This paper currency marked with the name “Banque collégiale” (“College Bank”) with a visual depiction of the Séminaire Saint-Joseph in the centre, called the Seminary with Turrets, was specially printed by seminary authorities to be used by professors and their students during the business course—possibly more specifically when it came to “bookkeeping.”

The amounts appearing in the upper right corners of the bills, although they had no actual monetary value, were the same as those on Canadian bank notes from the time: $1, $2, $5, $10, etc.

This type of currency allowed students to familiarize themselves with the value of money and learn about the practice of various banking transactions.

To legitimize the legal value of this “false” currency in the seminary, each bill had to bear the signatures of a president and a cashier.

Although the Seminary with Turrets was built between 1873 and 1874, we know that the business course had been offered to students as early as September 1871. It was therefore initially at their premises located on the Platon, while they were the tenants of a building that served as military barracks, that the authorities of the Collège des Trois-Rivières, founded in 1860, decided to offer the business course, thus adding this new program to the well-known classic course offered during the first eleven years. They wanted to open themselves to a more diverse clientele and offer young people (the seminary was only accessible to boys at that time) the practical knowledge required in business and make them capable of filling the positions of the labour market at the time. The program met those needs. However, after nearly 60 years, and as other educational institutions in the region took over in the field, the business course was officially removed from the Séminaire Saint-Joseph curriculum in 1929.

Musée Pierre-Boucher Collection
1985 1095 F.1-5