Browse Items (232 total)

The Dermatome man. On loan from the Maude Abbott Medical Museum at the University of McGill.

Found at the Canadian Museum of Science and Technology, on loan from the Maude Abbott Medical Museum, McGill University.

This transit was a key instrument for surveyors, as it was used for measuring horizontal angles (and later vertical angles as well). Transits were invented in 1831 in the United States and were popular for their versatility, durability, and cheap…

This is a letter written by John McLatchie in Winnipeg, dated February 1st, 1881. In it, he addresses two individuals about surveys of mining claims that he had completed for them. This letter is significant because its references to First Nations…

This is an iron post planted in 1873 by John McLatchie, retrieved by R. W. Clark in 1953, and acquired by the Canada Science and Technology Musum in 1973. The marker's history and significance is immersed in a background of surveying expansion,…

This is a surveying level produced by James Foster, an instrument maker based in Toronto, Canada. The apparatus also includes a wooden tripod, upon which the level was placed when taking measurements. This artifact was in the possession of John…

This watercolour is of a survey party in the woods, with a surveyor visible in the tent. Estcourt wrote in a letter that "when once the tent is tried it will always be preferred." Although he did not enjoy the ever-present mosquitoes, he enjoyed his…

Estcourt kept a sketchbook and journal during the joint boundary commission. Here he shows a man writing by candlelight in his tent, with survey equipment at his side. It took several weeks for mail to cross the Atlantic by ship, and Estcourt always…

Estcourt sketched a surveying party at work in the Stanstead Plains, Maine during the joint boundary commission. The surveyors are using long poles to measure and compare their positions. At the bottom he wrote, "Now Maxime, I'll go over there and…