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T HE L ITERARY AND H ISTORICAL S OCIETY OF Q UEBEC SOCIETY PAGES P UBLISHED Q UARTERLY ▪ N UMBER 8 ▪ S UMMER 2005 www.m o r r i n . o r g CONTENTS LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT The Society has now comfortably settled into its two new temporary locations having UPDATE FROM THE TEAM .............. 2 vacated its headquarters at 44 Chaussée des Écossais for the first time since moving in in THE MONEY BOX ........................... 3 A BIG THANK YOU .......................... 3 1868. INK: MOTHER OF PEARLS .............. 4 WISH LIST......................................... 4 The administration and development activities for the new Morrin Centre are located in the WHO IS DR. MORRIN? .................... 5 WHO’S WHO .................................... 5 basement of the Bon Pasteur Chapel, 1080 de la Chevrotière, Quebec. The operations of ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING ....... 6 the temporary library in Kirk Hall are very successful with book borrowing at similar levels KATIMAVIK VOLUNTEERS ............. 7 to those prevailing before the move. TO WEED OR NOT TO WEED........ 7 The staff have been incredibly busy completing the arrangements for the move, preparing for the construction and laying the foundations for the operations of the Morrin Centre ▪ LIBRARY HOURS ▪ when we return to the newly renovated building. THE LIBRARY AT KIRK HALL 45, CHAUSSÉE DES ÉCOSSAIS The great challenge now before us will be to develop a long-term capital fund raising SUN 1:00PM4:00PM campaign to properly endow the Society to ensure a secure and successful long-term future. MON CLOSED An important part of this involves obtaining the “bridge financing” necessary to fund our TUES 12:00PM-900PM WED 12:00PM diverse activities prior to the completion of the capital campaign. 4:0PMTHURS 12:00PM-4:0PM FRI 12:00PM-4:00PM We are working with fund raising consultant Gil Desautels from Ketchum Canada Inc. to SAT 10:00AM-4:00PM develop and implement a philanthropic development strategy, and all members of council ▪ MEMBERSHIP ▪ are committed to achieving our goal. $60 PER ANNUM By way of great encouragement, our friend Mr David Miller, Mayor of Toronto, came to STUDENT PRICE visit last May 27th and was most impressed with the project. He has committed to $30 PER ANNUM spearheading a campaign amongst Toronto’s business community to raise money for our cause. Such gestures of support provide great encouragement to us and strengthen our LIBRARY WILL BE CLOSED resolve to continue. Many thanks to all those members and friends who attended the garden party on June 18th. Friday JUNE 24 I encourage you all to support our Society, to attend the many varied and extraordinary Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day events being organized and to remember to support the extraordinary work of our Friday JULY 1 wonderful staff whenever the opportunity arises. Canada Day Saturday JULY 9 Thanking you all for your continued support, I remain Yours sincerely, EDITOR: PATRICK DONOVAN David F. Blair, President [email protected] PAGE 1 UPDATE FROM THE MORRIN CENTRE PROJECT TEAM A PAGE DEVOTED TO INFORMING MEMBERS AND THE PUBLIC ABOUT THE PROJECT AND OUR PROGRESS The Society has had a very busy last few months, demolition work will take place in June, allowing us to peer culminating in a series of moves to empty out our historic beneath the surfaces. Qualified specialists in architectural building in May. The staff, accompanied by most of the conservation will give informative hard hat tours throughout LHSQ’s collections, are now in the historic Bon Pasteur the summer. Chapel across from Complèxe G. Special thanks to Paul St-Laurent of the Quebec CLD, who made initial contacts The number of events have increased in the last few months. with Espace Bon-Pasteur. This non-profit is providing us Attendance at our activities surpassed library attendance for with a large space at a good price. Thanks also to our the month of April. We expect that the library will catch up friends at the Musée de la Civilisation, who are renting again, as a significant influx of new books will grace the out affordable storage space for our valuable artefacts, and shelves in the coming weeks. Parcs Canada, who graciously offered some space for free to store our artefacts and period furniture. Most of our grant applications continue to yield positive results. Two students will be hired through grants received A few of our artefacts are on display in a variety of from the Canadian Museums Association and the institutions throughout the city. The painting of Joseph Heritage Canada Foundation, under the Young Canada Morrin by Théophile Hamel is now up at the Galerie Works initiative (Canadian Heritage). These students will historique Lucienne Maheux at the Centre hospitalier work on designing a website, coordinating activities, and Robert Giffard. This lovely museum showcases the story doing historical research. A third student will be helping on of Quebec’s first mental hospital, co-founded by Dr. unclassified Society archives thanks to the support of the Morrin in 1845. Our bust of James Douglas (principal Archives Nationales de Québec. We have also hired founder of the aforementioned hospital) is now on display interns for 6 months thanks to grants from Emploi Québec at Chalmers-Wesley United Church. Dr. Douglas was a and Youth Employment Services. Finally, important grants prominent Methodist who helped finance the construction from Canadian Heritage will allow us to work on youth of the Wesleyan chapel (now Institut Canadien) that projects starting this summer. neighbours the Morrin Centre. This congregation was later incorporated into Chalmers-Wesley United. The Green Our library continues to become more accessible and Barometer, donated to the Society by E.D. Ashe, founder relevant. The first stage of the computerization project of the Quebec Observatory on the Plains of Abraham, is ended in March, with all books on the shelf list entered into going back to Battlefields Park along with our statue of the system. Thanks to Joy Simpson, who was hired for a one James Wolfe. We would like to thank all these partners for -month contract as part of this mandate; she has graciously displaying the Society’s artefacts. continued to volunteer her services after her contract expired. We have begun defining a strategy for assessing the collection The building project continues to move forward. The before the creation of a subject index and reintegration onto engineering firms CIMA+ and Genivar were hired in the library shelves next year. spring to oversee structural and mechanical planning. The preliminary plan for meeting fire code and accessibility We will continue to need your help and support to make this requirements aroused considerable discussion that led to project a resounding success. Please contact us if you can inventive solutions. We are trying hard to ensure that the offer financial support, expertise, or stories about the building introduction of modern equipment does not compromise and the Society. ■ the eloquence of the building’s heritage values. Selective Charlotte Habegger-Polomat Nancy Ouei NEW Tim Pettipiece Erin McCracken Harry Preston Hunkin Richard Line and Elizabeth Cowan MEMBERS Fernand Harvey Pierre Mercier SINCE JANUARY 2005 Helen Michaud James A. Cameron Patricia Gaynor Michelle Lynne O’Brodovich Edward and Louise Gunn François Brière Lucie Girard Chelsea Baker Stefania Vandelli Kathleen McAdams Sarah Deere Thank you for supporting the Barry Lane Society and its mission! PAGE 2 THE MONEY BOX by Samar Sawaya “…A money-box stood on the top of a very high wardrobe. It was know that our community made of clay in the shape of a pig, and had been bought of the members, to whom we are potter. In the back of the pig was a slit, and this slit had been very thankful, believe as well. enlarged with a knife, so that dollars, or crown pieces, might slip We take this opportunity to through... The money-pig was stuffed so full that it could no longer thank you dear readers, for rattle, which is the highest state of perfection to which a money-pig your continued support. can attain.” -Hans Christian Andersen Our fundraising efforts are numerous, and cover parts of the expenses required. Indeed, this is the state of perfection that we hope to However, the Society’s money-pig still rattles. Together, achieve at the Society. This is not an easy task, simply the staff, council members and members can realize this because it is not a task. It is a team purpose, a vision for an English-language cultural centre in Quebec community project. Its culmination will be quite City. We can rely on each other for encouragement, for rewarding for all: their vision for the centre finally publicity and for personal effort. accomplished and successfully implemented. All the members of the Society will be able to benefit from this Therefore, dear readers, allow me to tell you a story about enterprise. the Society along the lines of Hans Christian Andersen: In a library where a number of books lay scattered about, a The staff members dedicate their days to building money box stands on the top of a shelf. relations, applying to grants, contacting people, creating activities, supervising the restoration work, documenting The ending to this story is up to you. ■ history, adding new books to the library collection… a never-ending list of responsibilities. This can only Samar Sawaya works as the LHSQ’s cultural marketing strategist happen because we believe in what we are doing, and we since April 2005. Matthew Ralph Kane Foundation Joseph B. Ford Johanne Guay A $500 TO $4,999 Shiela Hadvick BIG Nicholas Hoare Booksellers James Halpin RBC Investments M.C. Hamel THANK YOU Shiela Houde $100 TO 499 Celine Jubinville Les Frères des Écoles Chrétiennes Marguerite Lacombe This list contains the names of all who Hugh Bignell C.K.