Our Amazing Families – Three Centuries of Quebec Documents and History

Each document is unique, telling the story of a particular Quebec family or individual, but taken together, they form a part of our collective history.

The Museum’s Textual Archives collection contains unique records that bear witness to the lives of Quebec families. Until very recently, less than 1% of this material could be accessed online. Thanks to the financial support of Sun Life Financial, which has made an extraordinary contribution to preserving and showcasing Quebec’s heritage, the McCord Stewart Museum will describe, digitize, and publish online 37 archival family fonds. These private archives, selected from a vast collection, will shed new light on Quebec’s economic, social and family history.

The goal of this project is to enable everyone to learn more about Quebec history by consulting these remarkable, content-rich textual archives. With this gift, Sun Life Financial is ensuring both the continued existence of these archives and their dissemination to the general public.

Some 400 pages from each fonds were selected for digitization and will be made available online to the public between February 2017 and June 2018. Each archival description includes a memorable excerpt from the documents as well as explanatory notes. We invite you to discover these families and their individual histories by exploring the contents of their archives.

To learn more about the project, watch the conference given by Céline Widmer, Curator, Textual Archives at the McCord Stewart Museum and Éléonore Aubut-Robitaille, Project Archivist.

Dive into the story of vacationers staying in Quebec between 1932 and 1947! The Club de la Petite Malbaie guest book is part of the Perrault Family Fonds.

By tracing the personal, educational and professional experiences of a young woman in the 1960s, the textual archives given by Murielle Mailloux makes a valuable addition to the history of women in Quebec.

The Baggs played a key role in the development of Mile End. Discover the legacy of this family!

Michèle Audette had an opportunity to look through some unique documents. Watch this short video to see what she found!