McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Henry Morgan and Co. Fonds
General material designation
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Title statements of responsibility
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Level of description
Fonds
Repository
Reference code
CA MUA MG1002
Edition area
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Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
Physical description area
Physical description
1.92 m of textual records and photographs
Publisher's series area
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Administrative history
In 1845, Henry Morgan opened a dry-goods retail operation on Notre Dame Street, Montréal, in partnership with David Smith. In 1851, Smith left for Chicago and Henry's brother, James, arrived from Glasgow to join the firm. Morgan's moved in 1866 to St. James Street and by 1874 employed some 200 clerks. In 1891 the store was moved uptown to St. Catherine Street and had become, by this time, the largest retail establishment in Canada. The firm remained a family business for more than a century. Branches were opened in Ottawa, Toronto, and Hamilton, and in various shopping centres near Toronto and Montréal, during the 1950s. In 1960 Morgan's was purchased by the Hudson's Bay Company.
Custodial history
Scope and content
The company's records contain administrative, financial and publicity material. The administrative series comprises the minutes of the directors from 1929 to 1955 and of the executive committee from 1949 to 1956. An engagement book records contracts between the company and its employees, 1902-1906. Henry Morgan's business correspondence covers the period 1847-1850, and includes a few personal letters to his brother James. Financial records cover both internal operations and stock transactions. The former are documented by an account book, 1845-1848; ledgers, 1870-1889; and diaries, 1884, 1936; the latter by lists of stock holders, 1954-1960; and records of transfers of Morgan's common stock, 1954-1961. Also included are files of invoices, receipts and cheques, 1846-1852. Publicity materials largely centre around anniversaries. Scrapbooks of newspaper clippings, other printed materials and photographs cover the years 1936-1945, culminating in the company's centennial, for which a typescript history was prepared.
Notes area
Physical condition
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General note
Originals, printed materials, and photographs