The La Presse fund at BAnQ | A project of several years

In September 2015, Bibliothèque et Archives Nationales du Québec (BAnQ) began a colossal project: creating the P833 fund dedicated to the photojournalistic activities of The Press. Narrative.

It all started following a water damage that occurred in the first half of the 2010 decade.

The photographic archives of The Press, prints and negatives, are stored in metal filing cabinets in its two buildings on rue Saint-Jacques and boulevard Saint-Laurent. It is in the basement of the latter that an infiltration occurs.

“The filing cabinets were bathed in a few centimeters of water,” recalls Yann Pineau, Senior Director, Continuous Improvement and Production. Fortunately, the drawers were untouched. We checked the filing cabinets, but we said to ourselves that it didn’t make sense to keep these archives like this. We had neither the expertise nor the premises for that. In addition, this set of millions [entre 6 et 9] of photos and negatives had a certain heritage value. »

The Press contacted BAnQ, to whom it had already entrusted the digitization of its microfilms. “They had done a remarkable job,” continues Mr. Pineau.

After informal discussions in 2009, the donation agreement was signed in July 2014. In September 2015, three BAnQ employees arrived at The Press and begin the counting with the help of our colleagues Yves Dugas and Richard Lalonde (retired). “They were the living memory of our archives,” says Mr. Pineau.

Taken over decades, the photos of Antoine Desilets, Pierre McCann, Roger and Réal St-Jean, Bernard Brault, Robert Nadon and several other colleagues are scrutinized, classified and selected (or not) for processing.

Viger Avenue, Holt Street

Of The Pressthe artefacts are sent to the National Archives, avenue Viger, to then pass through the BAnQ building on rue Holt before returning to Viger for eternal rest (and consultation).

Some 400 linear meters of documents are processed. BAnQ called on outside help and obtained a $1.05 million grant from the Quebec Digital Cultural Plan for restoration and digitization.

On Viger, the archivist Mireille Lebeau coordinates the work.

Once this work is completed, there remain nearly 86,000 prints and 595,000 negatives, in black and white and in color. All of this material is heading to the Holt Street building for the restoration and digitization stages.

“The restoration required 5,000 hours of work,” says restorer Andrea Criollo. We were four restorers to agree on the level of restoration to be achieved, because the volume of documents was very large. The objective was to see to facilitate the digitization work. »

This digitization requires 4,000 hours of work… internally. Because only a third of the approximately 300,000 files posted online have been digitized at BAnQ, the rest having been sent to a supplier.

keepvation, diffusion

The digitized material returns to the National Archives, avenue Viger. The photos are stored in a temperature (15°C) and humidity (45%) controlled reserve. The negatives are in a fridge where the temperature is maintained at around 5 C.

The material is uploaded in sequences. Nearly 90% of the 340,000 digitized documents are already available for consultation and delight researchers. Thus, documentarians Pascale Ferland and Félix Rose consulted the archives for their films on Pauline Julien and the family of Paul Rose.

“The search was simple and easy. Everything was very well inventoried,” says Pascale Ferland. “All the negatives have been well preserved, which is quite rare and exceptional,” says Félix Rose, who also consulted the collection for his documentary series The last felquist.

“This rich heritage is made available to the entire population and pays tribute to the work of the photographers of The Press, believes Hélène Fortier. It testifies as much to the history as to the transformation of Quebec. »