Walking with an Aeronaut

Image credit: Geoff Farnsworth

René Gasnier was a sportsman and a pioneer who built and flew his own planes. In 1907, he travelled to North America and participated in the Gordon Bennett Cup, a gas balloon race. This journey was also an opportunity for him to go on a sightseeing tour, including a visit to Niagara Falls. His impressions are recorded in his “Villes américaines: notes d’un aéronaute de la coupe Gordon Bennett aux Etats-Unis (octobre, novembre, décembre 1907).”

Resulting from a cooperation between the Research Centre in Interdisciplinary Arts and Creative Culture (Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture, STAC) and Brock’s Archives and Special Collections, Walking with an Aeronaut offers the translation into English of Gasnier’s account of his stay at the Falls in his French-language travel journal. The original manuscript is located in Brock’s Archives and Special Collections. Walking with an Aeronaut features three original drawings by contemporary St. Catharines artist Geoff Farnsworth as well as archival photos of the Falls from the time of Gasnier’s visit.

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