: For Students, Faculty, and Staff 
A recent article on MSN announced: “America’s Oldest Firm Meets Its End. Some Argue Its Fate was Avoidable.” Underneath the headline was a photo of one of the last operating department stores of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Tellingly, I actually thought this company had ceased operating a good ten years ago, but the article explains how attempts to save it over the last decade or so reached a crisis during the lock downs of 2020-21, and finally came to an end this year. The authors of the article write that the last six “locations are now being wound up too, and the company’s 17th-century artifacts are being auctioned off.”
The classic coat of arms outside The Bay (the modern brand name) in the Eaton Center, Toronto; right next to the sign: “Everything Must Go!” (Photo credit Jonathan Good)
Though the article mainly chronicles the woes of the Hudson’s Bay Company in the 21st Century, snippets of historical bait carry readers like me off in other directions: “Founded in 1670, Hudson’s Bay evolved from a colonial fur trading business into the country’s largest department store chain, and is North America’s longest continuously operating business.”
Needless to say, the James Ford Bell Library, with its focus on the history of trade and cultural exchange, has much to interest those who wish to study the outsized role the Hudson’s Bay Company played in British North America from the 1670s to through the middle of the 19th century.
The first selection in the collection is a manuscript copy of the Company’s charter, together with a couple of documents regarding the trade in beaver fur.
A manuscript copy of the Hudson’s Bay Company charter from 1670. Bell Call # 1670 fHu.
Letter regarding cash flow and beaver pelts, 1676. Bell Call # 1670 fHu.
Further highlights include a collection of 10 large documents on parchment, written in 1679-80, formerly belonging to John Morris, a shareholder of the Hudson’s Bay Company, consisting of deeds and indentures, relating to money lent to the company by several shareholders, including Prince Rupert, the Duke of Albemarle, Sir Christopher Wren, and others during the early years of the company.
An indenture document relating to the early years of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Bell Call # 1679 oHu.
From the same collection of manuscripts relating to the early years of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Bell Call # 1679 oHu.
Another early Hudson’s Bay Company document, a type of printed broadside, makes “a plea for the building of forts and factories on Hudson Bay, at public expense, for the better execution of the fur trade and for better protection against French and English interlopers.” This document evokes the infamous clause “by right of discovery” to justify invading and exploiting this territory.
This memorial asks for public and governmental financial support for establishing the Hudson’s Bay Company in Canada. Bell Call # 1687 fHu.
Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries the Hudson’s Bay Company was a major player in both commerce and politics in North America and Great Britain.
One of several images created by Peter Rindisbacher in the early 19th century, giving a glimpse of social interactions around Hudson’s Bay. “Views in Hudson’s Bay : taken by a gentleman on the spot in the years 1823 and 1824.” Bell Call # 1825 oVi.
As a company with crucial financial implications for the government of Great Britain, numerous reports on the Hudson’s Bay Company were written over the course of its history. These are fascinating from the standpoint of both trade and cultural history. The images below come from the published report (more than 547 pages) of 1857, during the reign of Queen Victoria. The hand-colored map at the end of the volume is worth further study. It would be great to compare it to the modern project detailing the First Nations of North America – Native-Land.ca, to see just what sorts of claims the Company was making.
Report from the Select Committee on the Hudson’s Bay Company (London, 1857). Bell Call # 1857 fGr3.
This hand-colored map of North America is included as a fold-out at the end of the report. It shows the Hudson Bay Company’s representation of the territories of different Native American tribes. Bell Call # 1857 fGr3.
Close-up of the map, focusing on the greater Hudson’s Bay area.
Close-up of the population figures related to the map.
Of course there is considerable discontinuity between the modern retail firm and the historic Hudson’s Bay Company. While I feel sympathy for the hundreds of people who will lose their jobs as The Bay finally shuts its doors, it is hard to lament the end of the Hudson’s Bay Company in its historical form, considering the role it played in wreaking havoc in Native lands.
