Series

This series focusses primarily on the creative work and promotional efforts of women's hat designer Claire Robert, as well as the media coverage of her career.

The series is composed primarily of a scrapbook that presents an overall picture of a respected designer who gained a degree of public recognition in Quebec, Canada and internationally. The scrapbook traces the milliner's activities through numerous fashion page articles about her seasonal collections and fashion shows featuring some of her creations. The majority of the press clippings are from newspapers in Quebec City (Le Soleil, L’Action catholique, The Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph), where she lived, but there are also many articles from French- and English-language publications in Trois-Rivières (Le Nouvelliste), Montreal (La Patrie, Montréal-Matin, Le Petit journal, La Presse, Le Devoir, Le Canada, The Herald, The Montreal Daily Star, The Gazette) and Toronto (The Globe and Mail, The Evening Telegram, The Toronto Daily Star). Several press clippings from 1947 report on a trip she made to Europe with her husband Louis Robert. Articles and photographs from the same year document the visit of French hat designer Rose Valois to Quebec City. A text published in Le Devoir on December 2, 1948, reports on Claire Robert's success outside the country.

In addition, the scrapbook contains several interviews and profiles published in specialized magazines like Hats and Style, along with pages from fashion magazines like Mayfair featuring some of her creations. The Quebec designer's hats are showcased on the cover of the October 1950 issue of Canadian Home Journal and are mentioned several times in New York publication Millinery Weekly. There is a fashion show program and several advertisements announcing her participation in the "Salon français" at Eaton's in Montreal. In a text published in Le Soleil on December 1, 1951, the milliner thanks her Quebec City clientele for their patronage as she closes her St. Joseph Street salon.

The series also contains several loose records. Among these are letters, transcriptions of radio ads broadcast on CJAD and CKAC, an article about the history of hats, and a page from the October 10, 1967, edition of Le Soleil, which features two articles about British designer Mary Quant.

Finally, the series contains a sketch of a Raoul-Jean Fouré wedding dress from 1956.

The series is divided into the following subseries:

C609/B1 Claire Robert
C609/B2 Raoul-Jean Fourré