Most of our finding aids are available via our AtoM Archival Collections Catalogue. A small number of finding aids and collection guides are hosted on independent sites. We are in the process of migrating these guides to AtoM.
Collection guides are micro-sites that provide descriptions of materials that are available in physical formats offline. These are items that do not have traditional cataloguing records and these sites often provide in-depth description and unique access and search points.
Current finding aids, collection guides, and indexes
Arthur Erickson: The Middle East projects
Arthur Erickson (1924-2009) was a Canadian architect and graduate of McGill. Erickson undertook some forty architectural design projects in the Middle East, most of them large-scale public projects. Many of the records from these projects are held by the Libraries, and this site provides a finding aid for those files.
The David Hume collection
The Libraries' David Hume collection includes eighteenth-century editions of Hume's writings and selected modern editions of Hume's works. It also contains some manuscripts, including letters from David Hume to the Comtesse de Boufflers and from Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Hume.
The Hugh MacLennan papers
McGill's holdings of Hugh MacLennan's papers include his correspondence spanning sixty years, key manuscripts and numerous clippings and photographs. This web site provides a searchable list of these papers and the MacLennan correspondence, including a name index.
The architecture of Edward & W.S. Maxwell
McGill Libraries has an extensive collection of Edward and W.S. Maxwell's papers. It includes some 16,000 plans and drawings, as well as notebooks, sketchbooks, scrapbooks, clippings, swatches of decorative fabrics, samples of artifacts proposed to clients.
The Canadian Olympic collection
Rare Books and Special Collections acquired the Canadian Olympic Collection after the closing of the Information and Resource Centre located in Olympic House, Montreal. The collection consists of copies of publications of the Organizing Committees, Canadian Olympic Association, and the National Olympic Committee.
The Norbert Schoenauer collection
Norbert Schoenauer (1923-2001) was a prominent expert on the history of housing, architect and Emeritus Professor at the McGill School of Architecture. The Norbert Schoenauer Housing Archive includes records relating to forty-eight projects and over five hundred drawings. This site provides a guide to the collection.
The Fred Taylor archive
Fred Taylor (1906-1987) was a Canadian artist. The Taylor Archive contains essays, correspondence, photographs, clippings, and other records. The index of correspondence comprises some 2000 letters, documents or memorandums, spans from the early 1920's up until Taylor's death.
The Napoleon collection
This significant collection consists of a searchable catalogue of over 2,500 Napoleon related monographs and visual material (over 11,000 prints and 1,500 maps) held in Rare Books & Special Collections.
The Joseph N. Nathanson collection of Lincolniana
In 1986, Dr. Joseph N. Nathanson (1895-1989) donated to McGill the contents of his eclectic Abraham Lincoln collection. The collection includes including books, pamphlets, prints, manuscripts, ephemera and realia. This site provides a finding aid for the collection.
Industrial architecture of Montreal
Industrial Architecture of Montreal is an index created in 1999 to collect, organize, and preserve textual and visual information on approximately 130 local industrial buildings before their transformations amid the city's rapid de-industrialization.
The Canadian county atlas project
The County Atlas project includes digitized county maps and searchable information on ca. 140,000 people living in Ontario counties during the 1880s. Search for individuals by family name, geographic location, occupation and birthplace in over forty atlases.
The John Bland archive
John Bland (1911–2002) was a Canadian architect who served as director of McGill's School of Architecture for 31 years. A guide to the contents of the John Bland Archive that includes drawings, photographs and reports relating to 71 projects.
Archived finding aids, collection guides, and indexes
As we migrate our collection guides and finding aids to our Archival Collections Catalogue, legacy sites are web archived through the Libraries' web archiving program. Search functionality will be limited on web archived sites, and these sites may not meet modern web standards.
The Canadian architecture collection
The Canadian Architecture Collection (CAC) was established by Professor Emeritus John Bland, Director of the McGill School of Architecture for 31 years. As one of the McGill University Libraries' Special Collections, it is an important resource for architecture and urban planning research.
The architecture of Percy Erskine Nobbs
A guide to the archives of the architect Percy Erskine Nobbs, including a database (ca. 500 records) of his projects including an inventory of drawings, correspondence and select objects designed by Nobbs. Also includes biographies and an extensive bibliography of primary and secondary works.
A garment worker's legacy: The Joe Fishstein collection of Yiddish poetry
A companion to the printed catalogue of the same name published in the Fontanus monograph series, this site includes a searchable online catalogue and virtual exhibition with over 300 diverse digitized selections from the Fishstein Collection, one of the most important private collections of Yiddish poetry.
Le fonds France Gagnon Pratte collection
A guide to the architectural historian and preservationist France Gagnon-Pratte’s archive. The collection’s inventory includes series on country houses, architectural influences on E. and W.S. Maxwell’s projects and their public commissions and the Canadian Pacific Railway.
John Schreiber: A guide to the archive
The John Schreiber fonds consists of 234 projects, spanning half a century. The holdings include more than 4,000 plans, drawings, hundred of photographs and close to six linear metres of textual records. Search the extensive inventory and discover the life and work of the architect and former McGill School of Architecture professor.
The Sunday school library collection
This website includes a bibliography of materials from the Sunday School Collection and provides a socio-historical examination of Sunday schools, their libraries, and their books. There are over 200 titles represented in this rare example of the 19th-century Canadian Sunday school library.
Theatrical space as a model for architecture: A bibliography
A bibliography of ca. 1000 sources such as festival books, technical treatises and key writings on the mise-en-scène that chronicle the relationship between architecture and theatre from the 16th to the 20th century.
The urban plan collections
A collection of finding aids describing the records of the urban plan collections, which consist of reports and plans for urban and rural areas from all provinces of Canada dating from the late 1950s to the 1990s. Also includes some material on cities in the United States.
The G.E. Wilson archive
George Everett Wilson (1909-2000) was a prominent Montreal architect. This site served as a finding aid for the G.E. Wilson Archive, listing materials ranging from Wilson's student work, professional work and publications.
The William Osler letter index
This site provided an index to the thousands of letters to and from Sir William Osler and other material collected by Dr. Harvey Cushing (1869-1939) for his 1925 biography, The Life of William Osler.
The Max Stern book collection
Canadian philanthropist Dr. Max Stern’s book collection approximates 2,000 items and was bequeathed to Concordia, McGill, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. This website included a virtual exhibition and an index of the items catalogued.
Hospital architecture in Montreal
Contains over 1000 images, a hospital construction chronology and architectural records of Montreal hospitals, from 1642 to the present. It also includes an in-depth case study of the Royal Victoria Hospital.
