Major exhibition to mark 400 years of French presence in North America
Gatineau, Quebec, January 14, 2004 — The Canadian Museum of Civilization will celebrate this year a significant, yet little known, Canadian anniversary with the landmark exhibition Once in French America, opening on June 11, 2004.
On the four-hundredth anniversary of permanent European settlement in North America, Canada’s national history museum is presenting a major exhibition on life in New France. This exhibition draws on important collections from the United States and France, with many objects never before seen in Canada.
“Once in French America will look at how people settled, lived and adapted to this new land,” explained Dr. Victor Rabinovitch, President and CEO of the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation. “The vast territory of New France extended from Hudson Bay to Louisiana and included the Saint-Lawrence and Mississippi valleys. We hope our visitors will leave with a new understanding and respect for these courageous pioneers.”
The year 2004 marks the four-hundredth anniversary of an event that changed the course of Canadian, North American and world history: the decision of a small group of merchants from France to establish a permanent settlement in the New World. In June 1604, they founded a colony on an island in the Bay of Fundy and called it “Sainte-Croix”. This event marked the beginning of one of the most significant cultural, social and economic migrations in world history.
In the years that followed, as more French immigrants arrived, the colony expanded and eventually covered a vast area, from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. The territory became known as “New France”. By the time it was ceded to England in 1763, the inhabitants of New France had left an indelible mark on the continent and a French-speaking society had been born in the New World.
Once in French America will present 500 objects from 40 Canadian and foreign collections, from important institutions such as the Musée national de la Marine in Paris, the Louisiana State Museum in New Orleans and the Stewart Museum in Montreal. They include a wide range of period furniture, paintings, ceramics, clothing, silverware, religious ornaments, engravings, sculpture and other items that speak volumes about life in New France.
Some of the objects are of exceptional historical value. Visitors will be able to see a superb eighteenth-century model of the Jupiter, a 74-cannon vessel, from the Stewart Museum in Montreal. This remarkable instructional model was used for demonstration purposes at “construction schools” in naval dockyards where shipwrights, carpenters and designers held their classes. Another exceptional object is an ornate clock presented by Louis XV to Charles LeMoyne, second Baron of Longueuil and Governor of Montréal.
Artifacts on display will explain the role and grandeur of the Catholic Church in New France. These include a magnificent vessel used for veneration, given to the Jesuits for their missionary work among the Amerindians, from the collection of the Huron-Wendat Nation Council in Wendake, Quebec; and a seventeenth-century altar frontal that may have been embroidered by Marie de l’Incarnation (1599-1672), founder of the Québec Ursulines, from the collections of the Musée des Ursulines in Quebec.
The exhibition will be accompanied by lively public programmes highlighting the rich heritage of New France, including concerts, theatre, demonstrations, and activities related to crafts, food, genealogy and more.
Once in French America will be presented at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau, Quebec, from June 11, 2004 to March 28, 2005.
Media Information:
Chief, Media Relations
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Tel.: (819) 776-7167
Media Relations Officer
Canadian Museum of Civilization
Tel.: (819) 776-7169
Fax: (819) 776-7187
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