| WHERE'S THE ORIGINAL JOURNAL? It is in the Hudson's Bay Company Archives (HBCA) at the Archives of Manitoba in Winnipeg, along with a lot of other Fidler material. HIGHLIGHTS OF FIDLER MATERIAL IN THE HBCA 20 volumes of post journals for 10 posts in the Prairie West. The earliest is dated 1795/1796, the latest 1820/1821. These are journals of daily events at the posts. Trading with Aboriginal peoples and hostilities with the North West Company are two of the topics covered. The journals may also include accounts, letters, sketch maps, astronomical and meteorological observations. 6 volumes of journals of exploration, with maps and astronomical and meteorological observations, which Fidler bequeathed to the HBC in his will. The journal available on this site is in one of these volumes. Over 80 maps, both in journals and as separate sheets. What survives of Fidler's private library of around 500 volumes. This was left to the Red River Colony in his will. The HBCA has 38 titles in 65 volumes. The Legislative Library of Manitoba has 32 titles in 71 volumes. Some of the books were bound by Fidler himself. We like to think the doeskin used for the spines was tanned by Mary Fidler. Other documents, such as detailed and lengthy reports, with maps, on Brandon House and area, 1819, and Dauphin and area, 1820 & 1821. And, of course, the famous Will itself. HOW CAN I ACCESS THESE RECORDS? It's best to visit the HBC Archives in Winnipeg, where you can look at the actual documents in our newly renovated Research Room and see the maps in the HBCA's map viewing room. This is named the Peter Fidler Room - what else? The visual storage area of the HBCA vault displays as one of its treasures the volume containing the 1792-1793 journal. If a trip to Winnipeg is not practicable, the Fidler records, including some of the maps, have been microfilmed. They can be read in this format at the National Archives of Canada in Ottawa or the Public Record Office in Kew, England. HBCA microfilm is also available for loan to any library that has a 35 mm reader and participates in Inter-Library Loan. It is unfortunate that so little of what Fidler wrote has been published. The 1792/93 journal has, of course, been made available by Bruce Haig. The two Chesterfield House journals for 1800-1802 were published in Alice M. Johnson, ed., Saskatchewan Journals and Correspondence, Hudson's Bay Record Society, Vol. XXVI (1967), pp. 253-321. Part of the 1791-1792 "Journal of a Journey with the Chepawyans or Northern Indians to the Slave Lake" was published in J.B. Tyrrell, ed., Journals of Samuel Hearne and Philip Turnor, Champlain Society, Vol. XXI (1934), pp. 493-555. Neither of these volumes is easy - or cheap - to obtain. The Hearne and Turnor is available in digital format at The Champlain Society Six of Fidler's maps are reproduced as plates in Richard I. Ruggles, A Country So Interesting: The Hudson's Bay Company and Two Centuries of Mapping, 1670-1870 , McGill-Queen's University Press (Rupert's Land Record Society Series), 1991. Email:hbca@gov.mb.ca |
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| A 1791 edition of The Elements of Euclid from Fidler's personal library (HBCA, RB FTL PF 65) | ||||||||
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| The first page of Fidler's post journal for Buckingham House (Alberta), 1796-1797. ( HBCA, B.24/a/4) | ||||||||
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