Starting point of the Québec archives networkLocated on the campus of the Université Laval, in the Louis-Jacques-Casault pavilion, the Québec City archives centre is part of the network of nine Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) archives centres located throughout Québec. The principal centre for the preservation and dissemination of government archives in BAnQ’s network, the Québec City archives centre houses the offices of the institution’s Archives division. In the heart of Québec’s national capital, the Québec City archives centre preserves numerous public and private archives collections, which it makes available to the public in a consultation room that can hold more than 125 people.

Every year, the centre welcomes thousands of users from the educational and profes-sional sectors. They use the centre’s services for research concerning the history of their families, their localities or their regions. They are guided by staff members who direct them efficiently in the use of the wide range of documents preserved there.

The centre houses the Société de généalogie de Québec, the Fédération québécoise des sociétés de généalogie and the Fédération des familles souches du Québec. With its partners, it serves as an excellent resource in genealogy and family history.

The library of the Québec City archives centre, founded over 100 years ago, contains close to 40,000 volumes on the history of French America, genealogy and archive administration, a microfilm lending service between archives centres and libraries, as well as a collection of 14,000 microfilms.

IN THE HEART OF THE CAPITALE NATIONALE Territory covered: Capitale-Nationale and Chaudière- Appalaches regions

Year of inauguration: 1920 (year during which the provincial archives were founded)

Québec City archives centre Pavillon Louis-Jacques-Casault Campus de l’Université Laval 1055, avenue du Séminaire Québec (Québec) G1V 4N1

Opening hoursManuscripts, microfilms and audiovisual archives Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pmWednesday and Thursday, from 9:00 am to 9:00 pmClosed Monday

Library, iconographic, cartographic and architectural archives: Tuesday through Friday, from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon and from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm

Telephone: 418 643-8904Fax: 418 646-0868 or 1 800 363-9028Email: archives.quebec@banq.qc.caAll of the archives reproduced to illustrate this leaflet are included in the collections and fonds of BAnQ’s Québec archives centre.

Accredited private archives services • Centre d’archives de la région de Thetford • Centre d’archives régional de Portneuf • Centre de référence de l’Amérique française du Musée de la civilisation • Corporation du Centre d’archives régional de Charlevoix • Secteur des archives privées historiques de la Ville de Lévis • Société du patrimoine des Beaucerons • Division des archives de l’Université Laval

Québec City

Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry,Plan of the city of Québec, 1727.Initial collection(P600, S4, SS2, D593).

Letter signed by the Marquis de Montcalm, written from the Carillon camp to Soeur de Sainte-Hélène, superior of the Hôtel-Dieu de Québec, dated October 11, 1756.Centre d’archives de Québec collection (P1000, S3, D2763).

Pavillon Casault, Université Laval. Photo: Louise Leblanc.

Aerial view of Québec, circa 1925. Initial collection

(P600, S4, SS3, P565/387).

Demontigny family, Saint-Pierre-de-l’Île-d’Orléans, circa 1925.Québec archives centre collection(P1000, S4, D18, P4).Photo: Edgar Gariépy.

banq.qc.ca

The Québec City archives centre provides access to:

• a significant collection of government archives. This State memory is a valuable source of information about the government administration, from the early days of the French régime to the institution of the Québec state as we know it today, includ-ing the periods of British rule and Confederation. In particular, it contains documents about the allocation of land, forestry and mining operations, education, justice, muni-cipalities and health.

• judicial archives from the beginning of the colony up to the mid-1970s. These archives contain highly varied documents about civil, criminal and penal trials, such as the Sault-aux-Cochons airplane crash trials, which inspired the book Le crime d’Ovide Plouffe by Roger Lemelin, or the trial that followed the death of Aurore Gagnon, known as the “martyred child”.

• civil archives consisting essentially of tutorship and curatorship files, probated wills, civil status registers, and notaries’ records (wills, marriage contracts, inventories conducted following death); these archives are among those that are most often consulted by researchers interested in their origins, ancestors and family history.

• private archives covering various sectors of activity, politics (Jean Lesage, Robert Bourassa), family histories (Papineau, Joly de Lotbinière, Fraser), culture (impresario Gérard Thibault, caricaturist Raoul Hunter), as well as industrial and commercial his-tory (Compagnie F.-X. Drolet, Compagnie Paquet, Le Syndicat).

Paul Gérin-Lajoie, Minister of Education, in an advertisement highlighting the inauguration of his Department, 1964. Ministère de la Culture, des Communi cations et de la Condition feminine fonds(E6, S7, SS1, P346-64H).Photo: André Readman.

Technicians Céline Villeneuve and André Ruest study two documents from the Staveley fonds dated August 12, 1904, illustrating the house of J. F. Burstall located on Chemin Saint-Louis, in Sillery.

Inauguration of the new premises of the Archives nationales by Premier René Lévesque, François Beaudin, curator of the Archives nationales du Québec, as well as Ministers Denis Vaugeois and Camille Laurin, June 4, 1980.Ministère des Communications fonds(E10, S44, SS1, D80-352, BP08).Photo: Marc Lajoie.

Québec parliament, August 19, 1926.Initial collection (P600, S6, D1, P74).Photo: T. Lebel.

Will of Louis Buade, Comte de Palluau de Frontenac, King’s advisor, knight of the Ordre de St-Louis,Governor Lieutenant General for His Majesty of France, apostolic syndic, father and spiritual protector of the Order of the Récollets, November 22, 1698.Superior Court, Québec judicial district fonds, records of Notary François Genaple (CN301, S114).

Marriage contract between Pierre Lemoine, Seigneur d’Iberville, Captain of His Majesty’s light frigate, and Marie- Thérèse Pollet, Octo-ber 8, 1693.Superior Court, Québec judicial district fonds, records of Notary Louis Chambalon(CN301, S58).

• iconographic archives containing close to five million documents, including 250,000 postcards, from the archival collections of photographers and studios such as Livernois, Lida Moser, Montminy and Georges Driscoll.

• most of the cinematographic production of the Office du film du Québec as well as private productions such as those of Abbot Maurice Proulx, Omer Parent and Herménégilde Lavoie.

• cartographic and architectural archives with a total of 410,000 items preserved in 350 collections and archives. The most frequently consulted collection is that of the department of lands and forests, with more than 4000 surveyors’ plans dating back to the 17th century. The Raoul Chênevert collection stands out with its 40,000 plans that were completed between 1860 and 1945. The Staveley family collection is remarkable for the artistic value of the plans created between 1846 and 1956. Finally, the 1000 photos of the Compagnie aérienne franco-canadienne represent the early days of aerial photography in Québec and form a unique corpus of items produced from 1925 to 1930.

The Québec archives centre also holds the largest North American collection of original documents from the time of New France, a large portion of which can be found online on BAnQ’s web portal.