The volunteer: Robert McDuff

To compliment its paid staff, the MusedesOndesEmileBerlinerrelies on volunteers like Robert McDuff, whose passion is channelled through his projects at the museum and whose family tree is rooted in St-Henri.

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McDuff's mother worked in the RCA factory for a few years during the Second World War.

Though she left the factory after she got married, her new family stayed in the neighbourhood and McDuff was born there, later moving to Notre-Dame-de-Grce as a teenager.

After he retired, McDuff felt restless and decided to return to St-Henri to volunteer atthe museum.There, he merged his love for collecting, electronicsand history.

McDuff and several others thought about starting a club for the volunteers who liked to tinker. Eventually, it came together and now they meet once a week for lunch.

During this time of transition for the museum, McDuff and the lunch group are playing an important role.

The group has become a source of skilled technicians for the museum; McDuff himself worked at the CBC for more than 30 years and graduated from the Institut de Technologie de Montral.

So for two days a week for over five years, McDuff has been volunteering at the museum and giving back the only thing he says he can what he knows.

St-Henri Chronicles

St-Henri Chroniclesis a collaboration between the Department of Journalism at Concordia University, and CBC Montreal.

Students in a graduate-level multimedia course were asked to find and produce original stories on St-Henri for their final class project.

They spent the winter term developing these stories, and experimented with sound, pictures, video, infographics and maps to tell them.

• About the journalists