Historian Louise Bienvenue, professor of history at the University of Sherbrooke, noted that Jeanne Mance’s letter presented last week in various media, including The dutyas “a discovery” had in fact already been reproduced in the past by the historian Marie-Claire Daveluy.
“The main document in question was reproduced in full in 1962 in the biography of Jeanne Mance published by Marie-Claire Daveluy. » The latter was attached to the Montreal Library where she worked as a librarian. It seems to be “the entire letter in fact” which was transcribed by this historian, indicates Professor Bienvenue. So, what exactly is the nature of the discovery claimed by the Musée des Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal?
The Museum of the Hospitallers of the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal specifies at Dutythrough the voice of its director, Paul Labonne, that the main discovery is in fact to note that the documents of the estate of Jeanne Mance had not been destroyed, contrary to what has long been claimed, but that several originals were found in Quebec, in the papers kept by Mgr from Laval.
“We didn’t want to show off,” defends Paul Labonne, the director of the institution, over the phone. “It is the work of a professional archivist and historian that we have done. We first wanted to show that the documents had not been destroyed,” he explains to Duty. Then, it was a question of showing an adequacy between what was found in the papers of Mgr de Laval and the legacy made by Jeanne Mance. In other words, determining that the original papers had not been lost in the fire was already a discovery, he said.
“It’s in there, in M.gr de Laval, 15 employment contracts of Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière which date from 1644. Gold Mgr de Laval was not even in Quebec at that time,” indicates Paul Labonne at Duty. “This is first of all what I wanted to show with the archivist Peter Gagné: that the documents were preserved by Mgr from Laval and that we were not aware of it. » When Jeanne Mance died on June 18, 1673, her papers were sent to Quebec.
In a letter addressed to Duty SATURDAY, Paul Labonne adds this: “The main discovery is the fact that we found part of the documents which were in Jeanne Mance’s possession at her death. » Which would show, according to him, that the original documents were not destroyed, contrary to what has often been claimed. “The documents would not have all been destroyed as claimed by Jeanne Mance’s biographer, Marie-Claire Daveluy, and several other researchers after her. This is why Peter Gagné, the chief archivist of the Musée de la civilization, and I started from the inventory after Jeanne Mance’s death drawn up on June 19 and 20, 1673 to see if they matched the documents in the fund. of the Quebec Seminary to support our approach.
The director adds, as additional clarification, that “there are letters from Jeanne Mance which are period copies”. The rare documents that bear the original signature of the co-founder of Montreal are official documents, acts issued by a royal judge or notaries.