McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Notebooks
Series
76 cm of textual records
This series consists of notebooks of Armstrong's notes taken during travels primarily in Quebec's regions with observations, interview notes, tasting notes, and information such as food prices. The notebooks begin in 1986, dating from when she began her travels in Quebec for her food reporting. The notebooks cover the years 1986-1989, 1992, 1995-2000, 2003-2016. Later notebooks (2000s) tend to be labeled by date only, while early notebooks (1980s) tend to have both date and location. The notebooks include many items laid in, such as business cards, and post-it notes. From 1986 to 1999, the notebooks represent Armstrong's travels throughout Quebec; later notebooks include notes taken in some international destinations in Europe and the United States. The earliest notebook includes notes taken during a French immersion trip to Jonquière in 1986. In general, the notebooks contain handwritten notes on dishes and their preparation, food products and production, restaurants, grocery store food prices, ephemera like business cards, and notes from interviews with chefs, home cooks, and food producers.
Notebooks are mostly dated and have been arranged in roughly chronological order. Notebooks from travels 1986-2005 are found in Box R-1209-4; notebooks from travels 2006-2016 are found in Box R-1209-5.
This series contains identifiable personal information and may be subject to access restrictions.