Geographers, urban planners, architects, historians, and other researchers require access to primary source information about the city of Montréal. This is a selected list of services and information offered in the Montréal region.
Libraries
Héritage Montréal is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of Greater Montréal's architectural, landscape, and social heritage. Their Documentation Centre is a unique reference library of heritage, planning, renovation, legislation and urban issues.
Consult digitized materials online about the province of Québec.
Print collection contains fire insurance plans (1950 series), Landuse Plans (post 1960s), scanned historical maps (late 19th and early 20th centuries), aerial photographs, topographic maps, cadastral plans, geology maps, census maps, land use maps and thematic atlases. Digital collection (available to the McGill University community only), contains topographic data, City of Montréal landuse and cadastral drawings, SIURS database, Canadian Census data, and other digital resources.
Collection consists of Canadian maps, atlases, aerial photographs and other resources accessible for public consultation. Consult their website for hours.
The archives contain five collections: institutional archives, Bibliothèque Montréal's collection (fonds de la Bibliothèque de Montréal), private collections, Société historique de Montréal's collection, a collection from the Communauté urbaine de Montréal.
Up-to-date print maps of: cadastral boundaries, landuse drawings, property line maps, street line-maps, public property land registry. Please note: Some digital copies of cadastral plans, landuse plans, and street line-drawings (AutoCAD and GIS formats) are available at the McGill Libraries for members of the McGill University community only. Digital copies for commercial purposes are available at the Comptoir de la géomatique.
The Master Plan is a reference document that presents a planning and development vision for the City of Montréal, as well as measures for implementing the goals and objectives resulting from that vision. The Plan deals with issues applying both to Montréal as a whole and to the specific characteristics of the 27 boroughs. The Plan also provides maps, a glossary and information on the public consultation process.
This department produces, maintains and defends property valuation and rental value rolls for taxation purposes in accordance with the Act respecting Municipal Taxation.
Provincial and Regional Government Services
The Land Register of Quebec is a public register of all real property transactions in Quebec. All citizens can access it and trace the history of transactions made on a lot since its creation. Lists, registers, and documents pertaining to property lots in Montréal can be consulted at the Montréal registry office. It is possible to consult documents online at the link above, provided they have been entered in the digital Land Register database. Please note that fees are charged for the online database, in-person consultations, and reproductions.
The Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal is the organization responsible for the planning, coordination and financing of the following jurisdictions: Land Use Planning of the Territory, Economic Development, Social Housing, Equipment, Infrastructure, Services and Activities for the Metropolitan region, Public Transit, Metropolitan Transportation Network, Sewage Planning and Management, Air Quality Treatment Atmospheric Purification, and Wastewater Treatment. Further information is available on their website.
The MEM - Centre d’histoire de Montréal is a museum with permanent and temporary exhibitions about the history of the City of Montréal.
Ecomusée du fier monde is a museum that focuses on the industrial and working class history of Montréal. It also serves as the museum of the Centre-Sud neighbourhood of Montréal. The hours and entry prices are posted on their website. Their documentation and collection centre is available for consulting (fee-based). Most of the information available at this Museum is in French.
The museum has both a permanent and temporary collections about the history and archaeology of the region of Montréal. The documentation centre is open to the public.
The Digital Program has been created to digitally capture and provide electronic access to McGill University's unique rare and special collections via the World Wide Web using advanced digital technologies. These collections include, rare books, maps, manuscripts, prints, photographs, sound recordings, and more. Several resources about the city of Montréal are available through the Digital Program.
Images of Montréal, Canadian Metropolis: 1872-1898, offers a collection of more than 300 images taken from old documents: L'Opinion publique, a weekly published in Montréal from 1870 to 1883, Art work on Montréal, Canada and Montréal illustrated 1894. Its growth, resources, commerce, manufacturing interests, published in 1898 and 1894, respectively. These three illustrated works are part of the Pointe-à-Callière collection.
A searchable database of photographs, containing 301 historical photographs of Montréal that range from buildings, places, municipal services, and people.
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