Curator hours: Wed 12PM-4PM and Thu/Fri 10AM-2PM. Librarian hours: Mon/Wed/Fri 9AM-3PM. Contact may be made by telephone or e-mail or in person:

Curator        Tel: 416-597-0286 ext. 118      E-mail: museum@rcmi.org

Librarian      Tel:416-597-0286 ext. 128      E-mail: library@rcmi.org

 

Collections Outreach

An important objective for the Institute regarding its collections is to expand upon its public outreach activities and initiatives. The Museum and Library collections are available for interested members of the public for research and reference purposes. This may include research projects, schools or university assignments, and access by those with a general interest in military and strategic affairs and history. We also encourage speakers to use our facilities, to help create public interest in new books on military topics. The Institute seeks to further its public outreach programme in a number of ways, including:

• subject displays about the development of weapons, tactics and strategies utilizing visual materials, artifacts, books and written explanations;

• dissemination of information to persons interested in military artifacts and books, by travelling displays which are mounted at other locations to reach a broader public and by providing knowledgeable volunteer(s) to participate in events;

• public tours of current displays, such as the arrangement of tours of school children, and our participation in Toronto's "Doors Open" where, by advertisement, the public visits a number of institutions in Toronto to see their displays and activities.

Collections Development

Volunteer support is always welcome, as the Institute continually seeks to improve its collections activities by diverse initiatives, including:

• seeking more working relationships with other military museums and libraries, so that exchanges and other interactions will enhance the research capability of the collections; •

 using student interns to conduct specific portions of the operations of the collections;

• actively encouraging the publication of new books and research studies;

• sharpening the focus of the collections, including in the case of the Library collections by focusing more on current periodicals on military art and science;

• expanding the physical display and research space open to the public;

• using e-mail, CD's and cable TV to distribute materials to members and other interested persons;

• operating a major website that contains some material to be accessed over the web (library and history materials). This would allow research possibilities to be explored, and would make individuals and organizations aware of the possibilities in utilizing Institute resources.

Donations Welcomed

The Institute is very receptive to gifts of military-oriented artifacts, documents and books, as single items or in collections. Tax receipts are available for larger donations. In general the acquisition policy of the collections welcomes materials on any military related subject, old or new, that it does not already hold, or that are in better condition than those it does, hold. However, we reserve the right to return materials, or sell them at periodic auctions to raise funds for new purchases, that either do not suit the collections or are duplicates. The donation of photo or scrap albums is not encouraged, solely due to lack of space, although their value can be discussed in unusual cases.