Minimuseums | Small treasures and great pride

There are great museums that end up at the very top of the list of places to visit in a city. But there are also a number of small, little-known museums that are worth a visit, whether you are a tourist or a local. All contain small treasures and are the pride of those who work there. The Press visited three of these friendly mini-museums.

Mary Tison
The Press

The Emile Berliner Wave Museum

In a way, the visit to the Musée des ondes Emile Berliner begins at the intersection of rue Lenoir and rue Saint-Antoine, in the heart of Saint-Henri. A small plaque affixed to a large industrial building sets the stage: we learn that Emile Berliner, the inventor of the gramophone, had this factory built in 1908. Later purchased by RCA Victor, the building housed the studio of most modern recording of its time and has produced radios and televisions over the years. It is even there that the first Canadian communications satellite, Alouette, was assembled.

Now all that remains is to enter the building, which has been renovated and partly occupied by a gym and small businesses, and then find the museum. There are displays here and there in the hallways displaying a few items from yesteryear such as record players and televisions, and even a figurine of Nippy, the dog who listened to the sound emitted by a gramophone and became the trademark of RCA Victor.

The small museum is hidden on the second floor. There is a temporary exhibition on 100 years of broadcasting in Montreal as well as the permanent exhibition, a room filled with treasures such as phonographs (which used cylinders) and gramophones (which used records). With enthusiasm, a young guide, Sureaya White, affixes the needle of a gramophone to a record to show how it works. The mechanism did not include a volume control. You just had to close the lid to mute the sound a bit or open the cabinet doors to release it.

Sureaya White briefly recounts the history of radio and television by showing off the impressive collection of devices. She does not fail to slip in a VideoDisc SelectaVision from star trek in a player to show how this technology couldn’t compete with VHS tapes. RCA lost the $580 million it had invested in developing this technology.

The exhibition continues in the corridors, which make known the life and work of Emile Berliner, but also of his son Herbert, who started recording discs, in particular with artists such as La Bolduc, Private Lebrun and La Poune.

It’s a whole section of Quebec history that is evoked in the small museum of Saint-Henri.

The Museum of the Hospitallers of the Hôtel-Dieu of Montreal

You only need to take a few steps, to pass from the modern entrance hall to the first exhibition hall, in the former presbytery, to realize that the Musée des Hospitalières in fact retraces the history of the European presence in Montreal.

“It’s not just a hospital, it’s a witness to the history of Montreal since 1642,” summarizes the institution’s general manager, Paul Labonne, who does not hide his pride.

This story begins with the arrival of Jeanne Mance and Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve, then the creation of a small dispensary, and then a hospital in what will become rue Saint-Paul. This hospital will move to the current site, along Avenue des Pins, in 1861.

Mr. Labonne is enthusiastic about the treasures of the museum: the letters patent for the establishment of the Hospitallers on the island of Montreal, signed by King Louis XIV, one of the rare paintings on religious subjects by Alfred Pellan, pieces of silverware, impressive wooden sculptures made by a master, Paul Jourdain dit Labrosse.

“The sisters went to see the best craftsmen of the time,” explains Mr. Labonne. The Hospitalières collection has gone under the radar a bit, but we are truly into Quebec art. »

Medical history is obviously in the spotlight, with earthenware containers that were used to manufacture drugs in the 17th century.^e century and surgical instruments that send shivers down your spine.

On Sundays, it is possible to join guided tours that explore the monastery, the gardens, the chapel or the crypt. This is a real journey through time. “It’s like a snapshot, nothing has changed since 1861,” says Mr. Labonne.

We see in particular the place where Jeanne Mance and the three Hospitallers who came to lend her a hand in 1659 are buried.

Difficult to find closer to the history of Montreal.

The Nivard-De Saint-Dizier House

It’s a beautiful peasant house from 1710, wedged between the Saint-Lawrence River and LaSalle Boulevard, in Verdun. It looks great, with its fieldstone walls, its steep cedar shingle roof, its two large chimneys and its heavy wooden door that creaks when opened.

But the real wealth of this place is probably found in the basement. This is because the place, on the edge of the Lachine Rapids, was a place of portage and camping, a place of exchanges and meetings for the Aboriginal peoples long before the arrival of the Europeans. It is the largest prehistoric archaeological site on the island of Montreal, which retraces 5,500 years of occupation.

Archaeological excavations, carried out between 2005 and 2017, have recovered a variety of small objects, such as arrowheads, scrapers, potsherds and pipe bowls. Several of them are exhibited inside the Maison Nivard-De Saint-Dizier. We learn that these objects come from the region, but also from places as far away as Maine, Lake Superior or Pennsylvania. They traveled according to the exchanges between the Aboriginal nations.

Archaeologists are just excavating land outside the house. The museum wants to install a dry well to direct rainwater away from the foundations of the house, and it must be ensured that the work will not destroy any archaeological treasures.

The excavation work, carried out by the firm Ethnoscop, should not make it possible to discover much since they are carried out in the embankment zone, i.e. the first meter of soil, and not in the historical occupation zone, located immediately below.

Mathieu Sévigny, from Ethnoscop, is a philosopher. “Yes, it’s a little frustrating, but our role is to preserve the archaeological resource. »

A neighbor, Michèle Verreault, follows the scene closely. She lives on the other side of the boulevard and wonders: maybe there are artefacts under her house? “I often come here, I bring people,” she says. The museum is very interesting, but in addition, there are often activities, shows. »

You can learn more about the history of the place and the old house itself by consulting the panels inside. But nothing beats a guided tour to really soak up the place.

To find other small and large museums in Montreal: