Floresca Guépin (née, Leconte; 26 March 1813 – 11 November 1889) was a French feminist and teacher. She co-founded the "Société Nantaise pour l'Enseignement Professionnel des Jeunes Filles" (The Nantes Society for the

Vocational Education Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an i ...

of Young Girls). "Médiathèque Floresca-Guépin", the media library in the Bottière-Chénaie district of Nantes, is named in her honor. Guépin died in 1889.

Biography

Floresca Clémentine Leconte was born 26 March 1813, in

Sézanne Sézanne () is a commune in the Marne department and Grand Est region in north-eastern France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions an ...

. She met Doctor Ange Marie François Guépin (1805-1873) in a

Saint-Simonian Saint-Simonianism was a French political, religious and social movement of the first half of the 19th century, inspired by the ideas of Claude Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon (1760–1825). Saint-Simon's ideas, expressed largely through a ...

circle of friends in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. Floresca spoke English well and was in touch with several American families, including the Lowell-Putnams of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. During the summer of 1853, Floresca, Ange Guépin, and the Lowell-Putnams traveled to

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...

, including Nantes, the Lowell-Putnams having an interest in the history of Nantes, in particular the period of the Reign of Terror. There, they met Jules Michelet who was then in exile. On 1 December 1854, Floresca married Ange Guépin, and became step-mother to his children, Ange Victor (b. 1831) and Marie (b. 1838). From 1858, they lived at L'Oisillière near

Savenay Savenay (; ''Savenneg'' in Breton) is a town (administratively a commune) in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France which is part of the Pays de la Loire region. It is located on the Sillon de Bretagne (a mountain range defining the ...

. Floresca Guépin, a friend of André Léo, a feminist militant and future communarde, introduced him to Grégoire Bordillon. In these years, she influenced those around her to support abolitionism. In January 1870, with her husband and Prosper Vial, a metals trader, Guépin co-founded the "Société Nantaise pour l'Enseignement Professionnel des Jeunes Filles", which ran first two and later three secular workshop schools, modeled on the school established by their friend, Élisa Lemonnier, in 1862, in Paris. After she was widowed in 1873, Guépin directed the workshop schools for several years. These workshop schools were behind the future Vial et Guépin technical school in Nantes.

Death and legacy

Floresca Guépin died 11 November 1889, in Nantes. The media library of the Bottière-Chénaie district in Nantes, opened in June 2007, is named in her honor.

Biography

Death and legacy

References

Further reading