Since the founding of The Champlain Society in 1905 by Sir Edmund Walker, the Society has published over 100 of the most important volumes in Canadian history. These volumes include a broad variety of journals, diaries, letters, documents, and translations. From major players and significant events to lesser-known but fascinating characters and happenings, Canada's development is chronicled in the pages of Champlain Society volumes.
The Champlain Society's editors present volumes documenting key aspects of Canada's story: exploration history ranging from David Thompson's Narrative to Sir John Franklin's First Arctic Land Expedition; aboriginal history such as Lafitau's Customs of the American Indians; wartime history such as William Wood's The Canadian War of 1812 and Barbara M. Wilson's Ontario and the First World War; political history including two volumes of Lord Minto's Canadian Papers; and social history such as The Eldon House Diaries.
In addition to the many volumes published exclusively by The Champlain Society, the Society co-published 12 volumes with The Hudson's Bay Company Record Society. These volumes present first-hand accounts of fur-trade life in the Canadian North West and reveal the inner workings of Canada's longest-running company. After 1949 the Hudson's Bay Company took over the sole editing and printing of their series for the Hudson's Bay Company Record Society. This Society has since ceased operation. Also, in a special arrangement with the Province of Ontario, the Champlain Society published 16 volumes that are of notable significance to Ontario. The Ontario Series began in 1957 through the efforts of the Hon. Leslie M. Frost, then Premier (Conservative) of Ontario. In 1997, the grant initiated by Mr Frost through the Ontario Government for the publication of this series was terminated; henceforward the Champlain Society incorporated the Ontario Series into the General Series. The Society also published six unnumbered volumes containing the journals and a portfolio of maps by Samuel de Champlain. These volumes were originally sponsored by the National Battlefields Commission at the 1908 Quebec Tercentenary to celebrate the founding of Quebec by Champlain.
Early in 1905, the historian Professor Charles Colby delivered an address to the Canadian Club in Toronto entitled "History and Patriotism". During this address he mentioned the importance of the work done by societies such as the Hakluyt Society in England and the Prince Society in the United States, both organizations devoted to the publication of documents relating to their country's history. After the lecture, Mr Byron Edmund (after 1910 Sir Edmund) Walker, then General Manager (President after 1907) of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, met with Professor Colby, Dr James Bain, and Professor George Wrong to discuss the possibility of founding a society similar in purpose to the above. Such a society appealed to Walker's sense of patriotism and interest in Canadian history.
The organizational meeting of the Champlain Society was held on May 17, 1905, in the board room of the Canadian Bank of Commerce. Walker was elected president, a post he held until his death in 1924. Professor Wrong was secretary and Dr Bain treasurer. It was decided that the Society be named after the founder of one of the earliest permanent European settlements in Canada. The Society was to be conducted on a non-profit basis. It was to undertake the publication of rare but important books or collections of documents relating to Canada that commercial publishers might not accept because of their limited press run. The volumes were to be in a form "attractive to book lovers" and would be rigorously edited by the best scholars in the field. Each volume was to have a critical introduction that placed its contents in the frame of Canadian history. Membership was to be limited to 250 individuals and 250 libraries.
The day after the initial meeting Walker met with his personal secretary, Ms. Eleanor Creighton, who later recalled what happened next. "The question was — could we secure the members? Sir Edmund thought we could. So we set to work. First of all a folder was prepared, setting forth the aims and objects of the Society..... Under Sir Edmund's instructions, I wrote to every Manager of the Bank, enclosing a folder to explain the aims of the Society, and asking him for a list of names of everyone in his locality who would, in his opinion, be interested in the aims of the Society. When these lists were sent in, circulars were sent out. Then I took the Canadian Almanac and from the lists of Members of Parliament, Judges, Government officials, etc., circularized every name. In this way 2500 circulars were sent out, and the response thereto gave exactly 250 members — our desired quota. Next libraries were taken up, and practically every library in the world had a circular sent them. The response from librarians was somewhat slower, but eventually the 250 were secured. The work involved in all this — very much correspondence was also included — was rather stupendous, but it got done." According to Ms Creighton, Sir Edmund told her on two occasions that he regarded the founding of The Champlain Society the most important work that he had done.
From its inception, scholars in Canadian History have held The Champlain Society in the highest regard. These scholars have provided top editorial expertise and learned introductions throughout the Society's history. The high esteem in which they hold The Champlain Society also means that the Council of the Society includes some of the country's finest scholars and community leaders, who together guide and advise the Society. The high quality content of Champlain Society volumes is paralleled with standard the Society has set for the volumes' production. The Champlain Society volumes are the product of the best bookbinding in Canada. These attractive red, clothbound editions are enhanced with dramatic gilt lettering and the unique Champlain Society crest on the spine. In addition, the latest volumes have an attractive imprint crest on the face cover.
Over the years the Champlain Society adopted new practices to reflect its emerging role as an educational resource. In 1980, membership was opened to all applicants with the aim of making Canada's past accessible to a wider range of people. However, since the Champlain Society's operations are limited to the finances gathered by donations and members' annual fees, it has the resources to print only sufficient copies of each volume to meet its membership obligations. Due to this factor, as well as the attractive appearance of the volumes, and the subject matter, which was often inaccessible in its original form, most of the volumes have become collector's items. As items of rare Canadiana it is not unusual to see volumes listed at three to ten times the current membership fee. Realizing that these scarce volumes are of continuing interest to scholars, The Champlain Society entered into an agreement with Greenwood Press Inc. of New York in 1969, to reprint the first 36 volumes. In order to preserve the distinction of the original volumes and the continuing series, the reprints were done in a somewhat different format. Although this undertaking has not reduced the value of The Champlain Society editions, it has made these scarce volumes available to new libraries and a new generation of scholars.
Thanks to the generous support, in either finances or expertise, from the Canadian government, CIBC, the University of Toronto, and Champlain Society members, in 2000 the Society began to transfer its volumes online so that these valuable documents would be available to people at the convenient click of a mouse. This format of the volumes is known as the Champlain Society Digital Collection. Each page of the original volume has been subject to a high-quality digital scan. The online volumes are searchable by keyword, bibliographic entry, title, and author. While the Society continues to work toward putting its entire collection online, and thus creating a tremendous educational resource, it is also working on other initiatives.
Recently, the Champlain Society devised a new set of editorial standards that embraces cutting-edge research of textual scholars around the world. The Society aims to be an international leader in the protocols for presenting historical documents in both an accurate and clear manner as well as and with the necessary context required for readers to appreciate the material.
