Languedoc, Adele

In Memoriam Adele de Guerry Languedoc March 1904 – December 1993

On Sunday, August 5th, 2007 the congregation of the Tadoussac Protestant Chapel laid a headstone in memory of Adele de Guerry Languedoc on the chapel grounds.

Adele was born in Tadoussac in the early 1900’s and summered here with her family throughout her life. Adele’s step-mother, Erie Russell Janes Languedoc, was the granddaughter of Willis Russell who, along with Colonel Rhodes, were among the first to build summer cottages at Tadoussac in the 1860’s. Erie purchased the lands that later became known as Languedoc Park after she married the widower, George de Guerry Languedoc. The four original cottages in Languedoc Park were Erie's cottage and the cottages of the three Stevenson sisters who were great granddaughters of Willis Russell.

At the time of her death, she was remembered by the National Archives of Canada for her distinguished career as a librarian. Her career began with her undergraduate degree at McGill University including a library diploma and she received a Bachelor of Library Service from Columbia University in 1946.

She served for five years with the American Relief for France during the Second World War and her efforts helped to restore the regional libraries that had been so damaged during the war. She also set up the first children’s library that existed outside Paris.

On her return to Canada she was hired as ‘accessions librarian’ at the Canadian Bibliographic Centre which was later named the Library and Archives of Canada. She helped to build our now famous collection of Canadian literature and documents. She was named Assistant National Librarian in 1964. Through her work in Ottawa she was asked to represent Canada as a member of the UNESCO seminar on libraries and served as a consultant in Africa.

The National Library News wrote of her at the time of her death “To all her work, she brought a broad, deep knowledge and experience of Canada’s French and English tradition.

She is remembered by her friends in Tadoussac as a friendly, smiling member of the community sitting on her porch at her cottage in Languedoc Park. Few realised what important work she had done at the National and International level. She was a neighbour and a friend.