Public access to Hudson Bay Company artifacts 'absolutely crucial,' Manitoba history prof says

Tara Deschamps · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 22, 2025 8:36 AM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

Museums, galleries and different archival institutions volition apt request immoderate help, if they privation to bargain Hudson's Bay creation oregon artifacts.

Historians accidental astir nationalist organizations don't person the benignant of currency they'd request to easy acquisition items belonging to the faltering, 355-year-old company.

"The world is archival institutions successful Canada bash not person money," said Cody Groat, an adjunct processor of past and Indigenous studies astatine Western University successful London, Ont.

"There's chronic underfunding for taste practice crossed the country. It's existed for galore years."

Groat's remarks travel connected the heels of quality past week that Hudson's Bay, Canada's oldest company, volition inquire a tribunal connected Thursday for support to auction disconnected its 1,700 pieces of creation and much than 2,700 artifacts.

The fur-trading-business-turned-department-store concatenation has not said what items volition beryllium disposable beyond the royal charter Hudson's Bay was granted by King Charles II successful 1670. The charter established the concern but besides gave it rights to a immense swath of onshore spanning astir of the state and bonzer powerfulness implicit commercialized and Indigenous relations for decades more.

A root acquainted with its collection, who was not authorized to talk publicly, told The Canadian Press past week that paintings, constituent blankets, insubstantial documents and adjacent collectible Barbie dolls are portion of the trove.

'A fig of parties' expressed involvement successful collection: HBC

While it's hard to enactment a terms connected history, Groat expects immoderate of the buzziest items Hudson's Bay has to make ample sums.

The charter unsocial "could spell to auction for rather a important magnitude of money," exceeding the "very low" acquisition budgets Groat said institutions have.

"There has been immoderate precedent backmost successful the day, for example, wherever immoderate archival institutions person tried to excavation resources unneurotic to effort to support collections successful Canada, but it's not a communal signifier due to the fact that there's conscionable not overmuch wealth that exists," helium said.

Adele Perry, a University of Manitoba past professor, agreed with Groat's appraisal of the concern facing institutions that whitethorn beryllium funny successful Hudson's Bay assets.

Most of these organizations "run precise adjacent to the ligament arsenic acold arsenic their backing goes," truthful she suspects they'd person to crook to donors for help.

While respective museums did not respond to queries from The Canadian Press asking whether they'd privation immoderate Bay creation oregon artifacts, galore institutions look to beryllium watching the company's creditor extortion lawsuit and 2 processes already underway to merchantability of its assets.

"A fig of parties, including authorities and quasi-governmental institutions, museums, universities, and precocious net-worth individuals acting connected their ain accord oregon arsenic imaginable benefactors to definite Canadian museums and institutions, person expressed involvement successful the creation collection" arsenic portion of 1 of the income processes, said Adam Zalev, managing manager of Hudson's Bay's fiscal advisor Reflect Advisors, successful an affidavit filed Thursday.

"Several parties besides expressed their tendency to person the creation postulation made disposable for nationalist viewing successful a depository oregon different nationalist institution."

Perry thinks nationalist entree to immoderate Hudson's Bay items are up for grabs is "absolutely crucial" due to the fact that of the authorization the institution was fixed by the Crown "to enactment arsenic a benignant of colonizer and a benignant of government."

"We mostly expect that the records of governments are accountable to the radical who unrecorded wrong those places and are a portion of those histories," she said. "So I deliberation it's truly [important that] we clasp the Hudson's Bay Company, and whoever hands it comes into, accountable."

She feels nationalist entree to assets is adjacent much important successful instances wherever determination are not duplicates of documents oregon photographs oregon substance of the works are not disposable elsewhere, specified arsenic astatine the Manitoba Museum. The Bay donated overmuch of the 27,000 items the Winnipeg instauration houses successful 1994.

Much of that postulation was fixed the UNESCO Memory of the World distinction, which is meant to safeguard documents of humanities and taste value but does not support them from being destroyed oregon sold, successful 2007. Groat recalled the charter did not get the favoritism due to the fact that the institution continued to ain it.

The Canadian Advisory Committee for Memory of the World "has independently expressed to HBC its tendency that the Charter beryllium transferred to a nationalist archival instauration to guarantee its semipermanent preservation and access," UNESCO Canadian Commission spokesperson Vanessa Poulin-Gladu said successful an email.

Yet Groat said it's imaginable the papers volition not find a public, nor adjacent Canadian home.

"There is zero legislative mechanics successful the state to support this charter retired of backstage hands astatine this constituent successful time," helium said, though Canada has taste export policies that tin hold a merchantability to a overseas buyer.