An Eastern Townships Bibliography
This is a brief bibliography of books and journal articles on Quebec’s Eastern Townships. It is by no means comprehensive, but is a useful start. The work by Kesteman et al (1998) represents the best introduction to date. There is certainly a strong need for a book of similar scope to be written in English. If you have done/ are doing it/ are interested in doing it, please let me know! Most of the books are available in the Bibliothèque nationale du Québec although some of the thesis etc. will not be. Outside of Canada access could be more difficult though with on-line shopping at Amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk and similar sites more recent works will be more available. There are of course the sites selling second books as well.
Please feel free to e-mail me with any suggestions or corrections.
ABC DEF GHI JKL MNO PQR STU VWXYZ
Bellevance, J (1984) La Mobilité Démographique et immobilière à Compton au Tournant du Siècle, Cahiers de Géographie du Québec 73-74, pp.89-105
Bennett, M (1998) Oatmeal and the Catechism. Scottish Gaelic Settlers in Quebec. Edinburgh, John McDonald Press An interesting book on the experience of settlers from Scotland's Highland and Islands.
Bissonette, J (1985) Le pouvoir local à Thetford Mines. Analyse de Transformations contemporaines, MA thesis, Department of Anthropology, Université Laval.
Blanchard, R (1947) Le Centre du Canada Français "Province de Québec", Montreal, Libraire Beauchemin Limitée This work contains a substantial section on the Eastern Townships. His other regional geographies on Quebec are also a good read, despite being dated. Blanchard was Professor of Geography at Université de Montréal.
Day, C M (1863) Pioneers of the Eastern Townships: a work containing official and reliable information respecting the formation of settlements, with incidents in their early history, and details of adventures, perils and deliverances. Montreal, John Lovell.
Day, C M (1869) History of the Eastern Townships, Province of Quebec, Dominion of Canada: civil and descriptive. Montreal, John Lovell. Mrs Day was probably the first historian of the Eastern Townships. Her works provide important insights into the lives of the early settlers.
Dresser, J (1935) The Eastern Townships of Quebec; a study in Human Geography, Proceedings and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, 29,2 (3rd series), pp.89-100
Dubois, J-M; Bernier, M; Giroux, R; Lefrançois, R; Martel, P; Sirois, A (1989 eds.) Les Cantons de l’Est: Aspects géographique, politiques, socio-économique et culturel. Sherbrooke, Les Editions de l’Université de Sherbrooke. A good overview of the Eastern Township, though probably superseded by Kesteman et al's work by now in many respects.
Doucette, L (ed.) Cultural Retention and Demographic Change: Studies of the Hebridean Scots in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Canadian Centre for Folk Culture Studies, Paper No. 34.
Epps, Bernard (1992) The Eastern Townships Adventure, Volume 1: A History to 1837, Ayers Cliff, Quebec, Pigwidgeon Press I've not found any subsequent volumes of this book. I bought my copy (signed by the author) at Townshippers Day 2000 in St Felix-de-Kingsley. In the introduction to the book, Epps makes a passionate attatck on those seeking to write the Eastern Townships out of Quebec history. The current government region of Estrie only covers the east of the historic Eastern Townships.
Fournier, R (1978) Lieux et monuments historiques des Cantons de l'Est et des Bois-Francs. Montreal, Éditions Paulines.
Gmelch, S B (1980) A Social History of the Quebec Hebridean Settlement, In Doucette, L (ed.) Cultural Retention and Demographic Change: Studies of the Hebridean Scots in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Canadian Centre for Folk Culture Studies, Paper No. 34.
Kesteman, J-P; Southam, P; Saint-Pierre, D (1998) Histoire des Cantons de l’Est, Sainte-Foy, Les presses de l’université Laval. Theis work is very much the definitive work on the Eastern Townships at present, in either French or English.
Laframboise, Y (1996) Villages pittoresques du Québec. Guide de charmes et d'attraits. Montreal, Les Éditions de l'homme.
This delightful book selects villages throughout rural Quebec. However, he follows the constraints of the Quebec government regions. Rather than Knowlton being classified alongside other Township settlements cited like North Hately and Georgeville (Estrie), Knowlton is put in Montérégie, in the same region of the town of Dewitville, which lies about 50km south-west of Montreal (not part of the Eastern Townships by any definition).
Little, J I (1989) Évolution ethnoculturelle et identité régional des Cantons de l'Est. Ottawa, Societé historique du Canada.
Little, J I (1991) Crofters and Habitants. Settler Society, Economy, and Culture in a Quebec Township 1848-1881. Montreal and Kingston, McGill-Queens University Press
Little, J I (1997) State and Society in Transition. The Politics of Institutional reform in the Eastern Townships 1838-1852. Montreal and Kingston, McGill-Queens University Press
Very much the best contemporary academic works on the early history of the Eastern Townships. For a fuller list of works by Professor Little, please visit his website
McCaw, J D (1988) Stranger than Fiction. The Story of Land Grants and Settlement in Lower Canada, Yesterdays of Brome County 7, pp. 145-160
McQuillan, D A (1999) Pouvoir et perception: Une communauté irlandaise au Québec au dix-neuvième sièle. Recherches sociographiques 40, 2 pp.263-283
Morril, V (1917) Men of Today in the Eastern Townships. Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke Record Company
Noël, F (1988) Competing for Souls. Missionary Activity and Settlement in the Eastern Townships, 1784-1851. Histoire des Cantons de l'Est 8, Department of History, Université de Sherbrooke. Good introduction to the early ecclesiastical history of the Townships.
Ross, A (1954) French and English Canadian Contacts and Institutional Change, Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science 20,3 pp.281-295
Ross, A (1950) Ethnic Relations and Social Structure. A Study of the Invasion of French- Speaking Canadians into an English Canadian District. PhD thesis. Department of Sociology, University of Chicago.
Ross, A (1943) The Cultural effects of Population Changes in the Eastern Townships, Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science 9,4 pp.447-462.
Aileen Ross was a research student at the University of Chicago. Her thesis and articles provide a fasinating insight into Township life and attitudes during the Second World War. As a geographer her work is made all the more interesting as the Chicago School of Sociology has made an important contribution to the devlopment of Human Geography in the English-speaking world. The work of Burgess and Park still represents a very important role in the teaching of Urban Geography at High School (as well as university level) in the UK- anyway that's an aside. I understand that Aileen Ross later taught at McGill University in Montreal and went onto to undertake work on India.
Ross, W G (1967) A Century of Change in Selected Eastern Townships Villages: Barnston, Hatley, Huntingville, Massawippi. Centennial Project, Department of Geography, Bishop's University.
Ross, W G (1996) Three Eastern Townships Mining Villages in Québec 1863-1972. Albert Mines, Capleton, Eustis. Sherbrooke QC, Les Productions GGC Ltée
Roy, J (1992) L’exode des jeunes du milieu rural: En quête d’un emplois ou d’un gendre de vie? Recherches sociographique 33,3 pp.429-444
Schulte, M (1985) L’espace social des francophones et des anglophones dans une commauté rurale des Cantons de l’Est (Québec). Marburger Geographische Schriften 96, pp.184-198
The article, based on the community of Sawyerville, was my first encounter with the Eastern Townships. Schulte's examination of anglophone-francophone relationships in the Townships has informed the work in my PhD thesis.
Taylor, E (1908) History of Brome County, Quebec, Volume 1, Montreal, John Lovell and Sons.
Taylor, E (1937) History of Brome County, Quebec, Volume 2, Montreal, John Lovell and Sons.
Rev. Ernest Taylor (1846-1941) was an Anglican Clergyman in Knowlton, Quebec. He is buried alongside his wife in Knowlton's Protestant Cemetery. His second volume provides interesting insights into Townshippers attitudes to the First World War.
Thomas, C (1866) Contributions to the History of the Eastern Townships: A work containing an account of the early settlement of St. Armard, Durham, Sutton, Brome, Potton and Bolton. With a history of the Principle events that have transpired in each of these Townships up to the present time. Montreal, John Lovell.
Another early history, though has not received the same acclaim as Mrs Day's work of the same period.
