Archives of the Société d'histoire du protestantisme franco-québécois

BRIEF HISTORY

The Société d'histoire du protestantisme franco-québécois (French-Québec Protestantism historical society) was founded on June 7th 2003 and became affiliated with Histoire Québec, creating through its activites a network of contacts spanning various historical and genealogical societies across Québec.

Its Bulletin, released four times a year, reporting on the state of research in its field. Many biographies of pastors and laypersons, the history of protestant colleges and institutes, specialized research on Chiniquy, Vessot, a significant bibliography on francoprotestantism as well as a detailed index of all the publications related to the field are available online on its site.

Richard Lougheed has compiled a franco-protestant genealogical bank including 20,000 names. The society has participated in several capacities in commemorative events like the celebrations for Québec's 400th anniversary, for Montréal's 350th, and has erected commemorative plaques in several locations all the while collaborating in the preparation of several other memorials. It also created bike and pedestrian routes in Montréal and Qúebec City.

The historical society has published ten books. Members of the Executive Board have created an awareness campaign for the history of franco-protestants au Québec and offered conferences. Through courses focusing on franco-protestant history, Richard Lougheed and Jean-Louis Lalonde have allowed people to become more familiar with this little-known history.

DESCRIPTION OF FONDS AND COLLECTIONS

The historical society has progressively amassed rare archives and documents donated to them by protestant families (Therrien, Péron, Grosjean, Vessot). It has conserved various documents including annual reports concerning the Baptist missions, as well as numerous historical items connected to parishes or churches belonging to the Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Christian Brothers or various Evangelical traditions.

The historical society also conserved the transcriptions of the minutes of proceedings from the French-Canadian Missionary Society, various annual reports from missionary societies, as well as several microfilms.

Time span included in archives: 1848-Present

Text documents: 2 m.l.

Number of fonds: 20

MANDATE AND MISSION

The historical society aims to preserve and promote the history and heritage of the french-speaking protestant and evangelical community in Québec, and its neighboring regions; to encourage respect and love for this heritage in the broader community. It also wants to advance historical understanding of Québec's french-speaking protestants and support research in this field.