BAnQ’s Allard collection contains more than 1.8 million photos

Quebec blogger Diane Tourville has written, on the 100th anniversary of her father’s birth, a post about the Fonds du Studio O. Allard photographic collection at the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) in Montreal. This vast collection contains more than 1.8 million portraits of people and images of businesses in Montreal. The photos were taken by the O. Allard studio between 1930 and 1990.

Ms. Tourville first discovered the collection several years ago when conducting research at BAnQ. While looking through some binders, she came across a list about the Studio O. Allard collection. Intrigued, she consulted the microfilms and immediately looked for Tourville. She was surprised to see her father’s name and address before he married.

Next, Ms. Tourville headed to the counter to request the file that supposedly held a photo of her father. When she opened the file, she saw his photo.

Ms. Tourville writes: “One finds many things on the Internet, but it does not replace a visit to the archives. My father was neither an important or a famous person, but I was able to find a portrait of him. If I had not been doing genealogy, I would never have found this photo.”

Unfortunately for researchers who live outside Montreal, this collection must be researched in person. It is not available online.

You can read Ms. Tourville’s blog post, La généalogie, mon père et moi, here or the English version, Genealogy, my Father and Me here.