Hudson's Bay Charter to be Jointly Owned and Displayed by Four Canadian Museums
The 1670 Hudson's Bay Company charter, a 356-year-old document that granted the HBC extraordinary control over Canadian land and Indigenous peoples, will be jointly owned and displayed by the Manitoba Museum, Archives of Manitoba, Canadian Museum of History, and Royal Ontario Museum after being purchased by the Weston and Thomson families for $18 million and donated within 24 hours. The charter is being welcomed to the Manitoba Museum this week in a ceremony featuring Indigenous government representatives, marking the first public exhibition since the COVID-19 pandemic and ahead of a planned one-year exhibition in fall 2027. The arrangement represents an unprecedented model of shared stewardship across four institutions and raises questions about balancing public access with conservation of the fragile vellum document.
The 1670 Hudson's Bay Company royal charter, which granted the HBC extraordinary control over Canadian land and the Indigenous peoples living there, will be jointly owned by four Canadian museums after being purchased for $18 million by the Weston and Thomson families, who donated it within 24 hours of purchase. The Manitoba Museum, Archives of Manitoba, Canadian Museum of History, and Royal Ontario Museum will share stewardship of the five-page vellum document with a red wax seal, marking what museum officials say is an unprecedented model of shared responsibility across multiple institutions. The charter will be displayed at a welcoming ceremony at the Manitoba Museum this week before being sent to storage in preparation for a one-year exhibition likely in fall 2027. The document, which has been assessed by the Canadian Conservation Institute and found to be in generally good condition despite its age, presents conservation challenges due to its fragility—fluctuations in lighting, temperature, and air quality can cause damage. The museums must now navigate the tension between absolute conservation, which would keep the document sealed away from public view, and the goal of serving truth and reconciliation by making the artifact accessible to Canadians.
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- Global News CanadaCenter
At 356, the HBC charter is about to get a Manitoba Museum welcome
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