Fonds

Founded in Montreal in February 1785 by 19 wealthy merchants, the Beaver Club was a social club for fur traders who had spent at least one winter in Indigenous territory. Its mottoes were "Fortitude in Distress" and "Industry and Perseverance," phrases that were inscribed on the medals worn by club members. Its primary goal was to bring together men "highly respectable in Society" from the commercial and colonial elite in a friendly atmosphere to share their experiences. The club also enabled well-heeled merchants who no longer led the life of the voyageur to be introduced into Montreal society.

Although membership was originally offered only to those who had wintered in the Northwest, the club eventually loosened this rule by stipulating that any new members had to be accepted unanimously. Over the course of its existence, the Beaver Club welcomed over one hundred influential Montreal figures as members, including Simon McTavish, William McGillivray and James McGill. For many years, it was composed of partners or close associates of the North West Company (NWC). It also had a dozen or so honorary members, most of them soldiers and ship captains. Each member could invite several guests to the meetings, but the club only admitted men and guests were usually officers, administrators and luminaries, like Isaac Brock and Gordon Drummond.

The group's meetings took the form of a meal accompanied by plenty of alcohol, during which members would pass the calumet (peace pipe), make toasts, sing old voyageur songs, vote on admitting new members and club rules, tell stories and talk business. These evenings were generally held every two weeks, from December to April, with rare exceptions. In 1804, the year of Simon McTavish's death and the reorganization of the NWC, the club's activities were suspended for nearly three years. The Club started up again on January 26, 1807, and met regularly until at least January 21, 1817. The 1921 merger of the NWC and the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) in all likelihood sealed the Club's fate. Its last known meeting was held on March 5, 1827, after a three-month long attempt to revive the club.