ETHNO-HISTORY
There are more than 4,000 artifacts in the collection relating to the ethno-history of the area. Furniture and household accessories, toys and games, woodworking and textile tools, and clothing and linens are the main categories in the collection, which is a reflection of the
Charlevoix identity.
The ethno-historical collection originated with local collector Roland Gagné. Gagné, a passionate history buff and avid antique collector, had a souvenir shop on the Pointe-au-Pic wharf. In 1946 he opened a small museum behind the shop with close to 1,500 objects attesting to daily life in Charlevoix . He took a particular interest in old artisanal trades, tourism, navigation, traditional furniture, and the literary works of Laure Conan, Québec’s first woman of letters, who was born in La Malbaie in 1845.
Musée de Charlevoix also holds a dozen archive collections, nine document collections, and 16 private archival collections adding up to over 23 linear metres of text, more than 20,800 photographs and postcards, and some 600 maps and plans.
A RICH HERITAGE
The primary mission of Musée de Charlevoix is to collect, preserve, and present the art works, ethnological and historical materials, and archival documents essential to our understanding of who we . It’s a mission the Museum pursues with rigour and enthusiasm.
Our collection has grown from its initial core holdings to nearly 11,500 diverse pieces today, most of which are grouped into two main areas of interest: ethno-history and popular arts.
ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTS
Architectural documents • Maps
• Prints and drawings • Film and video • Photographs
• Sound recordings • Textual records
DECORATIVE WORKS OF ART
Ceramics, porcelain and pottery • Costumes • Furniture
• Glass • Ironwork, silver- and goldsmithery • Textiles and tapestry
FINE ARTS
Modern and contemporary Canadian works: paintings, photographs, prints and drawings, sculpture, sketchbooks and albums.
Religious art.
HUMAN HISTORY
Agriculture • Archaeology • Astronomy • Ceremonial objects
• Timekeeping instruments • Costumes and accessories
• Coins and currency • Forestry • Furniture • Domestic objects and technologies • Manuscripts • Maps, tables, plans, and blueprints • History and technology of the sea • Medals • Oral history • Printing and bookbinding • Religious and liturgical objects • Games and toys • Non-motorized water and land transportation • Weapons and armaments
POPULAR ART
Over the years, numerous major works by popular artists have been added to the collection, cementing the Museum’s special status among Québec museums. Well-known artists drawn to Charlevoix’s remarkable landscapes have fostered an outpouring of local creative artists. Among them, the painters Yvonne Bolduc, Georges-Édouard Tremblay, Robert Cauchon, Philippe Maltais, and Berthe Simard, the woodcarvers Gérald Mailloux and the Bouchard family, and many others are well represented in the Musée de Charlevoix collection. This upwelling of regional popular artists was what sparked the Museum’s interest in popular, naïve, outsider, and undisciplined art. Today, its collection is home to numerous extremely important works in this singular field.
The Museum’s focus on popular art does not however mean that it neglects the work of mainstream artists who were inspired and influenced by Charlevoix and helped make it famous, such as Clarence Gagnon, René Richard, and Patrick Morgan.