Madeleine Dinora Giguère (1925-2004), the only child of Dr. Eustache and Dinora (Cailler) Giguère was an internationally recognized sociologist, known locally and regionally as “la marraine” (the godmother) of Franco-Americans. She had a long and distinguished academic career, specializing in ethnic and women’s issues.
After her education at Jordan School and Lewiston High School, she went on to obtain higher degrees at the Ursulines’ College of New Rochelle, Fordham University, and Columbia University. Giguère taught at St. Joseph’s College and Boston College before accepting a position at the University of Southern Maine in 1967. She served there for more than two decades, establishing Franco-American Studies as a legitimate and important part of the curriculum. She was the author and editor of numerous groundbreaking publications about Franco-Americans, and was an internationally-recognized authority on the analysis of the U.S. Census since 1970. Giguère was instrumental in having ethnic heritage questions included in these national surveys, and because of her work the Franco-Americans’ quiet presence in Maine and throughout New England was made more visible. She was a much sought-after lecturer on her demographic findings about this four century-old branch of the French Republic.
Upon her retirement in 1990, she was instrumental in establishing the Franco-American Heritage Collection (now the Franco-American Collection) at Lewiston-Auburn College. She served for seven years as volunteer director of the Collection. The Reading Room at the Collection is named in her honor.
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Please cite as: Madeleine Giguère Collection, Franco-American Collection, University of Southern Maine.
