Fonds
Originating in Scotland, the game of curling became very popular in the 19th century in Montreal and other Canadian cities. Growing interest in the sport inspired the founding of the Montreal Thistle Curling Club on December 19, 1843, by a small group of Montrealers made up of Messrs. D. McTavish, Robert Speirs, John Bethune, Richard Harrison, John Auld, John and William Greenshields, J. B. Torry, Robert Muir, J. Simpson and John Armour, Jr.
Club members initially played outdoors on the frozen St. Lawrence River and then two years later created a rink in an old flour shed near the Lachine Canal. The Montreal Thistle Curling Club began competing against other sports teams from Quebec and Ontario in 1845. The Club was incorporated in 1870 and inaugurated its new rink on St. Monique Street on December 24 of the same year. However, in 1911, the Canadian National Railway Company expropriated the association's land and property for an expansion project. The following year, the Montreal Thistle Curling Club established its new site at 1490 Fort Street. The 1930s were key years in the association's history as it gained recognition at numerous competitions. In 1933, the Club won five major trophies: the Jubilee Trophy, the Governor General's Trophy, the Holt Renfrew Cup, the Quebec City Cup and the Heather Bonspiel.
Interest in curling started to fade in the late 1970s and the Montreal Thistle Curling Club lost a significant number of members, causing its revenues drop even as its tax burden rose. One hundred and fifty-six years after its founding, financial difficulties forced the association to close its physical doors in the fall of 1999.
Source: “Thistle Curling Club Marks 100th Anniversary Tonight,” The Gazette, December 18, 1943, p. 16.
Scope and Content
The Montreal Thistle Curling Club Fonds chronicles the history of one of Canada's first sports clubs and documents the practice of curling in Quebec from the mid-19th to the late 20th century.
The fonds contains the governing documents (by-laws) of the Montreal Thistle Curling Club along with a book commemorating its 100th anniversary and a booklet listing the rules of curling. There are seven original drawings that illustrate the various designs proposed for the Club's official flag. In addition, the fonds includes administrative documents like meeting notices, agendas, minutes, business plans and reports presented at various Montreal Thistle Curling Club meetings. The fonds also holds a ledger listing property maintenance fees, human resource expenses and other related expenditures. A contract authorizing the Montreal Thistle Curling Club to use the Thistle Land Company's property is part of this collection as well.
The association's sports and social activities are reflected in member directories, forms, lists, press clippings, obituaries, floor plans, speeches, programs, advertising flyers, posters, scrapbooks and menus. Correspondence provides information on the application process, the status of members and the banquet held for the Montreal Thistle Curling Club's 150th anniversary. In addition, the fonds contains photographs of Club members on various occasions like luncheons, tournaments and awards ceremonies.
The fonds is divided into the following series:
P148/A
Governance (1943-1992);
P148/B Meetings (1923-1994);
P148/C Membership (1954-1992);
P148/D Celebrations and Social Activities (1952-1994);
P148/E Communications (1843-1995);
P148/F Finance (1935-1945);
P148/G Property (1916-1954, predominant 1950-1954);
P148/H Photographs (1869-1993).
Classification Scheme
P148 Montreal Thistle Curling Club
P148/A Administration
P148/B Réunions
P148/C Adhésion
P148/D Célébrations et activités sociales
P148/D1 150e
anniversaire
P148/D1,1 Organisation
P148/D1,2 Correspondance
P148/D1,3 Documents financiers
P148/D2 Trophées
P148/D3 Événements
sociaux
P148/E Communications
P148/E1 Correspondance
P148/E2 Discours
P148/E3 Bulletins
P148/E4 Coupures de
journaux et spicilèges
P148/F Finances
P148/G Ressources immobilières
P148/H Photographs
Source of title proper: Title based on the content of the fonds.
Dates of creation: Several documents are undated.
Physical condition: The documents preserved in this fonds are in good condition. However, the annual golf tournament diary is damaged and shows traces of mildew. Some scrapbooks are also in fragile and/or unstable condition (torn binding, yellowed scotch tape, loose documents, brittle pages, dark rings, etc.).
Immediate source of acquisition: This fonds is the result of several separate donations to the McCord Museum by the Montreal Thistle Curling Club in 1984, 1985, 1990, 1996 and 2000 (M2000.38.X). The Lake St. Louis Historical Society also donated part of the fonds, which came from the archives of the Macdonald Tobacco Company, in 2009 (M2009.57.X) and in 2013 (M2013.48.X).
Language: The documents are in English and French, but primarily in English.
Finding aids: Lists providing an inventory of the contents of the various donations are preserved in the information files of the Archives.
Related groups of records: Other records related to curling are preserved in the Royal Montreal Curling Club Fonds (P763) and the Rita Proulx Fonds (P696). Documents produced by the Montreal Thistle Curling Club are also preserved in the P763/H1 subseries.
General note: The McCord Museum's Material Culture collection includes several objects donated by the Montreal Thistle Curling Club (M977.78.1-34 and M2000.38.X). The Dress, Fashion and Textiles collection also contains two jackets (M2000.38.92-93) and one tie (M2000.38.94) donated to the Museum by the Club in 2000.
Last update: August 30, 2017
Information about the objects in our collection is updated to reflect new research findings. If you have any information to share regarding this object, please email reference.mccord@mccord-stewart.ca.Information about rights and reproductions is available here.
This project is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Azrieli Foundation and Canadian Heritage.