"French Canadians in the Midwest" spotlight exhibition January 10, 2011

The Newberry Library will mount an exhibition of Library materials on French-Canadians in the Midwest as part of the Library’s ongoing Spotlight Exhibition series. The show will open January 11, 2011 and remain up through March 12 and is supported by the Canadian Consulate General in Chicago and the Quebec Government Office in Chicago. Newberry curators Matt Rutherford and Carla Zecher have been deeply involved in planning for the exhibition and the related January 21-22 public conference since its inception. In the course of their curatorial research, Matt and Carla have discovered fresh information about the French in Illinois, including the fact that the first Lieutenant Governor in Illinois was French Canadian and he was from Bourbonnais, a community established by French Canadians from Quebec, located sixty miles south of Chicago. Public Programs exhibition staff will create an online version of the show. As a digital publication, the online exhibition will not only establish a long-lasting record of this series of public events, it will be a source of rich content and classroom tools for students, teachers, genealogists, and the general public.

Official Website: http://www.newberry.org