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Primary Source Analysis: 'Black Samuel' and the Doucet Family's Farm, 1796

I’ve studied the papers of the eighteenth-century Acadian merchant captain, Pierre Doucet, for over five years, and every time I revisit and review the archival collection, I turn up new evidence that I overlooked previously. The documents left by Captain Doucet and his son, Colonel Anselm (or Samuel) Doucet, constitute the Fonds Famille Dousett (or Doucet) at the Centre Acadien, Université Sainte-Anne . While a microfilm of this fonds is held at the Nova Scotia Archives in

Colby Gaudet

Oct 15, 20253 min read

“Saw Mount Surratt [and] Saint Kitts Is.”: Navigation and Notation in an Acadian Merchant Captain’s Voyages from Nova Scotia to the West Indies

Documents authored by eighteenth-century Acadians are rare. The French settlers known as the Acadians had been deported from Nova Scotia by the British in 1755, and Roman Catholic education in the province was soon thereafter reduced to non-existence. The generation of eighteenth-century Acadians born and raised in exile seldom had access to formal education.[1] There were exceptions, however, and some Acadians born in the tumult of the 1750s rose to prominence through lucrat

Colby Gaudet

Aug 13, 202410 min read

“Those Dominions of Violence”: The Rev. Jacob Bailey’s Experience of the American Revolution

I was recently examining the North American records of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) – the missionary arm of the Church of England, established in the early eighteenth century. I had begun my reading of these reports to learn more about the history of SPG missionaries stationed in Nova Scotia in the 1760s when the society was trying hard to establish Anglicanism in the province’s largest settlements. [1] I was especially interested in the reports of th

Colby Gaudet

'The Testament of Ann Lee' and Eighteenth-Century Enthusiastic Religion

The prospect of the new film, The Testament of Ann Lee (about to be released), is exciting for a historian, such as myself, with a passion for studying eighteenth-century religion.

Colby Gaudet

Primary Source Analysis: Quaker Philanthropy and Indigenous People in the Maritimes

My interest in the history of religion often gravitates to the topic of Christianity and Indigenous people. I’m particularly compelled to study the ways that Christian groups interacted with Indigenous people in the contexts of settler colonialism.

Colby Gaudet

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