My name is Claire Michaud and I am a third-year student majoring in History and Art History. Over the course of my studies, I have developed an interest in the history of empires and colonial identities, particularly in the Atlantic World. Recently, this interest has centered around images of military masculinity as projected by metropolitan powers, such as the image of the brave Canadien, intrepid runner and master of the forest, and his Scottish counterpart, the Highland barbarian, as he was known to English officials. This area of study led me to the discovery of similarities between these two martial figures, who both fought in North America in the Seven Years’ War. Eager to learn more about the connection between French Canada and Scotland, I was thrilled to intern for Montreal’s 78th Fraser Highlanders organization.
The 78th Fraser Highlanders is a historical society dedicated to the preservation and building of knowledge on one of Canada’s first Scottish communities, the soldiers of the 78th Regiment who arrived in North America to fight in the Seven Years’ War. One of the organization’s current objectives is to trace the descendants of these soldiers, many of whom stayed in Quebec after the war and settled on seigneurial lands throughout the Saint Lawrence Valley.
Apart from learning more about this period of history, I was excited to learn about the inner workings of a historical society - to witness what kind of projects it promoted, as well as how they were developed. I wanted to become more familiar with archival work, i.e. how archives are organized, stored, and utilized, and to contribute something of my own to historical knowledge.
My role consisted in indexing archival material, which included the regiment’s muster rolls from the Seven Years’ War, and making biographical data entries on its soldiers from previous research conducted by other historians. To complete this step, I searched through genealogical databases, like the Programme de recherche en démographie historique de l’Université de Montréal (PRDH) and added the relevant information on each individual’s family. I also translated Guy McNicoll’s L’Odyssée de notre ADN: Des Highlands à la Malbaie from French to English, to be read by the organization’s anglophone members. Finally, I compiled information on Québec seigneuries that were taken over by officers of the 78th Foot.
One highlight from my internship was simply to learn about the Scots who integrated Québec society. I had no idea so many Highlanders married French-Canadian women and lived either as seigneurs or censitaires along the Saint Lawrence River. I was especially not expecting to find one such ancestor in my own family tree! Perhaps more importantly, this internship introduced me to genealogical research, an approach to history I was less familiar with. I must thank my supervisor, Mr. Bruce Bolton, whose insightful knowledge taught me so much about the power of family names and Québec’s rich Scottish heritage.
Because this internship was conducted remotely, I had the opportunity of making my own schedule. With such freedom naturally comes challenges, for the home has a way of introducing daily distractions. To overcome them, I tested out different ways of working, like following a set schedule with ‘x’ hours of work to complete per day, or reversely, certain tasks to be accomplished daily. After some adjustment, I found the time of day that worked best for me and stuck to it. Having found my groove, I was able to develop a routine and be more productive with my time. The remote nature of the internship also made me a little nervous in the beginning, for I felt a bit disoriented. What really helped was contacting past and current interns. From last year’s intern, I was able to get a better sense of the tasks at hand and how to approach them. I also really enjoyed connecting with the two other interns working for Mr. Bolton. We met for coffee, discussed our work, and shared interesting facts we had learned. We were in contact throughout the summer. To get advice and support from my peers was extremely helpful.
This internship has impacted my university experience tremendously. I have discovered a whole new area of research that really interests me and learned about the type of work that is conducted in a historical organization. Not only have I sharpened my archival and research skills, but I have learned how to better communicate with a team. I leave feeling encouraged about my field of study and hopeful for the future.
