To stay abreast of new knowledge for its dissemination, Quebec Seminary needed a library at the height of his mission. From the beginning of the institution, Mgr de Laval creates a common library where all the priests put together their books and knowledge. Over the centuries, around 185,000 volumes filled the shelves of the library, that is now part of the Musée de l'Amérique francophone.

Father Tailleur arrived at the Quebec Seminary as a priest in 1955 and was the director of the archives department from 1984 to 1999. With passion, he tells us about his years amongst old manuscripts and the scientific collections. 

Over the centuries, the priests of the Quebec Seminary acquired a collection of prints and works on paper, that they mainly used for religious and educational purposes. The "Archives Project" will help quantify that collection (± 20 000 documents), proceed to its inventory and data standardization. These operations will render possible the identification of the techniques and mediums and a better conservation of a collection that provides a unique reading of the Quebec Seminary's history.

For efficient storage, material protection of the documents has to be ensured, storage spaces must be optimized and adequate premises are needed. Taking into account the existing furniture in the storage rooms, a standardization of the containers (folders, pouches, boxes) was established. Upgrading the preventive conservation of the documents has increase their volume and therefore their required space for storage. Temporary reserves were created and the existing storage rooms were optimized.

The climate is one of the important factors of the documents deterioration. Depending on their nature, they react to temperature variation and humidity levels. To slow down the degradation, microclimates are created in the storage rooms. Electronic probes and/or hygrothermographs provide supervision and allow to adjust the conservation conditions as needed.

Kept by the priests of the Quebec Seminary, valuable archives from between 1623 and 1800 have been recognized by the UNESCO Memory of the world Register. Given priority, these documents and manuscripts are inventoried and subject to a specific preventive conservation to ensure their longevity.

A "Collections Digitization Project" has been undertaken in the context of the Plan culturel numérique du Québec, the province's digital cultural plan. The goal of this project is to improve access to and circulation of the collections, while restricting the handling of items. Once the inventory and preventive conservation have been revised by the "Archives Project", the historical archives documents and rare books are being digitized. The collections objects are also being photographed.

Upgrading the preventive conservation of the documents preserved at Musée de l'Amérique francophone will result in a 20% to 50% increase in their volume. The creation of temporary reserves has thus proved vital for the storage of part of the collections pending the expansion of the Centre national de conservation et d'études des collections, Quebec's centre for the conservation and study of collections. 

The historical maps & plans collection mostly comes from the Quebec Seminary, its rare books library and private donations. Flattening and surface cleaning are the operations done by the "Archives Project" personnel to ensure their conservation.  A quality digitization of the documents will enhance their access and contribute to their preservation. After several years of work, the entire collection will be inventoried, properly stored and digitized.

Presentation of the Centre de conservation du Québec's work in the "Archives Project", Since 2010, a team of conservators has been working along with the Museé de la civilisation "Archives Project" personnel, to established the state of conservation of the Quebec Seminary archives, kept at the Musée de l'Amérique francophone. This collaboration also help to plan and carry out interventions on each collections.

Presentation of the "Archives Project", the work on the historical archives of Quebec Seminary, started in 2010 by the Musée de la civilisation. This project improves the conservation conditions and tracking of the collections. A significant part of these archives is part of the UNESCO Memory of the World Register.