Now that we are settled in our new location, we have been able
to resume collecting archival materials without the rigid spatial
constraints that hampered us in the years immediately preceding our
move. Thus far in 2019 we have acquired approximately 9
metres of paper records (equivalent to 18 banker's boxes).
Notable among these acquired records is a significant contribution
of family papers and photographs from Brian Bronfman,
pertaining to his grandparents Allan and Lucy Bronfman and his
father Edward. We took possession of 17 boxes of Jewish
community involvement records from the late Keith Landy, a
Toronto lawyer whose commitments included serving as national
president of Canadian Jewish Congress. 
We added to our biographical records of writer/
community activist Gertrude Katz and her connections with
Dr. Henry Morgentaler and we acquired some fascinating
compilations of Jewish recipes of the past decades from
Raymonde Grant. Of great exhibit potential, we obtained
from the Pfeiffer family a rare book of water colour
sketches of the internment camp for German-born Jews at Ile aux
Noix / Fort Lennox, Quebec (seen opposite).
We also acquired additional art works from the estate of
Moe Reinblatt, and an evocative Jewish-themed
painting from Montreal artist Joyce Jason. Our
audiovisual acquisitions include significant recordings about
Montreal rabbis and Iraqi Jews in
Canada respectively from Dr. Sharon Gubbay
Helfer and Dr. Norma Joseph.
We continue to review and process archival collections
with the help of senior and student volunteers as well as
student interns. In 2019 so far we have had the occasional
help of 2 senior assistants, 2 student or recent-graduate
volunteers, and 3 interns; one from McGill School of Information
Studies, one from John Abbott College and one from CEGEP
Maisonneuve. This summer and fall we are hosting an internship with
a Canadian Jewish Studies student from Concordia University.
Although our annual counts for this year are not yet available,
numbers of onsite and remote researchers appear to be stable this
year or perhaps slightly increased. We hosted one group of
12 people so far this year, consisting of
Montreal Jewish museum research fellows. Janice Rosen spoke to a
history class at McGill University and presented about the Archives
as part of the Association of Canadian Jewish Studies
annual conference.
In
wider outreach, we recently launched a major upgrade to our
shared website at http://cjhn.ca and are continuing to draw
attention to its holdings through a regular photo feature
begun June 2019 in the Canadian Jewish News.