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Archival description
Zoological Society of Montreal fonds Series
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Activities

The series consists of records created in the fulfilment of the Zoological Society’s mandate and goals to host events, trips, speakers, and to donate to and support worthy causes. This includes event and project planning records with related financial documents and reports, guest lists, communications to members, and correspondence. A large part of this series is concerned with the Society’s whale watching excursions and their whale conservation efforts. These files include an annual pamphlet called Whales Alive! = les Baleines!, flyers, newspaper advertisements and published articles, all promoting whale watching field trips. Others include donations, correspondence, and financial documents relating to issues surrounding conservation. Other types of activities covered in this series are field trips (primarily around Quebec but also a few internationally), film screenings (known as theatre nights), art shows, fundraisers and lectures. The field trips and some events of the Society are documented in 5193 photographs stored in 24 photo albums (1989-2009). Apart from events, projects undertaken by the Society are included, such as their efforts to build a wildlife park in Montreal’s West Island, the conservation of owls, lynxes, birds, turtles and flowers, and their wildlife pavilion at Man and His World.
There are large gaps in the Activities series. The Society’s founding project, the Montreal Aquarium and Dolphin Arena, and their proposal for an ark at Expo ’67 are only included briefly in these records. For more information on these projects, see the Administration series files MSG1164.c5.f11, f12, f13. Also, there are few photos documenting the Society’s activities before 1989.

Administration

The series consists of documents produced in the day-to-day managing of the Society. These records were created by various bodies within the Zoological Society including most prominently, the Executive Committee, the Project Committee and the president. They reflect the mandate and creation of the Society through by-laws and letters patent incorporating, and the operations of the Society including meeting minutes and notices, correspondence, reports, financial records, member information, event and project planning documents, and donations. Newspaper advertisements and published articles on the Society or its activities have also been gathered and documented. Correspondence records are primarily with the Society president, but also contain member and guest speaker correspondence with the Executive Committee. The Project Committee administrative records deal largely with field trip planning and associated communications to members. The series also contains the administrative records of the Zoological Society of Canada (1969-2011), which contain the same types of documents.
Notably, this series contains correspondence with Prime Minister’s Jean Chrétien and Brian Mulroney (MSG1164.c2.f2 and MSG1164.c4.f11).

Books

The series consists of published books owned by the Zoological Society of Montreal, which pertain to the activities and interests of the Society. Some of these works contain the authors’ signatures.

Newsletters

The series consists of materials used to communicate the Society’s activities, interests, and administration to its members and the public. These are primarily in the form of newsletters whose format and purpose varied throughout the Society’s existence. The series contains the Society’s newsletter The Lynx, a seasonal publication, for the years 1967-81, with gaps between 1968-71. The Lynx contains photos, articles, and book reviews relating to the interests of the Society, as well as administrative coverage of the Society’s meetings and member reports. In the mid-70s, The Lynx took on a longer, magazine-style format whose focus shifts to editorials, long form articles, and contains advertisements. After 1981, the Society began publishing the aptly named Newsletter in place of The Lynx, moving away from the highly polished magazine format. This series contains the Newsletter, published monthly from 1981- 2016. Although the name The Lynx was reinstated in 2000, the format remained casual. The newsletter entitled Bulletin is also contained in this series, published monthly from 1976-81 as a means of informing members about recent and upcoming Society events. Some files also contain event invitations, notices, and pamphlets on activities hosted by the Society.

Artifacts

The series consists of several objects that were used in the administration of the Society, or displayed in their offices. This series also contains some textual records and photographs, which arrived with the objects in this series. Some arrived framed, mounted or with tape on them, indicating they may have been mounted on the walls of the office. While some objects were used in the daily operations of the Society, the mounted objects in this series signal the Society’s accomplishments.