The latest issue of the academic journal Recherches sociographiques deserves the attention of anyone and everyone with an interest in the transnational history of Acadians and French Canadians. It honors the sixtieth anniversary of a pioneering issue on French-Canadian migrations with a new set of articles that highlight the extent to which, in the intervening […]
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Corruption, Tariffs, and the French Vote (in 1892)
Francophone readers may be interested in my latest op-ed in Le Devoir, which discusses a landmark anniversary and the policy failure that gave us Franco-America. In our day, Franco-American culture seldom intersects with electoral politics. Admittedly, Paul LePage’s background attracted some attention when he became the first Franco-American governor of Maine. Last month, Kelly Ayotte […]
Continue readingForgotten Tales of the Cold French North
Jean Baptiste In the nineteenth century, Jean Baptiste became an unofficial moniker for French Canadians—a symbolic term applied to them by English speakers to mirror their own John Bull and Brother Jonathan. A glimpse of parish records in the St. John Valley suggests that there was something to it. But in the same records we […]
Continue readingBefore Lord Durham
Quebec historians and mythmakers have accorded a lot of attention to Lord Durham, the governor who spent five months in Lower Canada in 1838. Today, he might be remembered for granting a broad amnesty to people implicated in the first rebellion, if remembered at all, were it not for the report he submitted in Britain […]
Continue readingFrench Vermont
Last September, I had the opportunity to bring my research on French Canadians to the Vermont Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Educational Series. Established by statute in 2022, the Commission is tasked with seeking “community-centered justice and holistic healing” for individuals and groups that have suffered from policies and social practices leading to discrimination in Vermont. […]
Continue readingA French-Canadian House in 1815
Marie Mainville’s family may have had some notoriety in Saint-Ours, the Richelieu parish where she grew up. Her father, baptized Jean Baptiste but known in adult life as Charles, had acquired minor infamy for his role in the Continental Army’s occupation of Quebec. He served as a scout for the insurgents and British authorities imprisoned […]
Continue readingLewiston: Winter Wonderland
It is thought doubtful if any city in the United States has ever entertained as picturesque a gathering of wintersportsmen from across the Canadian border as it was Lewiston’s privilege to entertain during the past week-end. In any event Lewiston has eclipsed its neighboring New England cities in this respect, and for 36 hours, at […]
Continue readingLesson Plan: Maine Acadians
In preparation for the first regional National History Day (NHD) competition in Aroostook County, the Acadian Archives provided a set of primary documents to organizers and teachers. These documents, some drawn from the Archives’ own collections, showcase the history and experiences of French-heritage communities in far northern Maine. I am pleased to expand access to […]
Continue readingThe “We” of Collective Identity
In September, Télé-Québec aired Notre rêve américain, a documentary on French-Canadian heritage in the United States hosted by Jean-Michel Dufaux and Sébastien Fréchette, a.k.a. Biz. Documentaries on the Franco-American experience are uncommon on both sides of the border; in Quebec, the (fictional) miniseries Les Tisserands du pouvoir, which aired more than thirty years ago, still […]
Continue readingWhen the Truth Is Spoken
I have written substantially about political history. I now beg a moment for historic politics, specifically the historic moment we experienced on November 5. Although this blog’s political statements are usually indirect, the product of the historical perspective it provides, it is also my view that silence in the face of pressing moral issues is […]
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