Prisoners, Books, and History...

We began our fifth day in Québec at the Morrin Centre, a nationally recognized heritage site and leading English-language cultural center located in the heart of historic Old Québec City, just a block from our apartment. Built over 200 years ago as one of the city’s first non-military jails, it now houses one of the world’s most beautiful libraries.

The Morrin Centre is considered a symbol of the often fraying but never quite broken ties that bind the nation. Throughout its history, the cultural heart of Anglo Québec City has had its periods of eminence and prosperity, punctuated by longer bouts of poverty and anonymity, before its gorgeous library made an appearance, ironically, in a bestselling book in 2005. Now, freshly beautified and state-supported, it attracts a steady stream of tourists. We were there to learn its story from the delightful Alice.
When the impressive neoclassical building opened in 1812, it was a jail, with inmates ranging from debtors to murderers. Our tour allowed us to ramble through the sinister jail cells, see graffiti carved into the floors by inmates, and contemplate the iron rings used to chain them down. We were encouraged to discover a hidden, dark and almost unknown part of the city’s history by exploring the building’s past, the life of its prisoners, and the conditions of their imprisonment.

Alice was thorough and informed. We had the opportunity to explore leisurely while she shared her vast knowledge.
The Hanged: Two Centuries of Executions in Québec showed us a somber period in the history of this building and town. Québec's early English-derived criminal law prescribed the death penalty for many offenses, but in practice, people were hanged for a much smaller range of crimes. Up until 1829, about half of the prisoners hanged were executed for murder and the other half for various sorts of serious theft.

Turns out the British influence was a very brutal one. This cage is presumed to be the one used to display the body of Marie-Josephte Corriveau. She was a local young farming woman who was convicted in 1763 of murdering her husband. Under the provisions of the Murder Act, after she was hanged, her body was taken across the river to Lévis and left exposed in this cage to decompose publicly. She was the last hanged person to suffer this fate. People here felt it just too cruel. Interestingly, she was better known as la Corriveau and is a well-known figure in Québécois folklore. Her story has become a local legend, and she is the subject of many books and plays. Our tour guide grew up fearing la Corriveau much like we did the Boogeyman as kids. Wild stuff.
By 1867, the prisoners were gone and the cells were renovated for the use of Morrin College, a Presbyterian island in Catholic Québec. It was founded following an important bequest from Joseph Morrin, former city mayor and prominent doctor. 
Morrin College struggled from the very beginning. In addition to persistent financial problems, the Anglo-Protestant population of Québec City was too small to justify an institution of its kind. It never had more than 9 paid professors and 28 full-time students. The institution discontinued regular classes around 1902. That said, the school was pioneering in terms of women's education, allowing female students to study for a BA in co-ed classes from 1885. Two of those female students who graduated and became quite distinguished were Euphemia MacLeod (1889), Poet, First woman M.A. Philosophy in Québec, and Ethel Margaret Fraser (1894), Physician, Head of the American Women's Hospitals at La-Ferté-Milon, France during WWI. So cool.

Our final stop was in the very  magnificent Victorian Library. Its collection of over 27,000 books includes literary fiction, mysteries, biographies, children’s books, Canadian history titles, and more. It is also the home of early publications of the Literary and Historical Society of Québec, Canada’s first learned society. These documents, published between 1829 and 1924 in the society’s journal, are a testimony to the growth of cultural and intellectual activity in Canada. These publications include original scientific, historical, and literary articles from the nineteenth century as well as reprints of older historical primary sources found in archives around the world. How fun it would be to spend a rainy day here perusing this written history. Before leaving the Morrin Centre we became members and can use this resource often during our stay here. What fun.

It was too pretty of a day to stay inside for long. The warm temperatures and blue skies demanded a city stroll.
While strolling we often come across these Circuit Québec signs showing us how it looked in the past. Much of this town has not changed noticeably over the last few hundred years. Wow.
Some things here are just so dang cool like this Informational Woman, just standing on the street waiting to answer questions or help lost tourists. I love that.
Fittingly, our meal was at the Restaurant Café Buade (1919), the oldest restaurant in town. It was another day of unique discoveries!

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

When we were on Vancouver Island we ran into an informational person standing at the bus stop we needed to be. I agree, love what they do. Very helpful!

August 23, 2023 at 10:46 AM
Four Points Bulletin said...

Love old jails! We went on a great tour in Dublin. And that library looks like it is straight out of Beauty and the Beast. Amazing.

September 4, 2023 at 6:56 AM

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