Sam Steele's Forty Years in Canada: history or fiction?

Published in 1915, Sam Steele’s memoir, Forty Years in Canada, has, more often than not, been accepted by readers as historical fact, but an analysis of the letters and manuscripts in the Steele Collection reveal it much more than one man’s autobiography. Steele relied on his network of former colleagues and friends not only to fact check his manuscript but also to provide colourful incidents and remembrances he could place in Forty Years in Canada. Steele’s borrowing helped to highlight his role in every event of Canada’s first four decades as a nation, as well as promote the image of both Steele and the Mounties as nation builders. This exhibit explores the complicated publication history of Steele’s Forty Years in Canada through an analysis of letters, manuscripts, and documents from the Steele Collection.