| Sumario: | The publication of My American Journey (2019), an English-language translation and accompanying new Irish-language edition of Douglas Hyde’s Mo Thurus go hAmerice (1937), allows contemporary readers to readily access Hyde’s account of his 1905-1906 fund-raising mission to North America on behalf of Conradh na Gaeilge (the Gaelic League). In diary format, Hyde chronicled his travels across the continent from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific Ocean and lectures at multiple locations. However, to date, there is no detailed investigation of Hyde’s experiences at individual stops. This article which draws on newspaper reports and other sources focuses on Hyde’s visit to Toronto in May 1906, his sole stop in Canada. As a case-study, it examines coverage of the mission in Canadian print media, both English and French, and discusses the arrangements for, the response to, and the outcome of, the Toronto visit. In addition, this articles frames Hyde’s visit to Toronto in the context of the emergence of Irish-language societies in Canada at the start of the twentieth century that linked Irish-language activity in the country with the language revival movement in Ireland and amongst the Irish diaspora, including the United States. Yet despite the success of Hyde’s visit locally, which culminated in the establishment of a Conradh na Gaeilge branch in Toronto for the first time, the evidence suggests that Hyde’s North American mission did not advance the Irish-language revival movement nationally in Canada.
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