The Black Watch (RHR) of Canada Museum and Archives

As construction has begun for Phase 1 of the Museum Modernization Project, the Regimental Museum of the Black Watch (RHR) of Canada is closed until further notice. Please check back often for updates, which will be posted as available.

Anticipated launch/opening of Phase 1: September 2012

For more information, please contact us 514-496-1686 x 230 or Cette adresse email est protégée contre les robots des spammeurs, vous devez activer Javascript pour la voir.

The last half of 2011 was characteristically busy for the Regimental Museum and Archives team as we continued to make progress on a number of ongoing projects, caught-up on more routine matters, and participated in several special projects for the Regiment’s 150th anniversary year. We have been extremely fortunate to continue to have the strong support of an energetic and professional team: LCol (Ret’d) Bruce Bolton as Chairman, Mr. Cal Kufta as Coordinator, Ms. Cynthia Jones as Associate Curator/Collections Manager, Mr. Mike Cher as Archival Assistant, and Mr. Earl Chapman as a research volunteer. We are also pleased to welcome Ms. Eliza Richardson, a McGill University history student, into the fold as a Museum volunteer.

As has been the case in past years, we have also benefitted from the support of several Regular Force Officer Cadets (OCDTs) on On-the-Job Training (OJT) placements with the Regiment for several weeks or months at a time. Towards the end of the summer, OCDTs Colin Parker and Sarah Thornton were with us and in more recent months, we have had OCDT Jason-Lee Cannard on board. Thanks to their hard work, all images from the 26 Regular Force scrapbooks from CFB Gagetown have been individually scanned and inventoried. The collection will shortly be available online in its entirety. Additionally, a great deal of progress has been made in terms of inventorying personnel records in the Archives. This will enable us to more quickly process Requests for Service Information once we have cleared the back-log of requests and re-open that service.

Another area in which the Museum and Archives team has been particularly successful over the past six months is in catching up with the processing of accessions which have been donated in recent years. Regrettably, owing to insufficient resources, many artefacts, photographs, and documents that had been generously donated to the Regiment had not been fully accessioned into the relevant collections and much paperwork needed to be done to complete the process. Ms. Jones has now processed nearly half of these donations and we hope to be fully caught up by the spring of 2012. Many of these artefacts will find their way into exhibits in the renovated museum.

One recent donation which merits special mention is the summer dress uniform of Pte “Smokey” Smith, donated by his daughter, complete with the V.C. ribbon and RHC accoutrements. As has been detailed in a previous issue of Canada’s Red Hackle, “Smokey” Smith did indeed have a RHC connection in the early 1950s after being re-badged from the Seaforth Highlanders. This uniform will make a lovely addition to a forthcoming museum exhibit on Regimental notables.

One of the special projects that has recently been fully completed is the publication of the 73rd Battalion history by the Museum and Archives team partnered with the Regimental Kit Shop and with the support of the Montreal Branch of the Black Watch of Canada Association. The 73rd Battalion was the third of the three fighting battalions raised by the Regiment during the First World War. Despite being written in the early 1940s by Col. P.P. Hutchison, its history was never published though one of five typescript copies had been residing in the Regimental Archives since that time. Thanks to the initiative of the Museum and Archives team, in particular Mr. Earl Chapman who spearheaded the project, the book has now been professionally published. As an added bonus, the nominal rolls and honour rolls which were listed in the original version have been updated by Mr. Mike Cher using a number of resources which were unavailable to the original author more than half a century ago. The book is now available from the Regimental Kit Shop.

Despite the number of special projects that are currently being undertaken and which have tied up valuable resources, the Regimental Museum and Archives has remained very accessible to the Regimental Family and to the public. In addition to being open on Tuesday evenings, the Museum is typically opened three or four times a week for private appointments. Additionally, the Museum and Archives team has prepared lectures for the Black Watch Cadets, the Regimental Recruit Platoon, and even the Recce Platoon. On November 11th, we hosted over 200 school-children to the Museum as they prepared to participate in the Remembrance Day parade.

Although we have made a tremendous amount of progress in terms of accessibility, organization, and modernization, with 2012 upon us and the start of the physical renovations imminent, we must begin to plan for the future. Our main goal is to be able to continue to provide the level of professionalism and accessibility that you have grown accustomed to in the Regimental Museum, the Regimental Archives, and as the voice of the Regimental Family concerning all things relating to the history and heritage of the Black Watch of Canada. As such, building a sustainable annual operating budget sufficient to meet these needs for the years beyond 2012 is a high priority for our team. We will be counting on individual and institutional donors both from inside and from outside the Regimental family for contributions either directly to the Regimental Museum and Archives or via the Black Watch of Canada Foundation in order to make all of this possible. Every little bit counts!