32 
THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF CANADA 
By W. H. Collins 
CONTENTS 
Page 
Origin 32 
Logan or Pre-Confederation period 34 
1867-1907 38 
1907-1920 43 
Present 47 
Future 51 
Legislation concerning the Geological Survey of Canada and National Museum of 
Canada 57 
Illustrations 
Plate I. Sir William Edmund Logan ? first director of the Geological Survey of 
Canada. From a painting in the possession of the Geological 
Survey . 34 
II. Former residence of Honourable Peter McGill, St. Gabriel street, 
Montreal, occupied by the Geological Survey of Canada from 1852 
until 1874. Courtesy of McCord National Museum, Montreal. 
A. From a drawing by IL Bunnett in 1885 37 
B. From a sketch by James Duncan, looking from Champ de 
Mars 37 
III. Sarracenia (Pitcher plant). A sketch from the notebook of Sir W. E. 
Logan. From Harrington’s Life of Sir William Logan 38 
IV. Thomas Sterry Hunt, with whom originated the division of miner- 
alogy in the Geological Survey and the National Museum 38 
V. Elkanah Billings, first palaeontologist to the Geological Survey 38 
VI. Alfred R. C. Selwyn, second director of the Geological Survey. 
From a painting in the possession of the Geological Survey. ... 38 
VII. John Macoun, first botanist to the Geological Survey. From a 
painting in the possession of the National Museum 41 
VIII. George Mercer Dawson, third director of the Geological Survey, who 
was first in the Survey to make ethnological investigations 42 
IX. Former Geological Survey office and Museum on Sussex street, 
Ottawa, to which the Geological Survey moved from Montreal 
in 1880. Now occupied by the Mines Branch 46 
X. Victoria Memorial Museum, present home of the National Museum 
and Geological Survey 48 
Figure 1. Floor plan of Victoria Memorial Museum 48 
ORIGIN 
On January 5, 1927, the Governor General in Council gave authority 
“to designate the Museum branch of the Department of Mines the ‘National 
Museum of Canada ’ ” (P.C. 2165). Assumption of this impressive name 
implies acceptance of important duties towards the people of Canada. 
But, probably less than half of living Canadians are aware that they 
possess and maintain a National Museum. Therefore, it is a first duty of 
the Museum to make itself and its aims known as widely as possible. 
The present review of the origin and development of the Museum is pre- 
sented for this purpose. 
