On Saturday November 24th, 2007, the Canadian Federation of University Women (CFUW) Sherbrooke & District launched a book called Days to Remember: One-room Schoolhouses in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Attending the Launch were some of the ladies and gentlemen who shared their experiences in the one-room schoolhouses by contributing information and memorabilia, funding partners, guests from CFUW, representatives from local organizations, club members, guests, and members of the press.
This book is the culmination of an oral history project that the club began in the mid 1990’s. Members of the CFUW Sherbrooke & District set off on a mission to record the memories of one-room schoolteachers from various parts of the Eastern Townships. They interviewed several students and one inspector; approximately sixty oral histories were recorded. Important memorabilia such as teachers’ contracts, report cards and photographs have also been included.
During the first few decades of the 1900’s, one-room schoolhouses dotted the rural landscape of the Eastern Townships. Functional in style and constructed of local materials, such as wood, fieldstone, or brick, schoolhouses sprang up wherever pockets of school-aged children lived. It was not unusual to come across a school building every three or four miles because most teachers and students were expected to walk to school.
Most of the teachers in these one-room schools were young women in their late teens or early twenties. Many had attended Macdonald College, but some had stepped directly from high school into the role of teacher. Nevertheless, they assumed sole responsibility for educating all children, from grade one to grade seven within their schoolhouse. Often other duties such as cleaning the schoolhouse, organizing events, and stoking the wood-stove were also required of them.
This was an interesting period in Townships’ social and educational history and Days to Remember; One-room Schoolhouses in the Eastern Townships of Quebec offers a unique window into that world. This 178-page book is filled with personal recollections from teachers and students, touching and amusing anecdotes, many evocative old photographs, and reproductions of rare memorabilia.
CFUW Sherbrooke & District gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Bélanger-Gardner Foundation, The Scowen Foundation, the Howick Foundation and Townshippers’ Research and Cultural Foundation, and Townshippers’ Research and Cultural Foundation Partnership. Club members have donated countless volunteer hours towards this project. With the publication of a permanent keepsake, there will be a lasting tribute to the courageous and resourceful women who taught in our one-room schoolhouses. The experiences and memories recorded are fascinating and we are pleased as a CFUW group to be preserving and celebrating this important piece of educational and local history.
The book, which also includes calendar pages where birthdays, anniversaries, and special dates can be recorded, can be purchased at local bookstores, through Townshippers’ Association (819-566-5717) and the club’s website www.cfuwsherbrooke.org Books will be available at the following outlets: Bishop’s Bookstore, Black Cat, Tri-Us in Lennoxville; Papeterie 2000, Trillium, Wales Home Shop in Richmond, Le Petit Danvillois in Danville, Magasin Général d'Ayer's Cliff in Ayers Cliff, Brome Lake Books in Knowlton, Librairie Le Livre d’or in Sutton., Colby-Curtis Museum in Stanstead, and the following libraries, N. Hatley, Bury, and Lennoxville.