Collection

Stewart Collection of Canadian and Atlantic History

Date 1492-1903

Dimensions843 textual records

ClassificationCommunication Objects - Documentary Objects - Other Documents

Object NumberS001

DivisionArchives - Textual Archives

CollectionStewart

Administrative History After a number of exploratory voyages during the 15th and 16th centuries, France and England embarked in the early 17th century on the colonization of North American territories that had been occupied for several millennia by numerous Indigenous nations. Many French people – among them administrators, members of religious communities, traders, artisans, soldiers and peasants – left their homeland to settle in New France. The development of the new colony, supported by the French government and stimulated by the fur trade, was based on a system of alliances with Indigenous nations. In 1663 Louis XIV created the Conseil Souverain in New France, modelled on the administrative system operating in the French provinces. The governor, already in place, was now joined by an intendant, whose mission was to manage the colony’s internal affairs: social order, justice, civil matters, colonization and economic development.

Meanwhile, the kingdom of England and Great Britain was extending its colonial reach to include the widely diverse territories that formed the “Thirteen Colonies,” the original kernel of the United States of America. Influenced by the wars that divided their mother countries and spurred by the desire to expand, the French and English colonies of North America were frequently in conflict. In 1763, at the close of the Seven years’ War, the administration of New France passed into British hands under the terms of the Treaty of Paris. In the new British colony, renamed the Province of Quebec, there was nevertheless frequent friction between francophones and anglophones, Catholics and Protestants.

The independence of the United States, achieved in 1783, resulted in an influx into the colony of a large number of American loyalists, and the Province of Quebec was subdivided in 1791 into two colonies, each with its own house of assembly: Lower Canada, which consisted of the southern and eastern sectors of present-day Quebec, plus Labrador, and Upper Canada, formed by what is now southern Ontario. Following the Rebellions of 1837-1838, the two Canadas were merged to form the United Province of Canada (1841-1867).

During the 1860s, the idea of creating a federation between the Province of Canada and Britain’s Maritime colonies was raised with increasing frequency. Confederation, approved by the London Parliament in 1867, resulted in a federal state called the Dominion of Canada that consisted of the four original provinces: Quebec, Ontario, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. They would gradually be joined by the six other provinces that exist today (Manitoba, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and Labrador), together with three territories (the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut). The development of this nation “from sea to sea” would take place largely to the detriment of Indigenous populations and cultures.

CURATORIAL HISTORY
The Stewart Collection of Canadian and Atlantic History belongs to the Lake St. Louis Historical Society. It is currently kept at the McCord Stewart Museum.

Scope and Content

The Stewart Collection of Canadian and Atlantic History concerns the history of Canada and focuses on the colonization of North America by France and Great Britain, as well as the political evolution of these two nations and their empires from the 15th to the 19th centuries. Particularly illustrative of the armed conflicts that punctuated the lives of settlers, Indigenous peoples and Europeans during this period, it testifies principally to the social, economic, military and religious organization of the colonized territories by means of close to 850 documents of widely diverse types. The collection, assembled almost exclusively by David and Liliane M. Stewart, founding director and director of the Stewart Museum, reflects their vision of the history of Canada and the importance they attributed to archival documents in the presentation and teaching of history.

The items were produced for the most part in Canada, the United States, France and England. In many cases, they are signed by high-ranking civil, military and religious leaders and important historical figures, such as Isabella of Castile, Francis I, Clement XII, Louis XIV, Louis XV, George II, Jean Talon, Charles de Beauharnois de La Boische, Pierre Rigaud de Cavagnal de Vaudreuil, Guy Carleton, John Graves Simcoe and his wife Elizabeth Posthuma Gwillim, George Prevost, Etienne Jacques Joseph Alexandre Macdonald and Madame de Pompadour. They deal with various subjects during this period, including exploration, defence, trade, science, finance, religion, family, agriculture, highways, justice, public works, land and seigneuries, and public order. The collection also sheds light on the role played by governors, intendants and officers in the colonial regular troops in the defence and administration of the colony, that of the Compagnie des Indes in trade, and that of different religious communities in social, economic, religious and diplomatic affairs. There are in addition numerous texts related to the history of the tobacco trade and its regulation in Europe and North America, particularly between the 17th and 19th centuries.

Among the documents the collection contains are ordinances, judgements, baptismal records, genealogical accounts, service records, pension certificates, certificates conferring membership in the Order of Saint-Louis and the Legion of Honour, extracts from books, press cuttings, letters, private journals, sketchbooks filled with watercolours and drawings, registers, inventories, commercial papers, payment orders, financial documents and advertisements.

The collection is composed of five series established according to the geographical source of the documents: France (S001/A), Great Britain (S001/B), Canada (S001/C), United States (S001/D) and Other Countries (S001/E).

Status

Not on view

Information about the objects in our collection is updated to reflect new research findings. If you have any information to share regarding this object, please email reference.mccord@mccord-stewart.ca.

Information about rights and reproductions is available here.