New Brunswick Museum, Saint John, N.B., 1989.108.505

Louise Manny's living room, c. 1960, showing furnishings, collectibles and antiques

9 x 9.1 cm

Dr. Louise Manny Bequest

Visitors were fascinated by Louise Manny's living room at 866 King George Highway, Newcastle. Her collection was immense, and space was at such a premium that a guest could expect to rest his teacup on a stack of books, rather than a more conventional coffee table. Few newspaper reporters who covered Manny's work could resist describing her milieu:

"The large living room, with a friendly fireplace which glows most of the time, is stacked with books – hundreds of them. The visitor will likely sit on a couch or chair made by a pioneer craftsman of the Miramichi. The mantel and tables support vases, dishes and antique glass of many shapes and sizes which once adorned the homes of some of the leading families of the area. An air of warmth and hospitality immediately gives the visitor a sense of well-being. Louise Manny is a gracious and hospitable hostess."  Daily Gleaner, 4 February 1961.

"In her spacious and comfortable home near Newcastle and overlooking the Miramichi River, she sits surrounded by tables laden with boxes of material on New Brunswick and Miramichi history." Telegraph Journal, 9 February 1963.

"Her home was a university of Miramichi, stocked with books and research materials and presided over by a kindly, scholarly lady with a great passion for truth and learning." Telegraph Journal, 21 August 1970.