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This Community Stories 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 very much attached to their European roots.
In this voyage through time, visitors will come to understand the unique spirit of a charming Franco-Manitoban community that keeps on remembering.
