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Museum and Art Collections |
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Like many museums, the Institute's Museum began when its Library received donations of a "museum nature." Through donations from members and the public, the Museum has assumed an identity and collections separate from the Library.
The Museum seeks to educate members and the public about Canadian military history by arranging and describing military artifacts, thus telling a vital part of Canada's history. After several evolutions during its development, in 1986, the Museum adopted a formal collections policy centering on the evolution of Canadian military arms, equipment and uniforms throughout Canadian military history. The Museum collections are now integrated into the whole of the Institute's building.
The Museum's collection include primitive artifacts as well weapons used over the last 200 years. Included is the pistol used by Captain Charles Rutherford, when in 1918 he won the Victoria Cross for his valour. In 1920, the Museum acquired its most famous artifact, the seat of Baron von Richthofen's fokker triplane, donated by Captain A. Roy Brown, a Canadian ace of the First World War, who downed the famous German aviator. The seat continues to amaze visitors interested in early aviation. |
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The artifacts contain a number of collections of badges and models of national significance. Of interest is the Yorkville Volunteer Guidon from the mid-19th Century. The Yorkville district of Toronto was an independent village with its own “army”. In 1857 Yorkville raised a volunteer troop of cavalry to which the Reeve presented the Guidon or ceremonial flag. |
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The Institute’s Museum participates in the “Organization of Military Museums of Canada”, an organization partially funded by the federal Heritage and History Branch. This includes participating in annual conferences to learn more about museum matters, including methods of operation, presentation and conservation. |
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Some of the notable artifacts in the Museum are:
• Visual History Collection: This consists of over 750 sketches, watercolours, prints, photographs and oil paintings. The first artwork in the collection was a hand-coloured lithograph etching of General James Wolfe, donated to the Museum by Mr. Benjamin Sulte, of the Department of Militia and Defence in 1895. The Museum also obtains visual history objects on loan. The most famous painting in the Museum came to the Institute in 1955, on permanent loan from the City of Toronto. Artist R. Caton Woodville painted “The Dawn of Majuba Day” in 1900. The painting records the defeat of the Boers at Paardeburg Drift, South Africa on February 27, 1900. The painting, which shows the Royal Canadian Regiment in action, is hung in a prominent place in the Institute. This art collection also includes photographs, which illustrates 150 years of Canadian military history. |
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• Weapons Collection: This collection of personal weapons shows a general historical progression and development of these weapons through time. One item is a Colt automatic used by Captain Charles Rutherford, V.C., in August 1918, to capture 80 Germans and 2 machine gun posts. Rutherford won the Victoria Cross for his valour. |
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• Significant Artifacts: (i) Yorkville Volunteer Guidon: in the mid-19th Century, the Yorkville district of Toronto was an independent village with its own “army”. In 1857, Yorkville raised a volunteer troop of cavalry, to which the Reeve presented this guidon or ceremonial flag. (ii) 7th (St. Catharines) Field Battery Red Ensign: this was flown at the unit’s location during hostilities in 1914 to 1917, when it was returned to Canada. It has handmarked on it all battle locations of the unit. (iii) Two bronze 9-pounder smooth-bore field guns: these have stood outside the front door as famous Toronto landmarks for many years and were a gift in 1900 from the Minister of Militia, the Right Honourable Frederick Borden. The cannon were cast in Woolwich, England in 1813 and 1815, have been repaired many times, and are the Institute’s largest artifacts. (iv) Richtofen’s Seat: In 1920, the Museum acquired its most famous artifact, the seat of Baron von Richthofen’s fokker triplane, donated by Captain A. Roy Brown, a Canadian ace of the First World War, who downed the famous German aviator. It is a material reminder of the most legendary First World War German air ace, and of the controversy surrounding his death. |
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• Medals and Badges Collection: The Museum’s collection of over 600 medals consists of a core group obtained in 1970 in the form of the Henry Pellatt collection and others donated to the Museum by individual donors. The collection has been organized in chronological order with an emphasis on Canadian medals. In April 1990, an American patron of the Institute generously donated a single group of 89 British campaign and battle medals, 1793 to the present, enabling the Institute to display a full chronological collection. One related subset is a substantially complete collection of First World War Canadian expeditionary force cap badges. |
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All content © 2006. The Royal Canadian Military Institute.
426 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 1S9. Tel: 416-597-0286. Fax: 416-597-6919. |
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