Joseph-Thomas Leblanc

1899-1943

Joseph-Thomas LeBlanc was born in Sackville, New Brunswick, in 1899.  The LeBlanc family subsequently moved to Léger Corner (Dieppe), NB.  LeBlanc began his classical studies at Saint-Joseph University in Memramcook but had to abandon his studies in due to illness. He later worked for Canadian National Railway (CNR) in Moncton, and then moved to Edmundston as a journalist for the newspaper Le Madawaska.  LeBlanc returned to government service where he worked as translator at the Department of External Affairs in Ottawa. Around 1936, LeBlanc moved to Fredericton. Finally, he returned to Moncton, where he became assistant editor of L'Évangéline. Between 1938 and 1941, when working as a journalist with La Voix d’Évangéline, Leblanc published a column entitled “Nos vielles chansons acadiennes”. LeBlanc asked readers to send him transcriptions and/or recordings of folksongs and managed to collect over 500 different songs and a total of 1500 variants. Leblanc died in Moncton on 14 July 1943.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Sackville, Dieppe, Moncton, Edmundston

Archival Material

• Fonds J.-Thomas-LeBlanc
  ⌄
  Location

  Centre d'études acadiennes Anselme-Chiasson

  Website/Catalogue Record

  View Archival Record

  Retrieval Number

  149

  Date Range of Material

  1899-1943

  Extent

  approx 1 m of textual records

  Scope and Content Note

  Fonds consists of correspondence, songs (lyrics and music) and newspaper clippings.  Correspondence includes letters exchanged with Marius Barbeau, Father Anselme Chiasson, and others.  Includes files containing notes from LeBlanc on the Acadian language. Several of these notes contain extensive details popular stories and customs.

• Fonds Joseph-Thomas Leblanc
  ⌄
  Location

  Université Laval Archives de folklore et d'ethnologie

  Website/Catalogue Record

  View Archival Record

  Retrieval Number

  F743

  Date Range of Material

  1938-1950

  Extent

  29 cm of textual material

  Scope and Content Note

  Fonds documents Joseph-Thomas Leblanc’s great interest in Acadian folk songs. It contains transcriptions of traditional songs collected mainly in New Brunswick and some from Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New England and Trois-Rivières. Several of these songs were published in La Voix d'Evangeline, of which Leblanc was assistant editor for a few years. The fonds also contains the texts of some of these songs, a talk on the folkloric work of Joseph-Thomas Leblanc, correspondence with Marius Barbeau and Luc Lacourcière, correspondence relating to Joseph-Thomas Leblanc and his work and press clippings related to his death.