The French Canadian Press in the United States

The French Canadian press in the United States has not received sufficient attention. The most exhaustive accounts were published more than half a century ago and intertwine factual and moral considerations. To shed light on this ethnic press, this paper is divided into four sections. The first section describes the general features of the French Canadian press and how it differed from other francophone American presses. The following three sections sketch the history of the Franco-American press to show how its evolution followed the standard trajectory of other American ethnic presses from a pioneer era and a relatively influential period to its eventual demise. Despite its failure, much is to be gained from studying this phenomenon in order to better understand the history of French Canadians who migrated in massive numbers to the United States in the last quarter of the nineteenth century and refine our comprehension of the particular dynamics of the American ethnic press in general, and the Franco-American press in particular.