Presented at the Mccord Museum from October 29, 2004 to January 7, 2007
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Growing Up in Montreal The complete texts of the exhibition Presented at the McCord Museum From October 29, 2004 to January 7, 2007. Table of Content 1. Introduction 3 1.1. Growing up in Montreal 3 2. The Home: A Child's First Universe 8 2.1. A Montreal birth 8 2.2. Hygiene and survival 12 2.3. From home to daycare 19 3. Orphanages and Health Care Centres in the City 25 3.1. Growing up healthy 25 3.2. Life in an orphanage 32 4. School 33 4.1. School days 33 5. The Home: A Schoolchild’s Perspective 38 5.1. Bedrooms and what they tell us 38 5.2. The family play room 47 6. From Street Games to Organized Activities 58 6.1. Gaining Independence 58 6.2. “Organized” play 62 6.3. Outings in the city 67 7. Conclusion 72 7.1. Montreal — yesterday and today 72 Credits 74 Growing Up in Montreal 2 McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2006 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Growing Up in Montreal The landscape of a Montreal childhood is all around us—in the creak of a playground swing, the scrape of rollerblades on pavement and the squeals of excitement as toddlers head downtown on an outing with their daycare class. Our own childhood memories are never far from the surface of our hectic lives. At unexpected moments, we recall the smell of Sunday dessert simmering in the oven, the comforting softness of a tattered blanket or the scary-excited feeling of walking to school alone for the first time. There are darker memories too—earaches and chicken pox, sore tummies, casts and crutches, a menacing pinch from a big sister and the sound of parents arguing in another room. Whether you are young or not-so-young, this exhibition invites you to explore childhood in Montreal over the past one hundred years. It will take you to the everyday places where children lived their lives, played and learned. We will also travel beyond these physical spaces to reveal a century of medical and technological changes that have transformed childhood in profound yet often unsuspected ways. Children are far from passive participants in an adult world. You will see how their needs, desires and actions have changed and shaped our city and our lives. Photograph New triplex development, Montreal, 1925 William Notman & Son McCord Museum, VIEW-23307 Photograph Children in a city park, 1999 Private collection Growing Up in Montreal 3 McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2006 1 A stroll through the city What did today’s parents and grandparents do when they were young? Where did they go? What games did they play? Join Paul and Louise and explore different places around Montreal dear to children over the last one hundred years. Look Louise, a park! Let’s go. Sure. Come on, Paul. Let’s check it out! Photograph A family stroll in the park, 1944 Conrad Poirier Archives nationales du Québec à Montréal, P48,S1,P10432 Atrium’s frames Photograph Daycare group, 2002 Megapress/Pharand, MO96721 Photograph Children in front of a house, 1937 Conrad Poirier, Archives nationales du Québec à Montréal, P48,S1,P1722 Photograph Children in front of the Jacques Cartier statue, about 1980 Michael Drummond Photograph L’enfant fort, 1976 Pierre Crépô Photograph Missie Brown and her teddy bear, Montreal, 1921 William Notman & Son McCord Museum, II-241966 Photograph Children in a garden on Olivier Ave., Westmount, 1913 Alfred Walter Roper Gift of Mr. Vennor Roper McCord Museum, MP-1977.76.163 1 The text boxes are for younger visitors to the exhibition. The boxes contain the dialogue between two cartoon characters, Louise, who is ten years old and her brother Paul, aged four. Growing Up in Montreal 4 McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2006 Photograph Baby’s bath, 1959 Private collection Photograph Teacher and her 6th-grade class, Montreal, 1942 Conrad Poirier Archives nationales du Québec à Montréal, P48,S1,P8074 Photograph Children playing in a bus shelter, Montreal, 1991 David Hopkins Private collection Photograph Mrs. Martin with children, Montreal, 1906 William Notman & Son McCord Museum, II-161170 Photograph Nurse with a young patient at the Children’s Memorial Hospital, about 1950 Montreal Children’s Hospital Dr. David Murphy collection, 81 Big City Life Montreal expanded rapidly after 1900, with ever-growing numbers of children in the different city neighbourhoods, especially after the Second World War. In the 1930s, the city had the largest urban population in Quebec and, by the late 20th century, fully half of all Quebeckers lived in Montreal and the surrounding area. Photograph Row houses, about 1900 National Archives of Canada, PA-022157 There were more than 345,000 people living on the Island of Montreal in 1901. Today, the population of the Greater Montreal region stands at over three million. Photograph Tram No. 529, Notre Dame Street, Montreal, 1906 Gift of Mr. Edgar Tissot McCord Museum, MP-1986.53.6 Families could take electric trams to get around the city as early as 1892. Buses arrived in 1925, but there were more trams than buses until 1959. The metro was officially opened in 1966. Photograph New triplex development, Montreal, 1925 William Notman & Son McCord Museum, VIEW-23307 Typical Montreal houses are “plex-type” buildings (mostly duplexes and triplexes). They each contain two to five large, long flats, stacked two to three storeys high. They were built row upon row in the early 1900s, a quick and efficient way of housing the city’s fast-growing population. Growing Up in Montreal 5 McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2006 Photograph Moving day, Montreal, about 1930 Gift of Mr. Earl Preston McCord Museum, MP-1984.105.18 Montreal is a city of tenants, with 65 % of residents renting their homes today. Compared with other Canadian cities, Montreal has a large pool of rental accommodation made up of duplexes, triplexes and other apartment buildings. Photograph Second World War housing built for the families of workers at aviation firm Noorduyn Norseman inc., on chemin Bois-Franc in Saint-Laurent, 1944 Conrad Poirier Archives nationales du Québec à Montréal, P48,S1,P10500. There was a housing crisis in Montreal that began during the Second World War and continuing until the 1950s. The many families drawn to the city by jobs in wartime factories and economic prosperity had trouble finding a place to live. Some were lucky enough to move into the small prefabricated houses built near factories by Wartime Housing Ltd., a federal agency, while others had to make do with sheds and even garages. Photograph House on O’Bryan Street, 1951 Joseph Guibord Archives nationales du Québec à Montréal, E6,S7,P54302 The suburbs grew quickly after the Second World War. Starting in the 1950s, many families moved out of the city, attracted by the suburban ideal: a single-family house with a large lawn, far from the noise and pollution of downtown. The ideal also meant a car in the driveway, because public transit did not yet extend to the suburbs. Photograph Highrise under construction in the Jeanne Mance area, Montreal, 1959 National Archives of Canada, PA-113303 From the 1950s onward, downtown residential neighbourhoods were transformed. A great deal of older housing was demolished to make way for stores and office towers. A new downtown soared into the sky. One huge project, Habitations Jeanne-Mance, replaced some of the dilapidated housing downtown with 800 low-cost rental units. It was the beginning of a new and sometimes controversial trend in urban renewal. Photograph Children, Centre-Sud district, about 1978 Normand Rajotte The grey, dusty working-class neighbourhoods at the turn of the century were packed with unhealthy, overcrowded dwellings. Starting in the 1920s, numerous measures were proposed to improve the lives of the poor families living there. Nevertheless, today Montreal has the highest poverty rate of any Canadian city and many low-income families still lack access to affordable housing. Photograph Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Montreal, 1980 Judith Lermer Crawley From Giving Birth is Just the Beginning: Women Speak about, Montreal, J. L. Crawley, 1987 Growing Up in Montreal 6 McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2006 In 1996, there were 450,000 families in Montreal. One-quarter of the population was under the age of 5, while 32 % of residents were 6 to 14 years old. Families continued to move away from downtown and into the suburbs, following a trend started back in the 1950s. Photograph Mother and child, Jeanne Mance Street, Montreal, about 1980 Michael Drummond Today, there are many single-parent families in Montreal (20%), the highest proportion in the province. Baby carriages Baby carriages evolved in different ways according to childrearing practices and mechanical requirements. For example, at the beginning of the century, infants faced away from their guardians, while by the 1930s, they could focus on the familiar faces of their caregivers. Leather straps were used in the suspension system of carriages from the 18th century until well into the mid-20th century, giving these early carriages the ability to bounce and rock in a soothing manner. Many contemporary strollers offer more than one seat position and all are collapsible for easy transport. Carriage 1904 Gift of Miss Grace Fletcher McCord Museum, M20999 Carriage 1938 Made by Dunkley, Birmingham, UK Gift of Mrs. Bernard Lande McCord Museum, M2004.68.1 Carriage About 1970 Made by Peg-Perego, Milan, Italy Gift of Mr. Alain Abboo McCord Museum, M2004.130.1.1-3 Umbrella stroller 1996 Made by Peg-Perego, Milan, Italy Gift of Annmarie Adams McCord Museum, M2004.88.1 Growing Up in Montreal 7 McCord Museum of Canadian History, 2006 2.