Arts and Professions

The masters taught plainsong in the elementary schools to train the parishes future cantors and altar boys. The role of religious communities in the transmission of knowledge extended well beyond the simple dissemination of intellectual knowledge. The male communities in particular contributed, through Arts and Professions schools, to the artistic and practical training of the colony's population. One of these Arts and Professions schools was founded in Saint-Joachim by Mgr de Laval, probably before 1676. Courses dispensed by the school of Arts and Professions may also have been available at the Petit Séminaire de Québec and in Montreal, at the Frères Charon hospital. Various types of knowledge were taught, such as agriculture, woodwork, sculpture, painting, gilding, shoemaking, carpentry and metalwork.


Calice en argent et en or orné sur la fausse-coupe, la coupe, la tige et le pied d'un bas-relief représentant des scènes religieuses. / Silver and gold chalice decorated on the false cup, the cup, the stem and the base with a bas-relief depicting scenes of religious character.

Calice, dit "de Mgr de Laval", circa 1674

Nicolas Dolin
Musée de la civilisation, Séminaire de Québec Collection, 1991.806.1



Installé à son établi, éclairé par un petit bougeoir, un orfèvre travaille à la confection d'objets sacrés. / By the light of a small candlestick, a silversmith is at work in his shop, making sacred objects.

An old Quebec silversmith at work in his shop, undated

Marjorie Borden
in Marius Barbeau, Quebec where Ancient France Lingers, 1936
Musée de la civilisation, Séminaire de Québec Library, 296.5.23



Extrait d'une partition de musique où l'on peut y lire neuf portées sous lesquelles sont ajoutées les paroles d'un chant. Les deux premières lettres des couplets du chant sont en lettre capitale et assorties de motifs végétaux. / Excerpt from a music score presenting nine staves under which the lyrics of a song have been added. The first two letters of the song are in upper case and decorated with plant motifs.

Partition de musique, undated

in Henri Frémart, Missa quator vocum Ad placitum, 1642
Musée de la civilisation, Séminaire de Québec Library, 29.6



À son établi, au travers de ses outils, un menuisier taille au ciseau un madrier de bois. / Surrounded by his tools, a carpenter sits at his workbench, carving a wood beam with a chisel.

Le menuisier, undated

Mangonot
in Henry Havard, La Menuiserie, 19th Century
Musée de la civilisation, Séminaire de Québec Library, 208.1.5



Dans un coin reclus d'une maisonnée, assis sur le bord d'un coffre, un jeune garçon griffonne un dessin dans un petit carnet. / Sitting on the edge of a chest in a secluded corner of his home, a young boy doodles in a small notebook.

Le jeune artiste, undated

in L'Opinion publique, 1877
Musée de la civilisation, Séminaire de Québec Library, 660.4.9



Adroitement disposés sur une table, serrures, clés, loquets et pentures anciennes témoignent de la technologie au temps de la Nouvelle-France. / Neatly laid out on a table, ancient locks, keys, latches and hinges are reminders of technology at the time of New France.

Objets de civilisation

Alain Vézina, photographe
in Musée de la civilisation, Objets de civilisation, 1990
Musée de la civilisation



Page manuscrite identifiant les instructions quant au bon établissement de manufactures. / Handwritten page identifying instructions for the proper establishment of factories.

Instruction pour les manufactures

Jean-Baptiste Colbert, 1685
Musée de la civilisation, Séminaire de Québec Archives, Polygraphie 6, no 22