After six months of regular weekly posts—some twenty-five posts in fact—this blog is shifting gears. Following Mason Wade, its stated mission was and remains to chronicle French Canadians’ larger North American experience, beyond their history in the St. Lawrence River valley, beyond Quebec. As consistent readers know, I am especially interested in the French-Canadian diaspora in the northeastern United States and French Canadians’ historical relationship with American values and institutions, whether in Quebec or on U.S. soil.

I hope to have sparked interesting conversations and helped to assert the relevance of Franco-American stories to the way we approach Canadian and American history. There is great work still to be accomplished in this regard and, in this age, much of it has to be digital. We need to reach those with potential interest in Franco-American history on new platforms—finding new ways of disseminating our findings, asserting their relevance, and debating interpretations. For all of its ills, social media may help us here; an overhaul of dreadful articles on Wikipedia might help us meet a general audience where they are. Even omitting mine, blogs are attracting a lot of valuable attention to the subject. Of course, these endeavors should not preclude continued archival research and more traditional forms of scholarship, so long as we avoid confining ourselves to the proverbial ivory tower.

I hope to continue to do my part in all of these respects. In the immediate future, however, my blog posts will become less frequent. This academic year has come with new responsibilities, to which I am eager to dedicate myself fully. That notably entails introducing a group of high school students to Franco-American history several months from now—in case this comes as consolation to assiduous readers.

As I tell my students, good history is at its heart a conversation—among scholars; between researchers, policymakers, students, and a broader public; and, in a way we often forget, between past and present. I look forward to many more conversations with all those interested in Franco-American history and related topics. Please recommend the blog to friends and colleagues; keep checking in for updates on my published work, research notes, and more substantive pieces; and feel free to follow me on Twitter.

À la prochaine!