The Religious Sisters of Quebec: At the Heart of Science Education for Girls

Photo: Marie-Claire Dugas

The Marguerite Bourgeoys Historic Site is offering visitors a new exhibition called Nuns, Teachers and… Scientists! Stemming from a collaboration between the teams at Musée des Ursulines in Trois-Rivières and the Institution Muséale de Montréal, the installation highlights how the Ursuline sisters and the sisters of the Congrégation de Notre-Dame taught science to girls starting in the 19th century.

Through the clever use of the room, the exhibition helps you understand the historical context that led the sisters to broaden the school curriculum offered to girls by including the sciences. You will discover a wide range of remarkable objects, records and photos from the rich archives and collections of both congregations, and learn about Canadian female scientists of the past and present.

Visitors will be pleased with this exhibition that includes, in addition to herbarium collections, minerals, fossils, instruments and other fascinating artifacts, video accounts and excerpts from science exams handwritten by students during the 19th century. Visitors can even test their knowledge by answering questions about apples taken from an exam written in 1893.

Through the exhibition, you get the measure of the sisters’ efforts to receive training and acquire the necessary materials to provide quality, rigorous and thorough education in subjects such as astronomy, zoology, botany, chemistry and physics. The key theme of theology of nature, in which the work of God is accessible other than through the Scriptures, is also apparent in the commentaries by students from the 19th century as shown in this excerpt: “Everything has its place: everything obeys immutable laws […] nothing resists the will of the Creator.”

The visit shows the pathways toward the sciences that have been opened to women and the progress they made. You will also come to realize the importance of sustained efforts in this sphere.

The exhibition is running from April 28, 2022, to April 10, 2023. This visit also provides the opportunity to see the permanent exhibition Meet Marguerite that was launched in 2020 during the pandemic. It received the Award of Excellence from the Société des Musées du Québec for its renewal.