Acadie (Nouvelle Ecosse) Reconstruction d’un chapitre perdu de l’histoire retrouvé par un Acadien, circa 1890s

The collection was assembled by the Association Canado-Américaine (ACA) after Father Henri Beaudé’s death with the assistance and subsequent additions by ACA presidents Adolphe Robert and Gérald Robert and the chaplain for the ACA, Msgr. Adrien Verrette. It includes material written by Beaudé as well as correspondence, clippings, and articles of different provenance.

Of particular note are the 14 bound and 5 unbound MANUSCRIPTS. Some of the manuscripts resemble the page layouts of his published works suggesting that those manuscripts were written post-publication. The manuscripts are arranged by author and chronologically by year of publication.

The diary, Journal Intime, includes personal reflections and writings between 1923 and 1930. A high percentage of pages in this bound manuscript have been affected by moderate to excessive excision of sentences, paragraphs, and entire pages. The destructive editing of the manuscript by the ACA chaplain, Msgr. Adrien Verrette, occurred when it was received for the ACA collections after Beaudé’s death.

The undated manuscript, Acadie (Nouvelle Ecosse) Reconstruction d’un chapitre perdu de l’histoire retrouvé par un Acadien, in this collection is a work written by Beaudé’s cousin Édouard Richard. This manuscript’s title page shows the addition of ‘Reconstruction d’un’ and the word ‘retrouvé’ struck out (possibly by another hand). Richard’s work was published in 1895 in two English-language volumes as Acadia: Missing Links of a Lost Chapter in American History. Henri d’Arles subsequently edited, revised, and annotated the work (see the bound manuscripts D’Acadie Tome I and D’Acadie Tome II). This reworking of the text was published in French under the title Acadie: Reconstitution d’un chapitre de l’histoire d’Amerique (substituting the word ‘reconstruction’ with ‘reconstitution’) and printed in three volumes in 1916, 1918, and 1921.

The series CORRESPONDENCE includes a few letters of Beaudé from 1923 through 1927. In addition, there are some letters regarding his family history and copies of letters from 1910 through 1964 taken from a variety of unidentified sources. The earliest letter from 1853 in this series is from Henri-Dominique Lacordaire. This series is primarily arranged chronologically and the photocopies of correspondence about Acadie are significantly faded.

The CLIPPINGS are generally arranged by date. Many are Beaudé’s writings and reviews in a variety of newspapers and journals. Additionally, the photocopies of l’Action française in this series have faded.

The PUBLICATIONS include printed material authored by Beaudé and is arranged by year. There is a scrapbook (Intailles) of his typescripts, galley proofs, and clippings.

The series MISCELLANEOUS includes a variety of personal materials that were kept, or created, by Beaudé. There are also two items in this series about the plaque installation ceremony at his family’s house in 1974.

The few PHOTOGRAPHS in this collection include the New Hampshire artist Frank French, Beaudé’s birth home, and an unidentified portrait.