Activating the NCC Archives

Activating the NCC Archives
May 14 – 31, 2019
Webster Library, second floor vitrines

Curated by Quinn Archer, Autumn Beals, Daphné Beauregard, Jamie Burdon, Jasmin Anisa Cardillo, Javier Gavidia, Eugenia Cukier, and Arturo Tablan, and facilitated by Steven High and Alexandra Mills.

In 2013, the archive of the Negro Community Centre (NCC) was donated to Concordia University Library. The archive consists of over 30 linear meters of unpublished textual records, over 2000 photographs, 20 objects, and other material documenting the rich history of the NCC, the hub of Montreal’s English-speaking Black community from 1927 until it closed in 1992.

Students enrolled in the 2019 course, Telling Stories: Black Montreal, spent the winter semester working with the archive. They conducted substantial primary source research and found creative ways to return the stories they uncovered back to the community that created the records. An event, Remembering Black Montreal: Uncovering the NCC Archives, was held at Union United Church, the oldest black church in Canada located in Little Burgundy.

Students that took part in this public history course are proud to present the exhibition Activating the NCC Archives, a showcase of the Negro Community Centre/Charles H. Este Cultural Centre Fonds and their research into the archive and the history of Montreal’s English-speaking Black community.

In partnership with Concordia University Library, the Department of History, and Union United Church. Special thanks to Nancy Oliver Mackenzie.