Canadian Museum of Civilization to the Canadian Museum of History
We learned last week that Bill C-49, aiming to change the name of the Canadian Museum of Civilization to the Canadian Museum of History, was passed. There was, and still is, much debate about this change, mostly because museums are quite an important source for historical knowledge. Indeed, ACS research in 2011 and 2013 shows that museums continue to be Canadians' most trusted and popular source.
In 2011, we asked Canadians whether or not they agreed about the trustworthiness of different sources of historical information. 83.5% of Canadians declared agreement with the trustworthiness of museums, followed by history books (75,6%) and witnesses from the past (72,7%). In 2013, the question was, instead, to choose one historical source over another. In that case, 60,2% of Canadians chose museums as their preferred way to learn about history, followed by historic sites (16.2%) and both oral histories and real artifacts at 6.9%.
