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Photo Credit: Dylan Page
Welcome to the Science Laboratory of the Morrin Centre, which houses collection items from the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec (LHSQ), the oldest surviving learned society in Canada. Now what might you believe to be the connection between a taxidermied duck, a herbarium, and an overwhelming collection of wood samples? This virtual exhibit of the Cabinet of Curiosities project introduces the context of the current collection items of the LHSQ situated in the Science Lab.
Further information can be found in the booklet, Cabinets of Curiosities: A Guide to the LHSQ and Natural History in 19th-century Quebec, available at the Morrin Centre.
This project is made possible thanks to the Supporting Heritage Awareness, Recognition and Engagement (SHARE) program of the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network (QAHN/RPAQ), as well as Canadian Heritage.
Exhibition hall, Natural History Society Museum, Montreal, QC, about 1900.
Artist: Unknown, McCord Stewart Museum, MP-0000.113.3.
From Cabinets of Curiosities to Museums
Humans have a long history of collecting items of personal curiosity or interest. Cabinets of curiosities were opportunities to showcase a collector’s wealth, knowledge, and understanding of the world. Starting from the mid-16th century, as art and natural objects were collected and categorized, they served as precursors to modern museums. Unsurprisingly, these cabinets had a deep connection to colonialist empires, as rare and “exotic” objects acquired from imperial exploitation were highly favoured. They were arranged by the collectors themselves, often reflecting their personal tastes and perceptions rather than a scientific or chronological arrangement. By the mid-18th century, cabinets of curiosities were officially transformed from personal and amateur collections into formal institutions for scientific, commercial, and educational demonstration.1
While there are no images of the LHSQ museum in its early days, natural history museums elsewhere in Quebec, such as Montreal’s Natural History Society museum, pictured here, give some sense of what the LHSQ museum may have looked like.
1 Marjean D. Purinton, “George Colman’s ‘The Iron Chest ‘ and « Blue-Beard’ and the Pseudoscience of Curiosity Cabinets,” Victorian Studies, no. 2 (2007): 250, https://www.jstor.org/stable/4626282.
A copy of New Voyages to North America, Vol II (1703), by Baron Lahontan, partially burnt in one of the fires that devastated the LHSQ’s collections.
Credit: Morrin Centre
From Fires to Natural History Collections
The LHSQ’s commitment to natural history exploration in Quebec City did not come without challenges. Before the Society made this building its home in 1868, its collection of books, natural specimens, and artifacts moved between various locations around the city, including the Parliament buildings and a site on Saint-Jean Street.
Despite its many tribulations, the artifacts in the Science Lab cabinet today represent the remnants of the LHSQ’s collecting efforts, specifically in the field of natural history. From its inception, the Society considered one of its primary roles “to excite in the rising generation, a taste for scientific knowledge and pursuits, and at the same time to afford facilities for their cultivation.”2 Over the many years of its existence, with government support and private funding, the Society set out to purchase books and equipment to further develop interest in science, while continuing to acquire botanical and geological specimens. Notable early donations to the museum collection at this time included a basket of insects, a tropical sea bird, a shark’s jaws, and 53 mineral specimens from the Gulf of St. Lawrence.3
2 “Preface,” Transactions of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec II (1831): 2.
3 “List of Donations to the Society,” Transactions of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec II (1831): 433-439.
A brass microscope (circa 1860-1890), a ceramic mortar and pestle (circa late 19th-century to early 20th-century), a brass and steel magnifying glass (likely circa first half of 20th-century), and a pair of brass Bunsen burners. In order of appearance: LHSQ 2013-007, 2012-001 A-B, 2004-662, 2012-003, 2012-004.
Credit: Dylan Page
The rocks and minerals collection displayed in the Science Lab.
Credit: Dylan Page
A collection of approximately 63 butterflies and insects within a glass case acquired by the Society in around 1871 (LHSQ 2004-548).
Credit: Dylan Page
A taxidermied Eider duck, the last remaining bird specimen of the once vast collection of bird and egg specimens (LHSQ 2010-001).
Credit: Dylan Page
Ornithology
Ornithology was a specific interest of the Society within its overall objective to further the development of natural history knowledge. Historically, taxidermied birds and egg specimens constituted a majority of the museum’s collection. The taxidermied Eider duck currently on display is a reminder of the once overwhelming collection inspired by members’ interest in ornithology.
Well-known contributors to the growth of this field included William Sheppard, four-time President of the LHSQ, and his family. The Sheppards donated numerous mounted bird specimens and bird skins to the museum in the early 1830s.
In addition, in 1833, William Sheppard’s wife, Harriet Sheppard (née Campbell), presented to the Society a lecture entitled “Notes on Some of the Canadian Songbirds,” which was later printed in the third volume of the Transactions in 1837.4 Sheppard, who published another lecture on shells of the Quebec region in 1829, was the first and only woman to have had articles printed in this publication.
4 Harriet Sheppard, “Notes on Some of the Canadian Song Birds,” Transactions of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec III (1837, reprint 1927): 222-225.
A herbarium is a collection of preserved plant specimens used for research and education. It often involves dried plants pressed into pages of a book. This herbarium from 1903 represents the Society’s continued interest in botany (LHSQ 2019-001).
Credit: Dylan Page
Botany
The herbarium and collection of various related books represent the LHSQ’s unique contributions to botany. This field has been an area of interest since the Society’s inception, with early museum donations including a collection of botanical specimens donated by Reverend Daniel Wilkie and a published catalogue of approximately 400 Canadian plants gifted to the Society by Lady Dalhousie (née Christian Ramsay) in 1829. The LHSQ continues to maintain important botany literature collected by the Society over the years, including books by renowned botanists such as William Jackson Hooker (The British Flora, 1831) and Asa Gray (First Lessons in Botany and Vegetable Physiology, 1860).
Perhaps the most unique contribution of the LHSQ to this field came from the lesser-known women connected to the Society. Although they struggled to obtain equal status and privilege as members, the women connected to the Society nevertheless became important contributors to botanical knowledge. Lady Dalhousie and Harriet Sheppard were involved in the founding of the LHSQ and, alongside Anne Mary Perceval, who was also based in Quebec City, they were among the key Canadian botanical contributors to the famed Flora Boreali-Americana, or the Botany of the Northern Parts of British North America (1840), by William Jackson Hooker.5
Together, these three women, along with Mary Brenton of Newfoundland, are the only women cited in his book, with nearly 450 mentions as sources of information on plant species.6 They corresponded regularly with Hooker, sending vast collections of botanical specimens they had gathered and identified. These four women, avid botanical collectors, directly contributed to the development of Canadian scientific knowledge despite being largely overlooked and uncredited by history.
5 Ann Shteir and Jacques Cayouette, “Collecting with ‘Botanical Friends’: Four Women in Colonial Quebec and Newfoundland,” Scientia Canadensis 41, no. 1 (2019): 1-25, https://doi.org/10.7202/1056314ar.
6 Shteir and Cayouette, “Collecting with ‘Botanical Friends,’” 3.
1524 edition of De rei militari by Flavius Renatus Vegetius, bound with Lucius Annaeus Florus’s De gestis romanorum (1540)
Credit: Morrin Centre
Thanks to donations, notably from H. H. Miles in 1871, the Society now displays an impressive wood and fibre collection in the Science Laboratory cabinet.
Credit: Dylan Page
Community Contributions
From the beginning, the contributions of members have been the backbone of the LHSQ’s collections.
Notable member contributions include the oldest book of the Society’s catalogue, a 1524 edition of De rei militari by Flavius Renatus Vegetius, bound with Lucius Annaeus Florus’s De gestis romanorum (1540). These two Latin books, which explain Roman military strategies and Roman history respectively, were donated by former LHSQ President William Wood, demonstrating the Society’s interest in rare books and the essential contributions of members to the growth and diversification of its collection.
Other members also regularly donated to the LHSQ, notably H. H. Miles. In 1871, he donated approximately 160 samples of wood, fibres, and other natural materials from Canada and around the world to the museum.7
These donations exemplify the enduring tradition of the Society’s collection being supported by the community and its members.
7 “Appendix and LHSQ Matter 1871,” Transactions of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec (1872): 17.
Recreations of some of the cabinet collection items made by participants of the Morrin Centre S.T.E.A.M. Club.
Credit: Morrin Centre
The LHSQ Legacy
The remaining artifacts in the LHSQ’s collections are a reminder of the Society’s legacy and its contributions to natural history. While the current cabinet of the Science Lab may be reminiscent of past cabinets of curiosities, it actually reflects the Society’s repeated efforts to replenish and expand its vast collection of books, natural specimens, and cultural artifacts. From rocks, minerals, and fibre samples to a taxidermied Eider duck and a herbarium, the current LHSQ collection demonstrates the wide range of scientific interests of Canada’s longest surviving learned society.
The community continues to engage with the LHSQ collection today. Pictured here are recreations of some of the cabinet collection items made by participants of the S.T.E.A.M. Club, an activity within the Morrin Centre’s children’s education program.
Today, the Society continues to be fuelled by the passion and rigour of the local community. Its goals now include sharing the heritage of the LHSQ and its contributions to natural history, remembering its resilience, and continuing community participation to sustain the collection’s vitality for future generations.
To learn more about our Science Laboratory artifacts, purchase our Cabinet of Curiosities booklet, available in the Morrin Centre gift shop!
The Cabinet of Curiosities project was made possible thanks to the financial support of the Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network’s Supporting Heritage Awareness, Recognition and Engagement (SHARE) program and of the Government of Canada.