Relations des Jésuites de la Nouvelle-France

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.

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. [ Thwaites, p. 41. ]

Notes

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.
*Citation
issn = 00028762
volume = 2
issue = 3
pages = 522–527
last1 = Sulte | first1 = Benjamin
title = (Review of) The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents by Reuben Gold Thwaites
journal = The American Historical Review
year = 1897
url = http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-8762%28189704%292%3A3%3C522%3ATJRAAD%3E2.0.CO%3B2-P
*Citation
publisher = Burrows Bros. Co.
editor-last = Thwaites
editor-first = Reuben Gold
editor-link = Reuben Gold Thwaites
title = The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents: Travels and explorations of the Jesuit missionaries in New France, 1610-1791
location = Cleveland
date = 1896-1901
oclc = 2954235

External links

* [http://puffin.creighton.edu/jesuit/relations/ The text of the "Relations" in English.]
* [http://www.collectionscanada.ca/jesuit-relations/index-e.html A general overview of the "Relations" from Library and Archives Canada.]
* [http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/202/301/bulletin_bnc/2001/no3/p2-0105-01-f.html A brief account of the publishing and distribution history of the "Relations" from Library and Archives Canada.]