forces.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Situated along the eastern portion of the museum, its eastern walls are made of glass, allowing natural sunlight to illuminate the gallery.<ref name="legion" />
Equipment is organized into several sections, land, air, sea, field artillery, armoured fighting vehicles, cannon or mortar, and tanks.Template:Sfn Most of the equipment in the gallery has been restored and cleaned, arranged and organized with museum labels which provide details on the equipment.Template:Sfn The museum labels accompanying the pieces are focused primarily on the technical aspects of the equipment.Template:Sfn The equipment housed in LeBreton Gallery is among the largest items in the museum's collections and includes a McDonnell CF-101 Voodoo, 19th-century artillery pieces, tanks, and other military vehicles.<ref name="legion" /> The majority of the lighter wheeled and tracked transport vehicles on display date back to the Second World War or the Cold War era.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Memorial Hall
Situated within the lobby of the museum, Memorial Hall serves as a place for sombre reflection and remembrance.<ref name="legion" /> The exhibit's access point is angled upwards; with its doorway designed to provide an illusion of narrowness.<ref name="legion" /> The walls surrounding the access point are cladded in copper and are illuminated only by light fixtures installed in the floor, and a light mounted on the ceiling.<ref name="legion" /> The portion of the museum where Memorial Hall is situated is also aligned on an axis with the Peace Tower of the Canadian Parliament Buildings.<ref name="legion" />
Conversely, the walls inside Memorial Hall are made out of smooth concrete, with only a grid pattern resembling the headstones used for Canadian First World War soldiers etched into the walls.<ref name="legion" /> The exhibit is illuminated by a skylight which extends beyond from the building's rooftop; while a glass-enclosed pool of water sits on the south side of Memorial Hall.<ref name="legion" /> The design of the exhibit was intended to provide visitors with the feeling of weightlessness.<ref name="legion" /> The exhibit contains a single artifact, the original headstone for the soldier eventually reburied at the Canadian Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The hall was designed so that sunlight that passes through the hall's only window illuminates directly onto the headstone once a year, on 11 November at precisely 11 am, the time that the armistice that ended the First World War went into effect.<ref name="OBJ">Template:Cite journal</ref>
Regeneration Hall
Regeneration Hall is an exhibition located at the highest point of the museum building serving as a "physical representation of hope for a better tomorrow".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The walls of Regeneration Hall are angled in a manner similar to the buildings on Parliament Hill, with the Peace Tower visible through the eastern glass façade of the exhibition.Template:Sfn The exhibition holds several artworks, including the original models for the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, and the painting Sacrifice by Charles Sims.Template:Sfn
Royal Canadian Legion Hall of Honour
The Royal Canadian Legion Hall of Honour is a Template:Convert oval-shaped exhibit which explores how Canadian military history has been commemorated and honoured throughout recorded history.<ref name="legion" /> The original plaster model that was submitted and later chosen in the National War Memorial design competition is exhibited in the centre of the Hall of Honour.<ref name="legion" /><ref name="modelvern">Template:Cite web</ref>
Floor-to-ceiling display cases containing certificates of service, letters, medals, models, paintings, photographs, rolls of honour, scrapbooks, and souvenirs are situated along the walls of the exhibit.<ref name="legion" /> The exhibits are displayed chronologically and include items relating to First Nations, New France, British North America, and confederated Canada. However, the majority of the displays are dedicated to exhibiting items from the 20th century.<ref name="legion" /> Items in these displays, along with the individual stories corresponding to each chronological period are exhibited in an attempt to convey the various forms of commemorating the war dead throughout Canadian history.<ref name="legion" />
Collection
As of 2015, the museum's collection includes over 500,000 pieces.<ref name="canen" /> The collection includes correspondences, documents, equipment, maps, medals, military art, military vehicles, and military uniforms.<ref name="soul">Template:Cite book</ref> On average, the museum receives 700 offers for donations a year, including individual items or large collections; although, the museum only accepts 100 to 150 of these offers annually.<ref name="donate">Template:Cite web</ref> However, Canadian service medals and medals of valour are accepted by the museum unconditionally, as an "act of honouring".<ref name="donate" /> Approximately 2,000 artworks and photographs from the museum's collection are used throughout the museum exhibits; although 500 of these images are enlarged versions of originals.<ref name="design" />
Items from the museum's collection are either displayed in the museum's exhibits, on tour with travelling exhibitions, loaned out to other institutions, or housed in the museum storage area.Template:Sfn From 1967 to 2004, items not on display were stored in off-site facilities; with the Dominion Archives' Trophy Building used as storage from 1967 to 1983, and Vimy House used as storage from 1983 to 2004.Template:Sfn During the 20th century, archival materials belonging to the war museum were also held in a warehouse in ByWard Market.Template:Sfn In 2004, the museum ceased operating these off-site storage facilities, after it relocated items held there to a new storage space within the new museum building.<ref name="legion" />
.jpg){kind=link}
The museum's collection originated from the artifacts and archival materials originally held at Cartier Square Military Museum in 1880; including an assortment of weapons; a bell from Template:HMS, the flagship for Admiral Charles Saunders during the 1759 siege of Quebec; and the colours for the Royal Highland Emigrants, and various units from the War of 1812.Template:Sfn The collection grew in size during the First World War, with materials from the war transported back to Canada.Template:Sfn Following the end of World War II in Europe, the museum dispatched its first collections acquisition team to the Netherlands and Allied-occupied Germany to acquire a large number of German military equipment.Template:Sfn During the Cold War, the museum's collection continued to expand with the Canadian Armed Forces transferring its obsolete equipment, as well as examples of enemy equipment to the museum. During the 1990s, the museum also began to acquire a number of materials as gifts from several post-Soviet states.Template:Sfn
In 1994, the museum's collection held approximately 6,550 posters; with 3,770 posters originating from Canada, 692 from the United Kingdom, 612 from the United States, and the remaining from a variety of countries in Europe, and Australia.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> In 2019, 39 of the 99 original Victoria Crosses that were awarded to Canadians are held in the collections of the Canadian War Museum.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Notetag
War art
Template:Further As of 2015, the museum's Beaverbrook Collection of War Art contained over 13,000 pieces of military art.<ref name="canen" /> The majority of the war artworks in the collection are on paper, although these works are less often used in museum exhibits than their on canvas counterparts.<ref name="wwa">Template:Cite journal</ref> The museum has been invested in several Canadian war art programs since 1971, after the National Gallery of Canada handed over management of the Canadian War Memorial Fund, and over 5,000 works from its Canadian War Records Collections to the war museum;Template:Sfn including all of its war art from the Second World War.Template:Sfn The museum's military art collection takes its name from Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, who established the art collection that later became the Canadian War Records.Template:Sfn Although the museum's war art collection included over 13,000 works, only 64 of these pieces depicted a dead body as of 2017.Template:Sfn
.jpg){kind=link}
The museum's collection of war art includes over 400 works by Alex Colville.<ref name="soul" /> Other artists featured in the collection include Caroline Armington, Alfred Bastien, Charles Comfort, Alma Duncan, Colin Gill, Bobs Cogill Haworth, Robert Stewart Hyndman, Richard Jack, Frank Johnston, Manly E. MacDonald, Pegi Nicol MacLeod, Mabel May, Jack Nichols, Charles Sims, and Frederick Varley.<ref name="wwa" /><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The collection also includes several models and statues, including the plaster model by Vernon March that was later selected as the design for the National War Memorial.<ref name="modelvern" /> The museum's collection also includes the original scale plaster models by Walter Seymour Allward for the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.Template:Sfn From 1937 to 2000, the models were held in storage, before they were exhibited in an exhibition in 2000.Template:Sfn The models are now used in the Regeneration Hall exhibition.Template:Sfn
Major travelling exhibitions of war art organized by the Canadian War Museum include A Terrible Beauty: The Art of Canada at War (1977), curated by the Canadian War Museum and Heather Robertson; and Canvas of War: Masterpieces from the Canadian War Museum, which toured Canada between 1999 and 2004 and was seen by nearly half a million visitors.<ref name="warartaic">Template:Cite web</ref>
In 2007, the Canadian War Museum highlighted contemporary women's perspectives on war in the exhibitions War Brides: Portraits of an Era (an installation by Calgary artist Bev Tosh) and Stitches in Time (the work of London, Ontario artist Johnnene Maddison).<ref name="warartaic" />
Selected works
-
Over the Top, Neuville-Vitasse, by Alfred Bastien, 1918
-
School of Gunnery, Beamsville, by Frank Johnston, 1918
-
Women Making Shells, by Mabel May, 1918
-
A Stream Bed at Labergement Jura Forest, by Alfred Munnings, 1918
-
Gas Chambers at Seaford by Frederick Varley, 1918
-
Sacrifice, by Charles Sims, 1917–1919
-
His Majesty's Canadian Ship Prince Henry in Corsica, by Alex Colville, 1944
-
Untitled, Pegi Nicol MacLeod, 1944
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpeg){kind=link}
.jpeg){kind=link}
.jpg){kind=link}
.jpeg){kind=link}
Library and archives
The Military History Research Centre is a facility in the museum that houses the Hartland Molson Library Collection, and the George Metcalf Archival Collection. The Hartland Molson Library Collection serves as the museum's reference collection on Canadian military history, materials, and rare books; whereas George Metcalf Archival Collection serves as an archive for blueprints, daguerreotypes, films, journals, logbooks, maps, photographs, scrapbooks, and tapes.<ref name="legion" /> The research centre includes a general reading area that overlooks the adjacent river, and a specialized reading room for more fragile materials.<ref name="legion" />
Although the War Trophies Review Board initially planned for the museum to include an archive, the museum did little archival work until 1967.Template:Sfn The archiving of war-related documents was primarily undertaken by the Public Archives of Canada up until that point; although the Public Archives voluntarily turned over war materials sent to the archives to the war museum.Template:Sfn After the closure of the Public Archive's history museum in 1967, materials and documents from the museum were split between the National Museum of Man (now the Canadian Museum of History), and the Canadian War Museum.Template:Sfn As a result of the closure of the Public Archive's history museum, the Public Archives began to regularly transfer archival documents to the war museum.Template:Sfn In 1982, the museum's archival collection was reorganized into several categories, souvenirs, museum, manuscripts, maps, plans and blueprints, and Canadian War Museum records.Template:Sfn
The Military History Research Centre's oral history archive contained nearly 400 interviews in 2007.Template:Sfn The oral history collection was started by the museum in 1999.Template:Sfn The program devised topic lists to guide interviews toward certain areas of interest; although the framing of the topics is designed to allow for in-depth conversation, one free of bias.Template:Sfn Interviews were either conducted by the museum's research team, or ex-military officers and averaged 90 minutes in length.Template:Sfn Subjects of interviews include service members who served in the Second World War, United Nations Emergency Force, Canadian Forces Europe, Yugoslav Wars, and the War in Afghanistan.Template:Sfn Specific subjects interviewed include Airborne Intercept Navigators in NATO and NORAD, deputy commanders of NORAD, and all former Canadian commanders of STANAVFORLANT.Template:Sfn
In 2000, the museum's photographic archives contained over 600 photograph collections or fonds; holding more than 17,000 individual photographs, and more than 250 photo albums.<ref name="photos">Template:Cite journal</ref> The collection was largely obtained through private sources, most of whom had taken the photo as participants in these conflicts.<ref name="photos" />
See also
- Lest We Forget Project
- List of military museums
- List of museums in Ottawa
- National museums of Canada
- National War Memorial (Canada)
- Organization of Military Museums of Canada
- Victor Suthren, former director general of the museum
Notes
References
Further reading
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite book
- Template:Cite web
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite journal
- Template:Cite journal
External links
Template:National museums of Canada Template:Ottawa landmarks
- Pages with broken file links
- Buildings and structures completed in 2005
- Cold War museums in Canada
- Military and war museums in Canada
- Museums established in 1942
- Museums in Ottawa
- National museums of Canada
- Raymond Moriyama buildings
- Tank museums
- World War I museums in Canada
- Canadian Museum of History Corporation
- 1942 establishments in Ontario
- Library and Archives Canada
- Federal government buildings in Ottawa