The Life and Times of Henry Kelsey of the Hudson’s Bay Company

Witness to Yesterday (The Champlain Society Podcast on Canadian History)

In this podcast episode, Greg Marchildon talks to Arthur J. Ray about his book, From the Frozen Sea to Buffalo Country: The Life and Times of Henry Kelsey of the Hudson’s Bay Company, 1667–1724, published by the Champlain Society in 2022. Henry Kelsey is remembered for being the first European to travel from Hudson Bay to the territories of the Plains Assiniboine and Cree as a young Hudson’s Bay Company servant in 1690-91. He remained with the Company for another thirty-one years, rising through the ranks to become Governor of Hudson Bay five years before retiring under a cloud in 1722. Taking advantage of the opening of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Archives in the late 1960s and the voluminous new research in the fields of Indigenous and fur trade history, From the Frozen Sea to Buffalo Country: The Life and Times of Henry Kelsey of the Hudson’s Bay Company, 1667–1724, offers a new look at Kelsey’s papers and includes his previously unpublished Swampy Cree-English dictionary. Arthur J. Ray is the author of numerous award-winning books and articles on the history of Indigenous peoples in Canada and the history of the Hudson’s Bay Company. He also has been actively involved in offering historical evidence before Canadian courts in aboriginal and treaty rights litigation. Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia, Ray’s Life and Death By The Frozen Sea: The York Fort Journals of Hudson’s Bay Company Governor James Knight, 1714-1717 (Champlain Society, 2018) has received wide acclaim for its sensitive appreciation of life at an HBC post in the early years of the 18th century. This podcast is produced by Jessica Schmidt. If you like our work, please consider supporting it: bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.