Series 1 - Activities

21.8 cm of textual records and other materials

The series consists of records created in the fulfilment of the Zoological Society’s mandate and goals to host events, trips, speakers, and to donate to and support worthy causes. This includes event and project planning records with related financial documents and reports, guest lists, communications to members, and correspondence. A large part of this series is concerned with the Society’s whale watching excursions and their whale conservation efforts. These files include an annual pamphlet called Whales Alive! = les Baleines!, flyers, newspaper advertisements and published articles, all promoting whale watching field trips. Others include donations, correspondence, and financial documents relating to issues surrounding conservation. Other types of activities covered in this series are field trips (primarily around Quebec but also a few internationally), film screenings (known as theatre nights), art shows, fundraisers and lectures. The field trips and some events of the Society are documented in 5193 photographs stored in 24 photo albums (1989-2009). Apart from events, projects undertaken by the Society are included, such as their efforts to build a wildlife park in Montreal’s West Island, the conservation of owls, lynxes, birds, turtles and flowers, and their wildlife pavilion at Man and His World.
There are large gaps in the Activities series. The Society’s founding project, the Montreal Aquarium and Dolphin Arena, and their proposal for an ark at Expo ’67 are only included briefly in these records. For more information on these projects, see the Administration series files MSG1164.c5.f11, f12, f13. Also, there are few photos documenting the Society’s activities before 1989.