The Fur Trader: From Oslo to Oxford House

The Fur Trader is a critical edition of Einar Odd Mortensen Sr.'s personal narrative detailing the years (1925-28) he spent as a free trader at posts in Pine Bluff and Oxford Lake in Manitoba during the waning days of the fur trade. Mortensen's original narrative has been translated from Norwegian to English, and supplemented with a scholarly introduction, thorough annotations, a bibliography, and a reading guide. This additional material presents the author as a product of Norwegian culture at the time, and is intended to guide the reader through a close reading of Mortensen's interpretations of the Indian Residential School system, the people he encounters, and Indigenous participation in the First World War. Mortensen's insights and experiences will be of interest to scholars, students, and enthusiasts of the fur trade, and will also make contributions to literary, Indigenous, and Scandinavian studies.