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François-Edme Rameau de Saint-Père, Historian

Etching printed with black ink on yellowed paper. It shows the head and shoulders of a stern-looking man of about forty. He has short dark hair and sports a medium-length, neatly groomed beard and moustache. He is wearing a dark, double-breasted jacket with a tight collar.

Artist: Unknown
Date: Unknown
Source: Private collection of Dominique Beauregard

This French historian and sociologist (born 1820, died 1899) was especially interested in the history of France’s colonies. He published several major works on the subject, including La France aux colonies, which dramatically changed the way Lower Canada’s intellectual elite viewed the situation of French Canadians and how to improve their future. He was the first to put forward the idea of reconquering territory. The book made such an impression on Labelle that it sparked his inspiration for all his plans for colonization—here was a way to save the “race.”