EVA CIRCÉ-CÔTÉ
1871-1949
A journalist, poet, playwright, feminist militant and librarian, we owe the creation of Montréal’s first public library to Eva Circé-Côté. From a young age, she showed a keen lack of interest for household chores traditionally assigned to the women of her time. A lady of letters, she wrote nearly all her life, even going so far as to use pen names to criticize and advance the causes of education, literacy, and the emancipation of women, without jeopardizing the various important positions she held in her life. She also founded several newspapers and fought to stop the clergy from dictating the selection of materials available at libraries. She again raised the ire of the clergy by founding and heading the Lycée des jeunes filles, a secular teaching establishment offering modern education to girls of the era who for the most part only otherwise had access to religiously biased education. A pioneer and strong-willed, she was an inspiration to an entire generation of women, urging them to drop the barriers and take their rightful places in Quebec’s society.
