LAWYER DAVID Ross McCord (1844–1930) was an avid collector of virtually everything that had to do with life in Canada, including books, photographs, jewellery, furniture, clothing, documents, papers, paintings, toys, and porcelain.

In 1919, he gave his considerable acquisitions to McGill University with a view to establishing a museum of Canadian social history. That collection, now more than 90,000 artifacts, is housed in a stately limestone building that was once a social center for McGill students. The museum has a good section of early history, as well as exceptional folk art.

A particularly fine collection of Indian and Inuit items features clothing, weapons, jewellery, furs, and pottery. A separate room is devoted to the social history of Montreal. The museum’s most celebrated possession is the collection of 700,000 photographs, which painstakingly chronicle every detail of daily life in 19th-century Montreal.