Would you like to donate your objects, documents or photos to us?
Please read the following information before completing the donation proposal form, located at the bottom of the page.
Donate objects or archives to the Naval Museum
Our Mission
The Naval Museum of Québec’s (Stanislas Déry Museum) mission is to acquire and collect the tangible and intangible evidence of the Canadian Naval Reserve and the naval history of the St. Lawrence River; to preserve and communicate this evidence to the public for research, education and enjoyment; and, through its historical research, to serve society by making it aware of the impacts of war and the value of peace.
All our acquisitions must directly respond to this mission. If the donation offer does not concern the military history of the Naval Reserve or the St. Lawrence River, the donor will be redirected to the appropriate institutions.
What are we looking for?
Collection Axes
The Naval Museum wishes to collect objects, documents or photographs that belonged to members of the Naval Reserve of Canada, or that bear witness to military activities that took place on the St. Lawrence River. However, the Naval Museum’s collection is largely made up of artifacts and documents from the Second World War and little from other historical periods.
In an effort to better represent recent naval history, the Museum is particularly interested in tangible and intangible evidence of the Korean War (1950-1953), the Gulf War (1990-1991) and the War in Afghanistan (2001-2014). More broadly, all artifacts that precede or follow the Second World War are currently being given priority.
Acquisition Criteria
The Naval Museum may acquire pieces when the following conditions are met.
⇒ the space is adequate to store or display the items;
⇒ the budget and resources are sufficient to cover the costs of maintenance and conservation;
⇒ the acquisition allows the Museum to fulfill its mission;
⇒ the acquisition is useful for exhibition, research and/or education; or
⇒ evidence of rarity or exceptional quality.
IMPORTANT: No additions will be made to the Museum’s collection if conditions are imposed by the former owner regarding the Museum’s right to stewardship, care, use, management or disposition.
Acquisition procedures
When the Naval Museum receives an offer of donation, the following process begins:
⇒ The Museum reviews the offer and analyzes it based on the acquisition criteria. If the donation proposal form is incorrectly completed, or if the offer does not meet the acquisition criteria, it is refused;
⇒ If the offer meets the acquisition criteria, it is received and will be subject to further evaluation;
⇒ An acquisition committee, made up of a member of the Board of Directors, the Director and a volunteer designated by the Board, meets to evaluate the donation offer;
⇒ The committee analyzes the offer and makes a recommendation as to whether or not it is accepted;
⇒ The recommendations of the acquisition committee must be approved by the Board of Directors of the Naval Museum, which may accept or reject them;
IMPORTANT: The Naval Museum receives many offers of donation each year. Consequently, the Acquisition Committee meets only twice a year to evaluate all offers of donation at the same time. The final decision may therefore require several months of waiting.
Tax Receipts
IMPORTANT: If you want a tax receipt, a written appraisal of the market value of the object(s) must be produced by a competent and recognized person. If the appraisals produced incur costs, these are the responsibility of the donor of the object(s). The following rules apply:
– $1,000 or less: the artifact is normally evaluated by the Museum’s curator;
– From $1,000 to $5,000: the artifact is evaluated by the curator and an appraiser;
– More than $5,000: the artifact is evaluated by the curator and two (2) other appraisers.