This Community Memories
Exhibit tells the story of
life in a small Franco-
Manitoban town in the 1930s
as a diary that could have
been written by a typical
young boy living in Notre
Dame de Lourdes. Each diary
entry is accompanied by a
photo from the Notre Dame
| Musée des Pionniers et des
Chanoinesses collection or
from the albums of town
residents. In some cases, the
entry is also enhanced by an
audio file of a Lourdes
resident recalling memories
from the ‘30s.
The exhibit illustrates
the social, family, religious
| and school issues of life in
this small francophone
community approximately 120
km southwest of Winnipeg.
From the second half of the
19th century, Notre Dame de
Lourdes welcomed the arrival
of French Canadians and
later, French and Swiss
immigrants. After the small
| colony became a parish in
1891, the town’s Chanoine
founder, Dom Benoit became
the first to fight for
Francophones’and
Catholics’right to preserve
their heritage and their
language. The struggle, it is
clear, was successful. To
this day, Lourdais remain
|