Literary Manuscripts at the National Library of Canada

R. Gordon Moyles is professor emeritus of English at the University of
Alberta, co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities: British
Views of Canada, 1880–1914, and author of The Salvation Army and the
Public.

This pamphlet is, as the introduction states, the first descriptive catalogue of the literary manuscripts housed in the National Library of Canada. That alone makes its publication worthwhile; the fact that each manuscript collection is described in considerable detail (in French and English) and is accompanied by the accession number makes this an extremely useful document for students and scholars. Nominal and chronological indexes also enhance its value.

It should be pointed out, however, lest one expect too much from this pamphlet, that the National Library’s collection of literary manuscripts is neither large or impressive and that included among the 75 listed here are some for which the term “literary” seems misleading. To be sure, some noteworthy materials are listed under such well-known names as Arthur Bourinot, Marie LeFranc, Roger Lemelin, and Gabrielle Roy, but the number is small. For many — such as the two postcards and a copy of Beautiful Joe listed under Marshall Saunders — the collection is minuscule. And then there are those which cause one to wonder why the word “literary” was used: the personal papers of Frederick Roger, while of interest, could hardly be called “literary remains;” is the typescript of Gwendoline Oswald’s Jean Rivard worth preserving? Are the copies of some minor articles on the teaching of reading, by Peter Stolee (an Edmonton teacher), of any literary merit? I think not. One doesn’t want to belittle the National Library’s collection or undermine the value of this publication, but one must question the liberty taken with the term “literary.”

It would, I think, have served a greater purpose if the National Library (which has money to do so) had produced just this kind of pamphlet listing not only its own literary manuscripts but those housed in other Canadian libraries as well. That would have been truly worthwhile.