Champlain Society

The Champlain Society seeks to advance knowledge of Canadian history through the publication of scholarly books (both digital and print) of primary records of voyages, travels, correspondence, diaries and governmental documents and memoranda. The Society is named after Samuel de Champlain (1574–1635), the explorer, founder of New France and author of numerous exploratory narratives. The Society is a registered, not-for-profit charity administered by a voluntary and unpaid team of council members and officers. It was chartered in Ontario in 1927. Membership is open to all who have an interest in Canadian history. It is based in Toronto, Canada.

The Champlain Society was created following a lecture to the Canadian Club in Toronto in March 1905 on “History and Patriotism” given by Charles W. Colby, chair of the Department of History at McGill University. Colby had hailed the various societies in the United Kingdom and the United States dedicated to reprinting key documents of history and argued that Canada should have such an organization.

The speech prompted Sir Edmund Walker (1848–1924), liberal thinker, philanthropist and president of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, into action. He contacted George Wrong, head of the University of Toronto’s Department of History, and Dr James Bain, chief librarian of the Toronto Public Library, and within days The Champlain Society was established as a non-profit organization that would function as a subscription publisher. The idea was to collect 500 members (half individuals and half libraries) that would each contribute $10 and receive two books per year. Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier became a member.

The initial book, the first volume of Lescarbot’s History of New France, edited by W. L. Grant and Henry Percival Biggar, was published in 1907, and within a decade the Society published ten books. Walker remained president until his death in 1924. He was succeeded by a series of scholars, but on occasion the Society has been led by non-academics.

The Society’s focus was to publish scholarly editions of primary sources on exploratory voyages undertaken by individuals in Canada. Since then, its interests have broadened to include collections of letters on science, foreign policy, political affairs, governors general, aspects of business history and the history of communities. These include early accounts dealing with the geography, ethnology and natural history of Canadian regions. The Society has published over 100 volumes. All the works have been published in English, but some include original French texts.

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