Letter book series

Series comprises the letter books of the Rev. Edward F. Wilson and Rev. George Ley King, first and four principals of the Shingwauk Indian Residential School.  Includes copies of Wilson and King's outgoing correspondence.  The letter books represent unique documentation of the early years of the Shingwauk School and are comprised of over 6,400 pages of correspondence. The letters contained within these books vary in scope from details about daily life at the school, to reflections on Canadian Indian Policy, to fundraising from the school, and publishing endeavours.

The letters are of particular relevance for understanding the social, political and intellectual network in which residential schools operated. The correspondence includes communication not only with Indian Department officials, missionaries and alumni but also local Christian congregations throughout eastern Canada, anthropologists such as Horatio Hale and Franz Boaz, administrators at other Residential Schools, and Indigenous community members. 

The letter books in this series were digitized with funding from the National Heritage Digitization Strategy fund in 2019. The letter books can also viewed on the Internet Archive as PDF flip books.

This series contains material which uses dated, racist language and refers to Indigenous peoples using derogatory terms. Looking at this material might be triggering or distressing. A National Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support to former Residential School students and their families. This 24-Hour Crisis Line can be accessed at: 1-866-925-4419.