La Revue was a short-lived French-language Sunday newspaper published both in Augusta and Waterville, Maine. According to a 1910 article published in Augusta’s Daily Kennebec Journal, La Revue was supposed to begin publication in December 1910, but the first Augusta issue did not appear until January or February 1911; over 1,500 issues were printed and distributed locally around Augusta and Winthrop. The first Waterville issue appeared in April 1911. Both publications are believed to have been printed by Le Courrier du Maine of Lewiston. The only known extant issues of La Revue are from October 1, 1911 (Waterville Vol. 1 No. 28) and October 29, 1911 (Augusta Vol. 1 No. 39). The editor on Waterville’s October 1 issue was Alfred Langlois, Jr.; Augusta’s October 29 issue editors were Joseph Croteau and Dominique J. Mathieu. La Revue cost readers $0.02 per issue or $1.00 a year and was offered free to "familles canadiennes," or French-Canadian families.
The papers were a short four-page spread intended for local French-Canadian immigrants and Franco-Americans to read French stories, learn about local merchants, see notices for local society meetings, and encounter other matters of relevance to their communities. Pages also contained writings that were morally or religiously instructive, including, for example, an essay on "sincerity" and "character," or a brief writing on Roman Catholic Saint Joan of Arc. Some scholars suspect that, like Le Courrier du Maine, La Revue was created in support of the Maine Roman Catholic Church leadership, and in opposition to newspapers like Lewiston’s Le Messager and Biddeford’s La Justice that criticized Maine’s Catholic bishops for their control over Franco-American parishes and their apparent desire to anglicize Maine’s French-speaking Catholics. La Revue included very little traditional daily news. From the few remaining copies, it appears both Augusta and Waterville papers shared largely the same literary content, except for the business advertisements and local notices that were particular to merchants in their cities.
Even though La Revue was short-lived, it would not be the last French-language paper to be published in central Maine. In September 1912, the Daily Kennebec Journal reported a new corporation was started in Waterville, Maine, called the Elm City Publishing Company, with Dominique Mathieu being one of the incorporators. The company published Le Maine Francais from 1912 to at least 1914. Joseph Croteau and Dominique Mathieu were both very active within the Franco-American community, like most French-language newspaper publishers in Maine.
