Redpath Museum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Redpath Museum

Established	1882
Location	859 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Type	Museum of natural history
Public transit access	at Peel station at McGill station

Interior of the museum

The Redpath Museum is an exciting place in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where you can explore the wonders of natural history. It belongs to McGill University and is located right on the university's campus. The museum was built in 1882 thanks to a generous gift from a wealthy sugar businessman named Peter Redpath.

This museum is home to amazing collections that cover many different areas. You can find items related to ethnology (the study of cultures), biology (the study of living things), paleontology (the study of fossils), and mineralogy/geology (the study of rocks and minerals). Some of these collections were started by the same people who helped create famous museums like the Smithsonian! The current director of the museum is Catherine Turgeon.

The Redpath Museum is special because it's the oldest building in Canada that was built specifically to be a museum. Its unique design makes it a popular spot. Both the inside and outside of the museum have been used as a setting for movies and commercials!

Explore the Collections

The Redpath Museum has many incredible items for you to discover. Here are some highlights from their collections:

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  A dinosaur skeleton inside the Redpath Museum

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  A Gorgosaurus skeleton in the central exhibit area

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  Fossilized scallops from the museum's collection

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  A Claudiosaurus germaini fossil

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  A Marrella splendens fossil

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  A cast of Limnoscelis

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  A Pecopteris bucklandi fossil plant

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  A specimen of the Labrador duck

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  The skull of a Dendrerpeton

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  A specimen of the Carolina parakeet

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  The skeleton of an anaconda

Geology and Minerals

The museum has five main collections of rocks and minerals, with about 16,000 specimens from all over the world! Each collection is named after the person who helped build it:

• Doell collection (D): Named for Dr. Donald Doell, who added many newer materials.
• Ferrier collection (F): From Walter Frederick Ferrier, a famous mining engineer. It has many important minerals from classic locations.
• Jeffrey collection (J): Named for Jeffrey de Fourestier, a mineralogist and former museum volunteer.
• Palache collection (P): From Charles Palache, a mineralogist and professor from Harvard.
• Shirley Collection (SC): Donated by the wife of Sir Hugh Graham in the 1880s.
• New System collection (NS): This is the main collection, including items from the old Natural History Society of Montreal and Lord Strathcona.

Insects and Bugs (Entomology)

The museum used to have a large collection of insects, called the Lyman entomology collections. In 1961, these collections were moved to the Macdonald Campus in Sainte Anne-de-Bellevue. This move helped create the Lyman Entomological Museum and Research Laboratory, which is still active today.

Ancient Life (Paleontology)

The museum has a very important collection of fossils. Many of these fossils were first gathered by Sir William Dawson. He brought in many plant fossils from his home in Nova Scotia and also found important specimens from around the world. Dr. Thomas Clark also played a big role. He was known for his amazing work on fossils from the Burgess Shale, which are some of the oldest fossils ever found!

Cultures and History (Ethnology)

The museum's collection of items from different cultures and ancient times is one of the oldest in North America. It started with Sir William Dawson's collection and grew with materials from the Natural History Society of Montreal. Today, it has over 17,000 items from places like Africa, ancient Egypt, Oceania, ancient Europe, and South America. The collection of First Nations artifacts that used to be here is now housed at the nearby McCord Museum in Montreal.

How to Get There

The Redpath Museum is easy to reach! You can walk to it from many places in downtown Montreal. It's also very close to the McGill station on the Montreal Metro's Green Line.

See also

In Spanish: Museo Redpath para niños

• Redpath Library
• George Barnston