summary on newspaper sources

I have been examining the portrayals of Louis Riel and the North West rebellion in French and English new media. The most fruitful source that I have come upon has been the online catalogue of the Globe and Mail. From this resource I have collected a small cache of articles, advertisements and political cartoons. Of especial interest are a series of advertisements by “Thompson’s Clothiers” which feature racist caricatures of native people. These ads offer an interesting visual element for the possible display, as well as expressing some of the popular attitudes in English Canada, which are sometimes obscured by the journalistic tone of the articles. Obviously if these images were to be used they would be handled sensitively so as not to offend visitors, or imply the museum condones the racist portrayal of native people. I have also found a number of full-page spreads which detail the North West rebellion. This could act interesting visual pieces as well, with lines of particular interest highlighted. These English language sources will be contrasted with French sources from Montreal Papers. These sources have been harder to procure, though a number are currently on order from Ottawa University. Using these two sources we hope to show the different ways the rebellion was communicated to central Canada. These feeds into our larger theme of competing modes of communication at play in the Riel rebellion.