Fonds

This fonds focusses on the life of Donalda David, in particular, the education she received as a young middle-class woman in early 20th-century Montreal. A music dictation book and a sketch pad exemplify some of the subjects in the curriculum, revealing the teaching and evaluation methods used and the work of a talented, hard-working student. A book on shorthand dictation represents the educational path that led Donalda to a career as a secretary. Clearly valuable as historic examples of girls' education in Quebec, these documents are also rare artefacts of a middle-class child's education.

Moreover, a hand-written speech for a religious jubilee celebrated in 1922 and a notebook containing religious cards (circa 1960) illustrate Donalda's lifelong devotion to the Christian faith.

The fonds also contains eleven photographs of the David family in Montreal North, some of which were taken by the Notman studio. There are two portraits of Pierre M. David (Donalda's nephew), a nun's calling card, a painted portrait of Donalda David, and group photographs from the very first Saint-Vital alumni reunion in 1932 and a 1936 gathering.