Testimonials about the lives of the region’s pioneersLocated in Rouyn-Noranda, the Centre d’archives de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue et du Nord-du-Québec covers a territory with an area of almost one million square kilometres. It is part of the network of nine Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) archives centres, distributed throughout Québec. Dedicated to the preservation and development of the region’s public and private archives, it offers researchers and the public a consultation room and efficient per-sonnel to guide them in the use of the wide range of documents the centre holds.

Every year, it welcomes hundreds of visitors, essentially from the educational and professional sectors. They use the Centre’s services for research concerning the history of their families, localities or regions. The genealogy component is one of the most complete since the centre also houses Généalogie Abitibi- Témiscamingue (GENAT).

LAND OF BUILDERSLocation: Rouyn-Noranda

Year of inauguration: 1980

Abitibi-Témiscamingue and Nord-du-Québec

Abitibi-Témiscamingue. pastureStudio Annie & Maurice inc. fonds (P251).

Photo: Maurice Boudreau.

Diploma from the Institut d’écriture normale given to Cécile Laverdière, teacher in Abitibi-Témiscamingue, 1931.Cécile Laverdière collection (P137).

Correspondence between Stanislas Dubois, founding priest of the Lac Castanier colony, and Cyrille F. Delage, superintendent of the Département de l’Instruction publique, concerning the operating budget for the schools in the colony, August 5, 1936.Stanislas Dubois fonds (P7, P5-194-7).

Centre d’archives de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue et du Nord-du-Québec 27, rue du Terminus Ouest Rouyn-Noranda (Québec) J9X 2P3

Opening hours Monday through Friday, from 8:30 am to 12 noon and from 1:00 pm to 4:30 pm

Telephone: 819 763-3484 or 1 800 363-9028Fax: 819 763-3480Email: archives.rouyn@banq.qc.ca

All of the documents reproduced to illustrate this leaflet are included in the collections and fonds of BAnQ’s Centre d’archives de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue et du Nord-du-Québec.

Accredited private archives services • Société d’histoire d’Amos• Société d’histoire du Témiscamingue• Société d’histoire régionale de Chibougamau

The Centre d’archives de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue et du Nord-du-Québec collection includes:• 911 linear metres of handwritten archives;• 834,055 iconographic documents;• 2099 cartographic documents;• 3711 hours of moving images;• 2954 hours of sound recordings.

The archives preserved in this centre can be used to trace the history of Abitibi-Témiscamingue from the middle of the 19th century. The principal archive holdings include:

• the collections of several photographers’ studios (Joseph Hermann Bolduc, Euclide Blais and Maurice Boudreau), which provide an excellent window into social, political, economic and cultural life;

• the collections of associations and organizations (Conseil de développement régional de l’Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Xstrata Copper Canada-Horne smelter) and the collections of individuals and families (Réal Caouette, Louise Desjardins, Donat Martineau), which provide a particular reflection of the influence exercised by community groups;

• oral and audiovisual archives that provide eloquent testimonials of the lives of the region’s pioneers.

Rue Noranda in Rouyn (now Rue Mgr Tessier), 1938.Joseph Hermann Bolduc fonds(P124, S40, SS1, P421-38-13).Photo: Joseph Hermann Bolduc.

First map of Rouyn belonging to Nelson Pinder, the city’s first real estate agent.Gilles Desjardins fonds(P18, S12, P17).

Ville-Marie hockey team, no date.Euclide Blais fonds(P13, S2, D12, P802).Photo: Euclide Blais.