FRENCH COLONIAL AMERICA

Our organization offers historic house tours, exhibits and public programs that illuastrate and teach about the history of French Colonial America and French "Creole" culture, particularly in Upper Louisiana, as it is represented through the story of Ste. Genevieve, Missouri in the late 18th to early 19th centuries. Our programs introduce audiences of diverse backgrounds and age levels to the distinctive French vertical timber architecture, imperial Spanish rule from the 1760s to 1800, daily life in the colonial era, and the development of a unique Creole culture in this region, which grew from the interaction of the colonists of French descent with Native Americans, Africans, and other groups. In 2024, our museum campus, The Centre for French Colonial Life, served a total of 13,164 visitors, which was 4,651 less than the previous year. The decrease was to a great extent due to the site no longer hosting the community's Pecan festival in November. This large festival had been turned over to the downtown merchants' group because we had reduced the size of our staff and could no longer be responsible for hosting the event. While this change did reduce our overall attendance numbers, it actually allowed us to focus more effectively on our core mission of historic preservation and education: in addition to concentrating on planning for future exhibits and making progress with the renovation of another historic house that will open in 2026, we were able to develop a new "living history" program at one of our historic houses, which provided unique learning experiences for 4,244 members of the public. in addition to a modern exhibit facility, our museum campus includes four historic buildings dating from the late 18th to mid-nineteenth centuries. Our staff in 2024 consisted of 2 full-time and 16 part-time employees, serving administrative, education, curatorial, and building maintenance functions.