MONTREAL — The Notman Photographic Archives, a collection of photographs described as a Canadian treasure, has been inscribed into UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register.
The McCord Stewart Museum in Montreal is the home of the collection, which contains 400,000 prints and 200,000 glass plate negatives as well as records and ledgers from the Montreal Notman studio between 1856 and 1935.
William Notman’s studio employed people across Canada and the United States, and the collection includes portraits, cityscapes and landscapes from coast to coast that the museum’s head describes as shedding light on the construction of Canada over an 80 year period.
Notman brought unique innovation and esthetic to portrait photography, which the museum says helped him earn an international reputation as the most prominent Canadian photographer of his era.
The archive had first been added to Canada’s national Memory of the World Register in 2019 before receiving the international distinction this week.
Cody Groat, a Western University professor and Chair of the Canadian commission for the UNESCO Memory of the World advisory committee, says the designation is given to the most significant archival or documentary heritage collections in the world.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 17, 2025.
The Canadian Press
