The Moravian Beginnings of Canadian Inuit Literature: An Exhibition of Special Collections from Mcgill University Library Rare Books and Special Collections: February to April, 2009

Traced here are the beginnings of literacy and literature for Inuit living in Labrador and the eastern Canadian arctic. Inuit living in Labrador in the 19th and early 20th centuries were more literate than white settlers as a direct result of the Moravian missionaries who taught them to read and write in Inuktitut in the mission schools. Many of the original Inuktitut texts used by the mission teachers and students are included as part of this exhibition.

The Labrador Inuit are the first Canadian Inuit to have their own language. Their first texts took the form of songs or narratives. This catalog represents this history with images from pages and covers of books in the collection along with detailed descriptions of their importance.

Texts in French, English, Inuktitut and Inuktitut roman orthography & descriptions in English.

HENRIK WILHJELM (b. 1935) is a Danish theologian involved in the establishment of the Ilisimatusarfik, the University of Greenland, where he was director of the Lutheran minister and catechist's education (1983-89). After his retirement in 1991, he wrote a number of books and articles about Greenlandic church history with a special interest in the Moravians and their importance in the development of Greenlandic society.

GREG COLLEY is the Coordinator of Rare Books and Special Collections at McGill University Library. He has previously been the Reference Librarian for Duke Humfrey's Library, Department of Special Collections and Western Manuscripts, Bodleian Library, Oxford University.