The Musée québécois de l'agriculture et de l'alimentation, formerly known as Musée François-Pilote, is a museum of Québécois

ethnology Ethnology (from the , meaning 'nation') is an academic field and discipline that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). Sci ...

located

La Pocatière La Pocatière () is a town in the Kamouraska Regional County Municipality in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region of Quebec, Canada. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, La Pocatière had a population of l ...

, Quebec, Canada. The museum features a wide variety of collections and displays, and specializes in the history of agricultural education in the region. The museum's namesake, l'Abbé François Pilote, founded the first permanent school of agriculture in Canada (and the second in North America, after

Michigan Agricultural College Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

), and the museum showcases equipment used throughout the history of the school. The fourth and top floor of the museum is dedicated to the history of agricultural education, as well as a display of birds preserved by the

ornithologist Ornithology, from Ancient Greek ὄρνις (''órnis''), meaning "bird", and -logy from λόγος (''lógos''), meaning "study", is a branch of zoology dedicated to the study of birds. Several aspects of ornithology differ from related discip ...

Antoine Tanguay. The third floor presents examples of rooms from Québécois homes in the early 1900s; there are three from a

bourgeois The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and Aristocracy (class), aristocracy. They are tradition ...

household, and several from the home of a well-off farmer, using the real furniture from his estate, as well as an example of a rural schoolroom, country store,

optician An optician is an individual who fits glasses or contact lenses by filling a refractive prescription from an optometrist or ophthalmologist. They are able to translate and adapt ophthalmic prescriptions, dispense products, and work with acces ...

's office, and the offices of a parish priest,

notary A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems. A notary, while a legal professional, is distin ...

, doctor and dentist. There is an exhibit on the work of l'Abbé Maurice Proulx, a pioneer in Québécois cinema and a former educator at the School of Agriculture. The second floor presents the animals of the region, as well as a visiting exhibition which changes each year. Finally, on the first floor is the history of

maple syrup Maple syrup is a sweet syrup made from the sap of maple trees. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before winter; the starch is then converted to sugar that rises in the sap in late winter and early spring. Ma ...

production, a display of the tools of several crafts practiced in the region, an exhibit of modes of transportation, and examples of agricultural machinery.

References

External links

Musée québécois de l’agriculture et de l’alimentation
– official site {{Quebec-struct-stub Museums in Bas-Saint-Laurent History museums in Quebec Natural history museums in Quebec Agriculture museums in Canada La Pocatière