Welcome to the
Marius-Barbeau Documentation Center Web site.
The Center, long identified as the library of the Ensemble national de
folklore “Les Sortilèges”, is now located in the basement of the
Saint-Pierre-Claver church, a valued site of Quebec religious heritage.
Fields of Interest
The Center’s collection specializes in the area of
immaterial culture : all that is related to the lore and beliefs – namely
folk arts and traditions – of the First Nations, Quebecois and ethnic
communities.
In order of Importance:
- Dance
Gigue
- Costume
- Traditional music
- Folk arts
- Folk beliefs, customs and traditions
- Celebrations
- Material culture
- Oral literature
- Legends
- Tales and nursery rhymes
- Folk songs
- Folk games
- Folk science
- Recipes
- Etc.
Organization of the Center
§
Library
The library collection is made up of several books and periodicals on folk
arts and traditions (including the Michel Cartier collection) and of a
number of documents on dance and costume.
§
Complementary Files
Among other things, the complementary files include texts, folders,
brochures, newspaper and periodical articles.
§
Dance Notations
Dance notations form an important part of the collection as well as a
precious source of information. These notations, enriched with references,
offer a complete range of French-Canadian and international dances.
Many of those notations have been handed down as a bequest of the folklorist
Jean Sauriol.
They include choreographies, stage dances and folkloric creations.
§
Audiovisual Supports
Audiovisual supports play an important part in the teaching of dance and
gigue as well as in creation.
§
Sound Supports
Our record collection consists of a large number of folk music recordings, a
quarter of which are devoted to Quebecois folk music (namely the Tournesol
collection).
§
Transparencies and
Photographs
Transparencies and photographs complement our documentation.
§
Archival Fund
At the present time, the archives of Jimmy Di Genova (personnal archives as
well as those he assembled as Director of thr Marius-Barbeau Center); those
of the Feux Follets and of Fernande Morel (some of which concern the CRIFM)
are still awaiting processing and are not available for consultation.
The center owns more than ten thousand documentary pieces, of which a part
is already catalogued and indexed.
Collection of the Center
- 3,000 volumes (including the Michel-Cartier collection)
- 50 periodical titles with references to more than 5,000 articles
- 1,500 complementary files
- Approximately 3,000 dance and gigue notations (including the Jean-Sauriol collection)
- 1,300 disc recordings of folk songs and music(including the Tournesol collection)
- 390 sound and audiovisual supports
- 186 costume sewing patterns
- Archival Fund
A
manuscript on the history of costume: Le costume de l’habitant au Québec
au X1Xe siècle(History of 19th Century Peasant Costume in Quebec)has
also been produced by the Center and may be consulted on the premises.
The Center also takes a
particular interest in urban folklore .
The Marius-Barbeau Documentation Center
4839, rue de Bordeaux
Montréal (Québec) H2H 2A2
Téléphone: (514) 522-1511