Special Collections and Archives

NORTH AMERICAN FRENCH REGIME COLLECTION

Facsimile documents, research and translation notes, correspondence, and printed items pertaining to exploration and mission activities in eastern North America by Pére Jacques Marquette, S.J. (1637-1675) and the Jesuits, and French Crown. Included is substantial information on activities within the Great Lakes, Kaskaskia, St. Lawrence River, and Mississippi River regions, especially among the Abenaki, Algonquian, Illinois, Iroquois, Ottawa, and Wyandot Indians. Notable correspondents include Claude Dablon, S.J., Louis Joliet, Jacques Marquette, S.J., and Robert Cavelier de la Salle.

Gift from Raphael N. Hamilton, S.J. Processed by Hamilton, 1964, and reprocessed by Mark G. Thiel, CA (Certified Archivist), 1996-1997.

Historical Note

Reverend Raphael N. Hamilton (1892-), S.J., served Marquette University as Professor of History, 1930-1961, and the first University Archivist, 1961-1971. This collection aided his research for the books, Father Marquette and Marquette's Explorations: the Narratives Reexamined, both of which were published in 1970.

The Archives du Collège Sainte-Marie has been succeeded by the Archives de la Province du Canada Français de la Compagine de Jésus, Saint-Jérôme, Canada.


Scope and Content

The facsimile materials include 29 reels of microfilm (Series 2) and loose correspondence and notes from 21 repositories in Europe, Canada, and the United States plus printed materials (Series 1). As an aid to research in the collection, Hamilton also created a card index to the documents, which is available in the repository. Most materials and index entries are written in French or Latin with a few English translations. Throughout the notes and index Hamilton identified repositories with the following abbreviations.

Among the notes is the first page of Marquette's journal of his second voyage to the Illinois, August, 1674-April, 1675 (Series 1 Box 1 Folder 9: Archives of the College Sainte-Marie) and extensive documentation relating to Marquette's ordination to and practice as a priest (Series 1 Box 2 Folder 1: Archivum Romanum Societatis Jesu, Series 1 Box 2 Folder 5: Bibliotèque Publique de la Ville de Nancy, and Series 1 Box 2 Folder 6: British Museum). Throughout the notes Hamilton employed a set of abbreviations to repositories in his notes and index to the collection, which focuses on Marquette's life and explorations with Joliet and those by La Salle.

Separations from the North American French Regime Collection include cartographic and iconographic documents transferred to the University Archives, BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION FILES, A-4.5, Series 9, Drawer 14, Marquette, (Pére) Jacques, S.J. (French Explorer and Missionary in North America). From this drawer, four Marquette portraits and two versions of Marquette's map of Lake Michigan are available for online viewing. the Pére Marquette Collection of secondary materials compiled by Hamilton; and photographs (Series 9-1) in the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions Records, under "Wisconsin General and Unidentified."


Related Collections at Other Repositories

Ask an Archivist