Introduction

Aegidius Fauteux was a history enthusiast, in particular of Canadian history, and he devoted a great deal of time and energy to research, thus collecting an impressive amount of historical, biographical, genealogical and bibliographical information. His archives, which are conserved by the Section des archives de la Direction du greffe de la Ville de Montréal¹, bear witness to the painstaking work he undertook and constitute a valuable and reliable source of information.

Among the numerous treasures that he left us, there is a vast collection of portraits of great figures in Canadian history, mainly from the 19th and 20th centuries, but from the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries as well. The virtual exhibition Portraits historiques canadiens contains a total of 3338 pictures about 1542 figures. It is then a priceless collection of interest to ordinary people, students and researchers keen on learning more about Canadian history and its key players.

The portraits in the exhibition are grouped by Canadian region: Western Canada, Ontario, Québec, and Atlantic Canada. They may be consulted by region and through the research engine by key words. Each picture includes a short biographical note, providing information on the original document and the person shown. All persons in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography and in the directory Les parlementaires depuis 1792 on the site of the National Assembly of Québec have an Internet link providing easy access to the research tools.

As a brief history of each Canadian region is given, all figures can easily be placed in their proper historical and geographical context. The defining moments in the life and career of Aegidius Fauteux are outlined in his biography.

It should be noted that it was next to impossible to find biographical information about certain people. We therefore urge you to provide us with whatever information you may have to improve our directory.