The presentation was unveiled during a ceremony in Paris attended by
Jean-Noël Jeanneney, president of the Bibliotheque nationale de France,
and John Van Oudenaren, chief of the European
Division of the Library of Congress and director of its Global Gateway
initiative.
The English and French presentations each include more than 100,000 images
from the rare book, manuscript, map and print collections of the Library
of Congress and the Bibliotheque nationale de France. Among the items
available on the site are print versions of Samuel de Champlain's "Voyages,"
Jacques Marquette's account of his voyage of 1673, Theodor de Bry's late-16th
century illustrations of Native American villages, narratives by French
officers who participated in the American Revolution and rare maps from
the Rochambeau
Collection in the Library of Congress and the d'Anville Collection
in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
The first release of the online presentation focuses on the role played
by France in the exploration and settlement of North America and in such
formative events in the history of the United States as the French and
Indian War, the American Revolution and the Louisiana Purchase. It documents
the voyages of such important explorers as Jacques Cartier, Champlain
and Sieur Cavelier de La Salle; the role of French fur traders, missionaries
and soldiers in opening up and settling the upper Midwest; and the interactions
between the French settlers and the Native American tribes they encountered.
