BAnQ’s archives centres are open to users, but only by appointment, except the ones in Gatineau and Quebec City, which are closed.
However, staff at the Gatineau and Quebec City facilities, as elsewhere in Québec, will continue to process requests by email, phone and by online appointment.
For more information, go to our FAQ page.
Territory covered: Montréal, Laval, Lanaudière, Laurentides and Montérégie regions
Year of inauguration: 1971
Ice Shove Commissioner Street, Montréal, H. C. Leighton Co., [circa 1900].
Laurette Cotnoir-Capponi fonds (P186, S9, P177a).
Located on Viger Avenue, in the imposing complex including the building of the former École des hautes études commerciales, the Montréal archives centre is part of the network of 10 Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) archives centres, located throughout Québec.
The centre preserves numerous public and private archive fonds. This site is a must for genealogists and people researching family history; the Montréal archives centre's consultation room can hold more than 200 people. It offers an imposing collection of materials of a genealogical nature, a large portion of which has been inherited from the Salle Gagnon of Montréal's central library. The centre's library includes more than 15,000 reference works, 100 periodical titles and a collection of 20,000 microfilms. Reading and copying equipment, including readers/digitizers, are made available to the patrons.
Each year, hundreds of patrons from the educational and professional sectors use the services provided for research concerning the history of their family, locality or region. Patrons also include historians, biographers, media representatives, producers, editors and lawyers. Efficient staff members guide them in the use of the wide range of materials preserved there.
The Montréal archives centre has more than 24 linear kilometres of archives forming a coherent collection of fonds of a remarkable historical value and continuity. These archives can be used to trace the evolution of Québec society from the time of colonization to the present day.
The collection includes:
Children of the Lacoste
and Globensky families,
with snowshoes, 1881?.
Landry family fonds
(P155, S1, SS2, D51).
Photo: William Notman.
More than 8,500,000 images preserved at the Montréal archives centre come from the archive collections of amateur or professional photographers, including:
The architectural archives collections include 110,000 drawings of projects for religious, public and commercial buildings, as well as private residences. Several collections include maps and plans (73,000 items) which researchers can use to determine the locations of the lands owned by their ancestors or to track changes in the occupation of a territory.
Consultation room of the
Montréal archives centre, 2005.
Photo: Alain Michon.
Région de Montréal
Région Montérégie
Région Laval, Lanaudière, Laurentides
A biplane in a field, July 4, 1915.
William Murray fonds (P401, S1, P374).
BAnQ Vieux-Montréal
Édifice Gilles-Hocquart
535, avenue Viger Est
Montréal (Québec) H2L 2P3
Metro Berri-UQAM or Champ-de-Mars
Opening hours
Tuesday, Friday and Saturday,
from 9 am to 5 pm
Wednesday and Thursday,
from 9 am to 9 pm
Closed Sunday and Monday
Iconographic, cartographic,
architectural and audiovisual archives:
By appointment, from Tuesday through Friday,
10 am to 12 noon and
from 1 pm to 5 pm
(icono.cam@banq.qc.ca or 514 873-1101, extension 6351)
Telephone: 514 873-1100 or 1 800 363-9028, option 4 then option 1
Fax: 514 873-2980
E-mail: archives.montreal@banq.qc.ca
Activities information:
animation.archives@banq.qc.ca
Telephone: 514 873-4300