On the School Benches

On the School Benches

Musée des Ursulines de Trois-Rivières 2009

For over 300 years, the Ursuline Sisters have been devoting their efforts to the education of girls in Trois-Rivières. In 1697, the Ursulines opened the first school for girls in the region. The nuns at the time instructed young Abenaki and French girls in the colony. During the following centuries, they founded a day school, boarding school, teachers’ training school and college on the land adjoining the monastery of Trois-Rivières. As well, they administered and taught in a number of the city’s public schools and founded teaching establishments for girls in Grand-Mère and Shawinigan. The exhibition, “On the School Benches,” presents an online experience of student life in schools run by the Ursulines during three centuries of history. This long tradition can be discovered through objects from the collection of the Musée des Ursulines de Trois-Rivières, as well as photographs, archival documents and first-hand accounts by students, teachers and administrators.