Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum – Documentation and Archives Centre

MANDATE AND MISSION
Our museum strives to conserve, showcase, and transmit the memory of Marguerite Bourgeoys, her work and invaluable legacy. One of the founders of Montreal, she was a pioneer, an educator, an entrepreneur, and a great defender of the city.  A woman of character, her values and mission remain relevant to this day. Our organization’s mandate is: 1) to conserve, interpret and promote a listed archeological site, a collection of artefacts including several listed objects, a listed monument (the chapel), and the intangible heritage linked to Marguerite Bourgeoys and to her community; 2) to manage a history museum with exhibitions and educational/cultural; 3) To create a space capable of welcoming worshipers, pilgrims, and spirituality. The Documentation and Archives Centre of the Marguerite-Bourgeoys Museum promotes research concerning Marguerite Bourgeoys and the Congrégation de Notre-Dame. It conserves and showcases archives related to the life of this important figure in Montreal’s history and the chapel she founded. The head of research is a resource available to researchers.

BRIEF HISTORY
The Marguerite-Bourgeoys Museum tells a story that goes back more than 2,400 years across its many exhibition halls and the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours. The museum focuses on Marguerite Bourgeoys, founder of Montréal’s first school, and of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame in 1659. The history of the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours and of Montreal are also emphasized at the museum. The complex was founded by the Sisters of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame in 1998. It has established itself as a hot spot for Montreal heritage due to the over 200-year-old chapel, the archeological site with evidence of human activity going back thousands of years, and the wealth of artefacts exhibited.

DESCRIPTION OF FONDS AND COLLECTIONS
The Marguerite-Bourgeoys Museum’s archives are composed of four large fonds that bear witness to the history of the Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours, the life and works of Marguerite-Bourgeoys, the community she founded, her cause for canonization, and the history of the Marguerite-Bourgeoys Museum since the mid-twentieth century.

The archives are in the process of being listed at the provincial level.

The Marguerite-Bourgeoys Museum conserves a collection of rare and antique books consisting of around 300 works (17th-20th century) and close to 4,043 artefacts or groups of artefacts (artworks, liturgical objects, everyday-use objects, archeological artefacts, etc.).

Time span covered by archives: 1694-2007
Technical specifications and maps: env. 40
Iconographic documents: approx. 8,000
Text documents: approx. 20 m.l.
Number of fonds: 4