Masinahikan, Native Language Imprints in the Archives and Libraries of the Anglican Church of Canada, compiled by Karen Evans

Masinahikan, Native Language Imprints in the Archives and Libraries of the Anglican Church of Canada, compiled by Karen Evans, provides a collection of English, French and Anishnaabemowin language texts published in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Among these Anglican texts are many religious books to be used by Ojibwa people, such as Bibles and hymn books, but also instructional texts for Anglican missionaries and publications made by the Canadian and American governments. Most of the books were published in Ontario, Quebec and the Northeastern United States, but publications also extend into Britain and France.

Around half of the Anglican texts plotted on the Google Map were published in Toronto. Of these publications, most were in the Anishnaabemowin language. The Toronto publications were printed by both individuals and organizations such as the Axillary Bible Society and the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Sandra Alston and Patricia Fleming’s book Toronto in Print, A Celebration of 200 Years of the Printing Press in Toronto, 1798-1998 looks at the history of the printing press in Toronto since its introduction in 1798.[1] The book accompanied an exhibit hosted by the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library in 1998 to examine the impact the printing press had on the city in the two centuries after its arrival.

Several of the books in this collection were printed in Washington and Ottawa through government printing offices. Four publications from Washington were printed at the Government Printing Office by the Bureau of American Ethnology between 1910 and 1929. These publications suggest an interest by the United States Government in Anishinaabeg culture and interaction with European settlers. One publication in Ottawa by the Canadian Department of Mines perhaps displays the Canadian Government’s interest in Indigenous lands.

One notable publication from the Anglican documents collection was written by Anglican minister and missionary Francis Wilson. Several of Wilson’s texts are included in Huron College’s rare book collection and have been the focus of some of our class’ primary source analysis and research projects. The text that is included in the Masinahikan collection is The Ojebway Language: A Manual for Missionaries and Others Employed Among the Ojebway Indians(1874) which appears to have been written by Wilson to assist other Anglican ministers in their missionary efforts among the Anishinaabeg people.

Additional Reading:

Alston, Sandra and Fleming, Patricia. Toronto in Print, A Celebration of 200 Years of the Printing Press in Toronto, 1798-1998. Toronto: University of Toronto Library, 1998.

Fleming, Patricia Lockhart, Gallichan, Gilles and Lamonde, Yvan. History of the Book in Canada, Volume 1, Beginnings to 1840. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004.

[1] Sandra Alston and Patricia Fleming, Toronto in Print, a Celebration of 200 Years of the Printing Press in Toronto, 1798-1998 (Toronto: University of Toronto Library, 1998), Forward.