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Henri d'Arles collection

 Collection
Identifier: FA02-1-02

Scope and Contents

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.

Dates

  • 1853 - 1974
  • Majority of material found within 1903 - 1930

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open to researchers without restriction.

Conditions Governing Use

There are no restrictions governing the use of these materials.

Biographical / Historical

Henri Beaudet was born on 9 September 1870 in Arthabaska, Québec. He entered the Dominican Order in 1889 and was ordained in 1895. Beaudet was sent to Dominican houses in Saint-Hyacinthe (Québec), New York (New York), Lewiston (Maine), and Fall River (Massachusetts). By the publication of his first book Propos d’Art in 1903, he changed the spelling of his last name to Beaudé and wrote under the nom de plume Henri d’Arles. In 1924 he became a naturalized citizen of the United States of America.

Beaudé was incardinated into the Diocese of Manchester (New Hampshire) by Bishop Georges-Albert Guertin in 1912. He served as assistant pastor at Saint-Antoine de Padoue (Manchester) from 1912 through 1916 and again from 1923 through 1927; St-Jean-Baptiste (Suncook) from 1917 until 1920; and St. Thomas Aquinas (Derry) from 1922 through 1923. He also served as assistant chaplain to the fraternal benefits society, l’Association Canado-Américaine (ACA), and as chaplain to the Villa Augustina (a Catholic school in Goffstown).

Bishop Guertin granted Father Henri Beaudé leaves of absence in 1920 through 1922 and again from 1927 through his death in 1930. During his second leave of absence in 1927, he was living in California. In 1929 Beaudé went to Rome to serve as attaché to Cardinal Vincenzo Vannutelli and remained there until his death on 9 July 1930 (the same day as Cardinal Vannutelli).

Under the appellation Henri d’Arles, Beaudé was a rather prolific essayist, poet, critic, and historian. In 1922, l’Académie française awarded him the Prix de la langue française (Médaille d’or) for his work editing Édouard Richard’s Acadie: Reconstitution d’un chapitre de l’histoire d’Amerique. During his research for this project, Beaudé had access to the personal library of Adélard Lambert in Manchester. In 1918, Beaudé helped facilitate the ACA’s acquisition of ‘la Collection Lambert’ (documented in Lambert’s 1927 book Journal d’un bibliophile).

Extent

3.1 Cubic Feet (2 boxes, including 14 bound manuscripts and 1 scrapbook)

Language of Materials

French

Abstract

A collection of French-language manuscripts, correspondence, and clippings by and about Henri d’Arles (1870–1930), the nom de plume of Father Henri Beaudé (né Beaudet) who was a writer and Catholic priest from Québec. Beaudé was initially professed with the Dominican Order in Québec but was later incardinated into the Diocese of Manchester (New Hampshire). In 1924, he became a citizen of the United States. Between 1903 and 1930 Beaudé authored over 25 books and pamphlets in addition to writings in literary and historical journals. He edited and annotated the three volume Acadie: reconstitution d’un chapitre perdu de l’histoire d’Amérique based on Édouard Richard’s manuscript which earned him the Medaille d’or from l’Académie Française in 1922. The collection includes manuscripts for many of his published books, his personal diary (Journal Intime), clippings, and various correspondence of different provenance.

Arrangement

Organized into six series: I. Manuscripts, II. Correspondence, III. Clippings, IV. Publications, V. Miscellaneous, VI. Photographs.

Custodial History

The manuscripts of Henri d’Arles (nom de plume of Henri Beaudé) were initially deposited at the Association Canado-Américaine (ACA) in Manchester, New Hampshire. Further additions were assembled by the ACA with the assistance of, and subsequent additions by, ACA presidents and the chaplain of ACA. With the closing of the ACA, a group led by Richard Lavalliere purchased and donated the ACA collections to Saint Anselm College in 2008. The archival and manuscript materials were received in 2011. (The ACA collections were previously under a stewardship agreement between the ACA and the Franco-American Centre, Manchester, New Hampshire.)

Immediate Source of Acquisition

With the closing of the Association Canado-Américaine (ACA), a group led by Richard Lavalliere purchased and donated the ACA collections to Saint Anselm College in 2008. The archival and manuscript materials were received in 2011.

Related Materials

Additional correspondence with and about Henri d’Arles can be found in the papers of Adolphe Robert (Lavalliere Franco-American Collections). Robert authored Henri d’Arles: étude critique in 1943. Two other works on his life and works include the thesis Henri d’Arles, styliste by Irène Parenteau (sœur Marie Amabilis, C.S.C.) (1960); and the book Henri d’Arles: abbé singulier, écrivain pluriel by Pierre Ducharme (2019).

The Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) contains correspondence of Henri d’Arles and photocopies of Beaudé’s manuscript of Acadie: Reconstitution d’un chapitre de l’histoire d’Amerique. Passages of Journal Intime have been quoted in a variety of publications since Beaudé’s death and photocopies of Journal Intime exist in collections at the French Institute at Assumption University (Worcester, Massachusetts); at the BAnQ; and in the Charles Stewart Doty Academic Papers, Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections Department, University of Maine (Orono, Maine).

Processing Information

Processed by Keith P. Chevalier, September 2021.

Title
Finding aid to the Henri d'Arles collection
Status
Completed
Author
Keith P. Chevalier
Date
September 2021
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Sponsor
The Lavalliere Fund for Franco-American Culture

Repository Details

Part of the Franco-American Archives, Lavalliere Franco-American Collections Repository

Contact:
Msgr. Wilfrid H. Paradis Archives and Special Collections
Geisel Library, Saint Anselm College
100 Saint Anselm Drive #1746
Manchester NH 03102 US