![Geological Survey of Canada Geological Survey of Canada](/web/20061103003624im_/http://www.gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/esst_images/gsc_e.jpeg) Natural Resources Canada > Earth Sciences Sector > Geological Survey of Canada > GSC History and historical resources
Sir William Logan 1798 - 1875 Logan and Canada's museums
During the 1850s, Logan and officers of the Survey put together
the first major collection of Canadian mineral samples the world had
ever seen as Canada's very popular contribution to the "Exhibition of
the Industry of All Nations", the famous 1851 world fair in London,
England. A second similar opportunity to make the world aware of
Canada's great mineral wealth came in 1855 with the Universal
Exposition in Paris. The GSC collections were very well-received and,
in 1856, Logan was authorized to "establish a Geological Museum at some
convenient place which shall be open at all seasonable hours to the
public" -- which he did at the Survey's headquarters in Montreal.
![](/web/20061103003624im_/http://www.gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/hist/logan/images/museum1.jpg) |
Canada's national museums trace their roots to the Geological Survey.
The museum started in the mid-1840s by the Survey's pioneering geologists has since evolved into
three distinct and highly acclaimed institutions -- the Canadian museums of Nature, Civilization,
and Science and Technology. Shown here the museum at Survey headquarters in Ottawa at the turn of
the century.
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