Each Jesuit missionary in colonial and frontier America was required to report every year to his superior the events of his mission and the prospects for further exploration. Beginning in 1632 these reports were published annually in a volume entitled Relations and forwarded to the chief of the order in France or
Rome. The Jesuit missionaries wrote reports of the regions of Canada, the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi Valley that could not be surpassed. In 1673 the publication was suspended; however, the missionaries continued to send in reports, which remained in manuscript for almost two centuries.
In all, forty-one separate Relations were published, and several American libraries have the full series. In 1896 Reuben G. Thwaites edited an expanded version entitled Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, covering the period 1610 to 1791. This edition included not only the published Relations but also other documents secured from many sources in America and Europe. It forms a source of unusual quality for the conditions of the North American continent at the time: accounts of the fauna and flora; descriptions of the lakes, rivers, and country; and mention of indications of minerals and other resources. It is especially useful to scholars for the information it provides about the customs and migrations of the native Americans, their relationship to the environment, the impact of European conquest and settlement on them, and European responses to indigeneous cultures.
Bibliography
Chapple, Christopher, ed. The Jesuit Tradition in Education and Missions: A 450-Year Perspective. Scranton, Pa.: University of Scranton Press, 1993.
Thwaites, Reuben G., ed. The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents: Travels and Explorations of the Jesuit Missionaries in New France, 1610–1791. New York: Pageant Book Co., 1959.
