A sneak peek of a book that speaks to my experience and interests was among the surprises of the last ACQS conference, in Quebec City—a happy surprise for the individuals involved in the project. Since then, Quebec’s Eastern Townships and the World has appeared in print and it has not disappointed. Edited by Cheryl Gosselin, […]
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French-Canadian Celebrations: March to October
In December, we learned about Pamphile LeMay’s Fêtes et Corvées, an overview of celebrations and rituals in Quebec at the end of the nineteenth century. That blog post focused on winter holidays. This time, we turn to spring, summer, and fall traditions which, year after year, marked the rhythm of life in rural French Canada. […]
Continue readingCooperation and Competition: Agricultural Fairs in Quebec
The following is a slightly edited version of a manuscript drafted at the request of the Brome County Agricultural Society in 2018. Please cite appropriately. * * * Agricultural exhibitions or fairs stemmed from efforts to improve agricultural production in eighteenth-century Europe. The commercialization of agriculture, the consolidation of large rural estates, and the beginnings […]
Continue readingChandonnet and the “Horror and Execration of Posterity”
The age of the Atlantic Revolutions began in Lexington in 1775 and ended in Odelltown sixty-odd years later. Through that time, societies on both sides of the ocean wrestled with a question of daunting proportions and implications: What type of insurrection ought to be allowed or considered legitimate? This was a pressing concern for Americans […]
Continue readingLeMay’s French-Canadian Holidays
Pamphile LeMay (1837-1918) is little known to recent generations of Quebeckers. But he was once a literary celebrity. Like many of his contemporaries, a civil service position enabled LeMay to dedicate time to his leisures. He wrote poetry, novels, and plays; he also translated Longfellow’s Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie into French. His original works […]
Continue readingA Brawl in Saint-Michel
They weren’t ten feet tall. In the midst of dissertation research, I stumbled across words to that effect. In an interview, John F. Kennedy reflected on the men who had preceded him in the White House, particularly Franklin Roosevelt, who now seemed larger than life. Hindsight had enlarged them. In truth, Kennedy stated, they were […]
Continue readingThe Ghost of Léon Duroc
Canada was a close witness of the Civil War. A great many of its sons even took part in it, such that the events of this great tumult do not find us all indifferent. The episode that Mr. Tremblay resurrects belongs to American history by its stage, but belongs to ours by virtue of the […]
Continue readingPapa Michaud Was a Rolling Stone
Michaud: it’s a common name. Statistics published several decades ago ranked it among the 50 most common surnames in Quebec—ahead of Desjardins, Parent, Charbonneau, and Lacroix. Just across the border, it outnumbered all other names in the early records of the Fort Kent, Maine, Catholic parish. Michauds are still present all across the Upper St. […]
Continue readingNotes from a So-Called Artificial Country
Canada’s forty-fifth general election concluded on April 28. Though the margin was relatively slim from a historical standpoint and this will again be a minority Parliament, the Liberal Party increased both its popular support and its seat count. Prime Minister Mark Carney will likely hold the reins of power until the New Democratic Party selects […]
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 […]
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