THE HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY'S ARCHIVES: A RESOURCE FOR HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY

Abstract

In his review of progress in historical geography, Hugh Prince has observed that “the competence of historical geographers to handle source materials is no longer in doubt, but while documents may be faithful servants they are inadequate masters.” Although today, perhaps more so than at any time in the past, there is lively debate about the methodologies that might be employed in exploiting historical sources, the pivotal importance of archives in historical geographical research is no longer in question. As the major repositories of primary source materials, they are indeed the fountainheads sui generis of all historical research. Their increased use in recent years has been manifest, not only in the quantity and quality of recent research, but also in the appearance of a small, but growing, literature pointing to the opportunities for geographical research offered by discrete types of archival holdings and by certain unique collections. This essay calls attention to a particular archival collection, the Hudson's Bay Company Archives, which houses the records of a company that has been an active force throughout most of the present area of Canada for the past 300 years. Its purpose is to point to the geographical significance of this corporate record and to suggest ways in which it might be tapped by historical geographers.