Date Published:
September 2004

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Periodicals of Indians

[This text was originally published in 1907 by the Bureau of American Ethnology as part of its Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. It was later reproduced, in 1913, by the Geographic Board of Canada. The work done by the American Bureau was monumental, well informed and incorporated the most advanced scholarship available at the time. In many respects, the information is still useful today, although prudence should be exercised and the reader should consult some of the contemporary texts on the history and the anthropology of the North American Indians suggested in the bibliographic introduction to this section. The articles were not completely devoid of the paternalism and the prejudices prevalent at the time. While some of the terminology used would not pass the test of our "politically correct" era, most terms have been left unchanged by the editor. If a change in the original text has been effected it will be found between brackets [.] The original work contained long bibliographies that have not been reproduced for this web edition. For the full citation, see the end of the text.]

Periodicals. The first periodical printed in any of the North American Indian languages was the Cherokee Phoenix, a weekly newspaper in English and Cherokee, edited by Elias Boudinot a native Indian, and published in Georgia at New Echota, the capital of the Cherokee Nation, from Feb. 21, 1828, to Oct. 1835.

The earliest periodical for the Chippewa Indians was entitled Petaubun, Peep of Day, published monthly at Sarnia , Ont., by the Rev. Thomas Hurlburt, beginning in Jan., 1861. It was in English and Chippewa, and was continued through 1862 or later. The Pipe of Peace, a Chippewa newspaper, edited by the Rev. E. F. Wilson in English and Chippewa, was published monthly at the Shingwauk Home, in Sault Ste. Marie from Oct. 1878, till Sept. 1879. A fortnightly paper called The Indian was published at Hagersville, Ont., from Dec. 30, 1885, till Dec. 29, 1886, the editor being the chief Kahkewaquonaby (Dr. Peter E. Jones). Although it was printed mainly in English, some Chippewa articles were included. There were, moreover, two periodicals in English edited by the Rev. E. F. Wilson, one entitled Our Forest Children, published monthly at the Shingwauk Home from Feb. 1887, to Sept. 1890, and the other entitled The Canadian Indian, published monthly at Owen Sound , Ont., from Oct. 1890, to Sept. 1891. Beginning with Mar. 1896, the publication of "a monthly journal [chiefly in Chippewa language] devoted to the interests of the Franciscan missions among the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians," under the title Anishinabe Enamiad, was commenced at Harbor Springs, Mich., by Father Zephyrin Engelhardt, and is still conducted by the Franciscan fathers at that place.

Four periodicals printed by the Indian missions near the Pacific coast are worthy of mention. One of these, The Youth's Companion of which the Rev. J. B. Boulet was editor, a juvenile monthly magazine, published for the benefit of the Puget Sound Catholic mission, was set in type, printed, and in part was written by the pupils of the industrial boarding schools on the Tulalip res. in Snohomish co., Wash., from May, 1881, to May, 1886. Another, the Kamloops Wawa, is a little magazine in the Chinook jargon, written in stenographic characters reproduced by a mimeograph, published irregularly by Father J. M. R. Le Jeune at Kamloops , British Columbia , from May, 1891, to Dec. 1904. Another is The Paper that Narrates, a monthly printed for two years at Stuart Lake , Brit. Col., in the Déné syllabic characters invented by Father A. G. Morice, the first number of which appeared in Oct. 1891. The fourth is Hagaga, printed in Nass and English at Aiyansh Mission, Nass r., Brit. Col., from June, 1893, until at least as late as Feb. 1895.

Source: James WHITE, ed., Handbook of Indians of Canada, Published as an Appendix to the Tenth Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, Ottawa, 1913, 632p., p. 385.