Graham Iddon
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December 2, 2013
The McCord Museum Visit
While visiting bigger institutions in Montréal, the museum planning team decided to drop into the McCord Museum and take a look at the ways they are using tablets and apps in their exhibition spaces.
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November 25, 2013
We Drop into Pointe-à-Callière in Montréal
During two trips to Montréal this past July, as part of our ongoing program of museum tours, the planning team visited the Montréal Museum of Archaeology and History at Pointe-à-Callière near the old city waterfront.
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November 12, 2013
The Last of the New Polymer Notes are Released
On 7 November, the Bank of Canada released the new five and ten dollar bills into circulation. I won’t say ‘released onto an unsuspecting public’ as the official introduction to the new bills took place last April in a big event in front of the former Museum featuring a live presentation by Chris Hadfield beamed from the International Space Station.
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November 5, 2013
A Visit to Centre des sciences de Montréal
Twice this past July, members of the museum planning team took the train to Montréal to have a look at some of the excellent museums there.
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October 7, 2013
The Cases are Almost Empty
For the first time since they went into their cases in 1980, over 2000 coins, notes, beads and shells are coming back out. The Museum’s curatorial staff are busily pulling panels from cases, placing coins into specially prepared drawers and sliding notes into acid-free Mylar envelopes.
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September 24, 2013
Curators Begin Removal of Artifacts
The doors were barely closed following Big Top Farewell event before Chief Curator Paul Berry and his team began emptying display cases that had been sealed shut since 1980. The biggest task involved removing more than 2500 bank notes from the room we knew as Gallery 8.
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September 6, 2013
First Artifacts to Leave the Museum: And they were big
Before the museum closed for renovations on 2 July, technicians began to remove the heavier artifacts in late May. First to go was the strong box. Built of ¼” thick welded steel plates, this trunk was used by the Bank of Upper Canada in Toronto between 1821 and 1866.
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August 26, 2013
Big Top Farewell, a Big Success
It was farewell to the Currency Museum as we know it this past Canada Day. Our annual 1 July event was circus-themed this year, featuring children’s games, clowns, balloon sculptures and ice cream.
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June 21, 2013
Farewell to the Currency Museum c.1980
The roots of the Currency Museum go back to 1959 when the then Governor of the Bank of Canada, James Coyne, proposed the idea of establishing a currency collection that would reflect the colourful monetary history of Canada. By the time the go-ahead was given in 1963 by Coyne’s successor, Louis Rasminsky, the collection’s mandate had been expanded to include world monetary history, banking and production artifacts and a numismatic library.
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June 18, 2013
Welcome to the Currency Museum Blog!
We are very excited about this, our museum’s new digital dimension. As the doors close on 2 July for the next three years or so, we are endeavoring to keep them virtually open with a lively flow of reports and updates on the progress of our re-invention.
