Founding fathers : the celebration of Champlain and Laval in the streets of Quebec, 1878-1908

The late 19th and early 20th centuries saw an unprecedented wave of public celebration of the past. Throughout the western world, heroes and great events from earlier times were celebrated through such devices as staging lavish parades, constructing intricately designed monuments, and mounting theatrical re-enactments of pivotal moments in history. In Quebec, two individuals occupied centre stage : Samuel de Champlain, the founder of Quebec City and Mgr François de Laval, the first bishop of Quebec. Based largely upon the archival documents, the author's study describes the complicated process of staging these spectacles. The vast array of leaders, lay and clerical, French and English-speaking, rarely saw eye to eye about either the form or the goal of any one commemorative celebration.