QAHN Heritage Talk uncovers Valleyfield’s English roots

The Quebec Anglophone Heritage Network’s (QAHN) Heritage Talks Online series recently featured a lecture delivered by Chateauguay Valley Historical Society president Ken Dolphin, entitled Cotton makes a colony: Valleyfield’s English roots. The talk, which was presented as a virtual tour of the industrial settlement of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield in the late 19th and 20th centuries with a focus on the Montreal Cottons Factory, was based on guided walks through the remnants of the cotton-mill neighbourhood that Dolphin presents for students studying industrialization. Dolphin, who was born in Valleyfield, peppered his presentation of a series of archival photographs with lively commentary, interesting facts, and fun memories of his hometown. He described the Valleyfield mill colony as a model of 19th-century industrial production. He explained how a section of the city developed with the arrival of thousands of skilled labourers and their families from Lancashire, England, who came to work at the Montreal Cottons Factory. He emphasized the paternalistic nature of the company, which controlled where its employees lived, socialized, and how they spent their wages. A recorded version of the talk is still available to watch on the QAHN Facebook page. The series continues with live events streaming every Thursday at 1:30 p.m. until March 9. Upcoming talks include an account of the Argenteuil Seigneurie, the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway, modern art in Canada, and Black voices and media activism in the 1970s in Montreal. (SR)

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