New Photo History Book From Québec: La route des sucriers

By  Matthew M. Thomas

A great new, handsomely illustrated book has been published documenting maple syrup and sugar making as was carried out in Québec in years past. Titled, La route des sucriers: Quand on faissit les sucres en noir et blanc au Quebec, this paperback book is entirely in French and is the work of noted maple historian and sugarmaker Jean-Roch Morin, who hails from Saint-Zacharie, Québec. At 240 pages in length, La route des sucriers contains around two hundred rarely or never before published black and white photographs of maple sugaring related scenes. The images date from the late 1800s through the 1990s, with the majority dating to the first half of the 20^th century.

I cannot emphasize enough my feeling that readers should not be intimidated by the book being in French. With the convenience of translation apps on our mobile devices and computers, it is quite simple to open the door to an entire world of maple history publications from Québec written in French, with this book as a wonderful place to start.

The format of the book is one image per page with accompanying descriptive and contextual text. The book is divided into six different chapters by covering the sugarhouse and the syrup maker, preparing for the season, gathering maple sap, making sugar and syrup, maple parties, and the end of the sugaring season. A nice feature of the book is a glossary of words related to syrup and sugar making gathered and defined by the author. Of course, the glossary is in French, but it always helpful to see and document the unique language of maple production.

This is the second maple history related book written by Jean-Roch Morin, with his first book being published in 2016 jointly in French and English with the title, Spouts, Patents and Sugar-Making Objects from Yesteryear. This book is published by Les Editions Conifére, a new and energetic publishing company out of Québec City that is interested in expanding their portfolio to include additional titles that share Québec and maple industry history.

In researching this book, Jean-Roch Morin spent many years visiting local historical societies, museums, libraries, and private collections across the Beauce region of Québec discovering previously unpublished and unknown photographs of maple sugaring activities in years past. The focus of the locations of the scenes in the images is primarily the Beauce region, but most of the scenes depicted could have been anywhere in the maple syrup producing region of Canada and the United States. Many of the scenes depicted are candid, unposed action scenes, taken in the moment in the sugarbush and at the sugar house. These are especially important in their capturing a moment in time, both from the technological and historical perspective but also in preserving the place and experiences of individuals and community of sugaring.

I have three personal favorites from the book: the photos that show the end of the year sap pail washing and drying, the photos showing the important use of horses and even dogs for pulling sap gathering sleds and tanks, and the photos of the sugar on snow gatherings at the sugarhouses.

Maple sugar and syrup making was hard forest and farm work to be sure, but it was also a kind of work that was unique in how it was also a part of a larger sense of local identity and cultural connectedness of the community. That truth is well represented in the pictures and text of this book. One can almost hear the laughter in the scenes of revelry and cheer and sugar on snow parties along with the flirtatious tradition of smearing soot from the bottom of the evaporator pan on the clean faces of partiers, especially the ladies. Other photos portray the variety of construction elements in sugarhouse construction, emphasizing the vernacular nature of these structures. The history and evolution of the technology and tools of sugaring are both directly and implicitly displayed and discussed in the photos and text.

The book starts off with a pair of prefaces, one written by maple educators Stéphane Guay and Edith Bonneau, publishers of the website Érable & Chalumeaux; and a second preface by yours truly, Matthew Thomas.

In all fairness and the spirit of full disclosure, Jean-Roch Morin is not only a professional colleague, but also a personal friend of mine. Therefore, I may be a bit biased, but I deeply enjoyed this book and am impressed with the effort that went into its creation. Jean-Roch Morin provides a short introductory chapter to set the stage for what he has assembled and described. In addition, the book also features a bibliography and lists of references that were important in researching and writing the book and directs readers where to go for more information.

Jean-Roch Morin was recently awarded Lés Prix du Patrimoine by the MRC Etchemins for his efforts at cultural and historical interpretation and dissemination with the publication of this book. The MRC is one of fifteen regional administrative units of government in Québec and each MRC conducts a competition every two years to recognize the efforts and important works of its residents to protect and promote the heritage of the province. As an indication of his tireless and valuable work in preserving history, this was the fourth time in the last ten years that Mr. Morin has been awarded Lés Prix du Patrimoine!

I encourage maple history fans to add this book to their libraries and make the effort to translate the French text. The book is an important record of maple sugaring in the past. At the very least, it is easy to appreciate, study, and learn from the amazing array of photographs assembled in this book.

The book can be ordered online at the Conifére website for shipment to both the Canada and the United States. Go to this link at the Conifére site to learn more. The cost of the book is listed as CAN$34.95  which equals about US$25.50, plus shipping costs.