A unique museum in the country is quickly seeking storage for its incredible collection

A Montreal museum must urgently find new premises to store some 30,000 pieces from its unique collection, some of which date from the invention of the gramophone in 1889.

“We are looking for a space equivalent to the current site on rue Lenoir of approximately 3,000 square feet to move our unique permanent collection there,” says Pierre Valiquette, president of the board of directors of the Musée des ondes Emile Berliner.

Located at 1000 rue Lenoir, in the Saint-Henri borough, this museum was opened in March 2023 in the same building that housed one of Canada’s most successful electronics companies for 70 years: RCA Victor. There you can admire a gramophone, this ancestor of the record player which allowed sounds to be reproduced on a wax disc.

The owner of the building is pushing for the move to be completed by December 31. The museum site is not affected by the deadline, but the “reserve,” a warehouse of about 3,000 square feet, must be vacated.

150 years of industrial history

«[L’entreprise] RCA Victor enjoyed dazzling success from the start of the 20^e century and until the early 1980s, when she distinguished herself in the creation of the first Canadian telecommunications satellites,” explains the museum’s general director, Anja Borck.

With up to 3,100 employees, RCA Victor has sold countless radios, record players and televisions throughout the Canadian market. It also developed radar and sonar devices used during the Second World War.

Herself of German origin, M^me Borck completed a doctorate in industrial history at Concordia University. She discovered long after her arrival in Montreal the importance of the former Canadian metropolis in the beginnings of the sound industry.

But the more than a century-old building was sold in 1973 and the current owner, Allied, a Toronto real estate company, was tolerant of the museum by granting it advantageous rental conditions.

The City is waiting

From 2019 to 2023, recurring funding from the City of Montreal of $20,000 per year enabled the survival of the museum, but this subsidy was not renewed in 2024. “The City recognizes the importance of our contribution, but …by far,” deplores Mr. Valiquette, who finds that the history of Montreal as the former world capital of sound is not recognized at its true value. Tourists and school groups could flock to this unique institution in the heart of a historic working-class neighborhood.

He would like to highlight the immense contribution of the approximately 40 volunteers who keep the museum at arm’s length, including for guided tours and on duty during opening hours. Even the director, Anja Borck, has given up her salary since last March in order to allow the NPO to reduce its finances.

Some examples of fascinating objects from the collection

One of the rarest pieces in the museum is this gramophone produced at the end of the 19^e century by a German toy manufacturer. It comes from the personal collection of the inventor’s grandson, Oliver.

In this newspaper advertisement The Homeland published in 1901, the Berliner gramophone was advertised for $15 in a store on rue Sainte-Catherine. “No one can believe how perfect the Berliner Gram-O-Phone is unless they hear it,” it reads.

The building on rue Lenoir, in Saint-Henri, was, for 17 years, the global headquarters of the world’s leading music industry, the Berliner Gram-o-phone Companyrecalls the museum website.

The English artist Francis Barraud (1856-1924) painted his brother’s dog, Nipper, listening to the horn of an early phonograph during the winter of 1898. In 1900, Emile Berliner acquired the rights and this image immediately became the symbol of its brand, His Master’s Voice (RCA from 1929).

Doris Lussier, aka Le Père Gédéon, released a record entitled “La part de pelote” in 1959. The record was produced by the Compo company in Saint-Henri.