New Light on the Old Colony


Book Description

Colonial government, Pilgrims, the New England town, Native land, the background of religious toleration, and the changing memory recalling the Pilgrims – all are examined and stereotypical assumptions overturned in 15 essays by the foremost authority on the Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony. Thorough research revises the story of colonists and of the people they displaced. Bangs’ book is required reading for the history of New England, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts Natives, the Mennonite contribution to religious toleration in Europe and New England, and the history of commemoration, from paintings and pageants to living history and internet memes. If Pilgrims were radical, so is this book.




Benson J. Lossing and Historical Writing in the United States


Book Description

Benson J. Lossing (1813-1891), whose career as a populizer of United States history spanned nearly sixty years, is the focus of this study of the production and uses of history in nineteenth-century American culture. After an introduction on relevant theory and methodology and the background for American historical writing, nine chronological chapters trace Lossing's career from an impoverished youth in rural New York through a thirty-year sojourn in New York City and later periods of voluminous writing. A conclusion discusses how Lossing's reputation suffered after the rise of academic historians who perceived him as lacking scholarly exactitude.




The Art of Family


Book Description

In this lavishly illustrated volume, which features over 200 halftones and sixteen color plates from public and private collections, distinguished experts in history, art, and genealogy explore the important but often overlooked relationship between material culture and family history in New England during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. The contributors examine a broad range of family record artifacts, including genealogical samplers, mouring embroideries, pen-and-ink family registers, gravestones, heraldica, textiles, furniture, silver, and portraiture. An indispensable resource on the world of decorative arts and its significance in preserving family identity, this beautiful work provides much valuable information and research clues for modern-day genealogists.