Franco-American Collection Coordinator Donat Boisvert presents a box of archival material on the Grand Trunk to Professor Irene Mailhot-Bernard of St. Francis XavierUniversity of Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

August 2008

Irène Mailhot-Bernard, Professor of French at St. Francis Xavier in Antigonish, Nova Scotia recently visited the Franco-American Collection at USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College. Professor Mailhot-Bernard, a Lewiston native and Bates College graduate, came to the Collection to research the role the Grand Truck Railroad played in the immigration of Franco-Americans to this area in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

She will be presenting a paper entitled “Riding the Grand Trunk into a new culture” this fall in Washington, D.C. and in Québec City in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Champlain’s founding of Québec.  This paper includes the story of Marthe Rivard of Lewiston, one of the thousands of immigrants who came to Lewiston from Québec by train.

“The Franco-American Collection is an invaluable resource for researching local Franco history that is not accessible through the usual research channels. It has an outstanding collection of historical documents”, said Professor Mailhot-Bernard. “I’ll definitely be back to explore other Franco subjects”, she added.

Mailhot-Bernard obtained her doctorate in French at Pennsylvania State University. Her thesis was on the French spoken by the Francos of Lewiston. She has written two multi-media programs, including forty-four textbooks, for the teaching of French which are widely used throughout Canada.

Collection Coordinator Donat Boisvert noted that other out-of state researchers have visited this summer to explore such diverse subjects as the life of Charlotte Michaud, a longtime local bilingual journalist, parish histories and marching bands.

USM’s Franco-American Collection is the largest repository of Franco-American archival material in the State, with material on history, politics, religion, education, industry, business, theater and music.  Located on USM’s Lewiston campus at 51 Westminster St., the Collection includes a state-of-the-art archival storage unit designed to preserve the large collection of documents, news clippings, photographs, and artifacts about Franco-American history and culture.  In addition, the Collection houses the Madeleine Giguere Reading Room, which includes a large selection of books concerning the French presence in North America.