Relations des Jésuites de la Nouvelle-France

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The Relations des Jésuites de la Nouvelle-France, commonly abbreviated as the Jesuit Relations, are the annual reports which were issued by the superior of the Jesuit missions in New France to the Jesuit overseer in France between the years of 1632 and 1673. Narrative in format, the reports were written in French and originally intended to inform the procurator of the progress of the conversion work among the First Nations people of the New World. Eventually, the reports came to be oriented more towards the general public with the aim of gathering financial support for the missions and to recruit new settlers to the colonies. They remain an important primary source in the study of the early history of New France and Native societies in the early years of European contact.

Contents 1 Authorship and publication 2 Notes 3 Bibliography 4 External links

[edit] Authorship and publication

In Thwaites edition of the Jesuit Relations, the first 'Relation' begins with Marc Lescarbot's "La Conversion des Savvages" published in 1610, but the first official 'Relation' chronologically is Father Pierre Biard's first 'Relation' from 1611.

Beginning in 1632, the Relations were published annually until 1673.^[1]

[edit] Notes

1. ^ Thwaites, p. 41.

[edit] Bibliography

• Relations des jésuites: contenant ce qui s’est passé de plus remarquables dans les missions des pères de la Compagnie de Jésus dans la Nouvelle-France. Quebec: A. Côté, 1858.
• Donnely, Joseph P. Thwaites' Jesuit Relations: Errata and Addenda. Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1967.
• McCoy, James C. Jesuit relations of Canada, 1632-1673: a bibliography. Paris: A. Rau, 1937.
• Sulte, Benjamin (1897), “(Review of) The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents by Reuben Gold Thwaites”, The American Historical Review 2 (3): 522–527, ISSN 00028762, <http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-8762%28189704%292%3A3%3C522%3ATJRAAD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P> 
• Thwaites, Reuben Gold, ed. (1896-1901), The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents: Travels and explorations of the Jesuit missionaries in New France, 1610-1791, Cleveland: Burrows Bros. Co., OCLC 2954235 

[edit] External links

• The text of the Relations in English.
• A general overview of the Relations from Library and Archives Canada.
• A brief account of the publishing and distribution history of the Relations from Library and Archives Canada.