Jolliet-Marquette paper

The Jolliet-Marquette paper, authored by the Jesuit historian Jean Delanglez, emerged from his rigorous academic work at Loyola University in the mid-20th century. Delanglez dedicated much of his career to correcting historical misconceptions surrounding the 1673 Mississippi River expedition, particularly the contested authorship of the narrative journals attributed to Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette. This specific paper reflects his efforts to apply archival scrutiny to the colonial-era documentation of New France.

Delanglez was known for a skeptical, detail-oriented approach to historiography, often challenging the romanticized accounts of explorers that had persisted for centuries. His work aimed to disentangle authentic primary source material from later accretions, reflecting a broader mid-century scholarly trend toward critical revisionism in North American frontier history. While his focus was highly specialized, his papers remain a touchstone for researchers interested in the methodology of analyzing early Jesuit relations and exploration logs.