As we’ve previously seen on this blog, nineteenth-century government reports contain abundant information about French-Canadian emigration. Legislative committees studied the issue in 1849 and again eight years later. Emigration was also a matter of debate in the halls of Quebec’s provincial legislature after 1867. Studies and commentaries commissioned (or received) by the contemporary Canadian press […]
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Nuancing Native-French Relations
The arrival of European peoples in the Americas had a cataclysmic effect on the original occupants of the land. Initially, the devastation of Indigenous nations owed primarily to the spread of unknown diseases. As Europeans became more numerous and asserted their influence, Natives suffered from war, the loss of their ancestral territory, heightened competition for […]
Continue readingFree Online Books on Franco-American History
Did someone say free? That’s right, folks, not only free, but also accessible online. It goes without saying that Franco-American history in its many forms has never been so broadly available. We have blogs and podcasts. Primary sources are only a click away thanks to the digitization efforts of platforms like Archive.org, HathiTrust, and Bibliothèque […]
Continue readingA Bash for Quebec
For more on Franco-American history, please check out the following links: Franco-American political history from our friends at the French-Canadian Legacy Podcast; A history of religious and public education in the St. John River valley on the Acadian Archives blog; An essay on the “prehistory” of the great migration from the St. Lawrence River valley […]
Continue readingWinter Customs from Louis Fréchette
In prior years, this blog has looked at customs surrounding nineteenth-century holidays and shared a unique, French-Canadian take on A Christmas Carol. Following Prosper Bender and Honoré Beaugrand, our guide this year is again a prominent French-Canadian writer—one roughly of the same generation. In Christmas in French Canada, Louis Fréchette penned short stories in English—without […]
Continue readingFrench Canadians 100 Years Ago: May to August
Franco-Americans—and a larger community of French Canadians—were visible in 1921. This is the second part of a year-long tour of major stories concerning Quebec and its diaspora. See the first installment here. May All eyes turn to Manchester, New Hampshire, for a series of high-profile events. On May 11, Catholic residents celebrate the fiftieth anniversary […]
Continue readingA French-Canadian Journey: Bellechasse to Sweetsburg
Like thousands of other families, economic and demographic pressures carried them away from the ancestral heart of French Canada and into the breadbasket of the Richelieu and Yamaska rivers, into the “foreign” Eastern Townships, and into the fields and factories of the Great Republic. The descendants of Jean Lacroix and Marie Anne Fradet—both of them […]
Continue readingThe Great Grammar Brawl of ’77
They are a people with no history, and no literature. With those words, among the most quoted of his infamous report, Lord Durham hit a sore spot. But, as certain well-placed families in Lower Canada acquired capital in the 1840s and 1850s, they secured not only the political influence of French Canadians but their cultural […]
Continue readingQuebec’s Emigration Debates: 7 Takeaways
As some of you know, in the last few months, I have compiled all debates of the Quebec legislature that addressed (or mentioned) emigration and repatriation between 1867 and 1900. In making these debates more accessible, I hope they will draw the attention and interest of other researchers, thus bringing more voices into the historical […]
Continue readingShowdown in Chicago: Forming Franco-America
See Part I here. The Convention nationale des Canadiens français des Etats-Unis opened in Chicago on August 22, 1893. The event drew hundreds of delegates—though the attractions of the Columbian Exposition likely had something to do with their interest in attending. Exemplifying the incredible breadth of the French-Canadian diaspora, these delegates came from Langdon, North […]
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