Firsting and lasting : writing Indians out of existence in New England / Jean M. O'Brien.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Brien, Jean M.

Series:

Indigenous Americas.

Indigenous Americas

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Indians of North America--New England--History--19th century.

Indians of North America.

Indians of North America--New England--Historiography.

New England--History--19th century.

New England.

New England--Historiography.

New England--Race relations.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (297 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Minneapolis, Minn. ; London : University of Minnesota Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Across nineteenth-century New England, antiquarians and community leaders wrote hundreds of local histories about the founding and growth of their cities and towns. Ranging from pamphlets to multivolume treatments, these narratives shared a preoccupation with establishing the region as the cradle of an Anglo-Saxon nation and the center of a modern American culture. They also insisted, often in mournful tones, that New England's original inhabitants, the Indians, had become extinct, even though many Indians still lived in the very towns being chronicled. In Firstin

Contents:

Introduction : Indians can never be modern

Firsting : local texts claim Indian places as their own

Replacing : historical practices argue that non-Indians have supplanted Indians

Lasting : texts purify the landscape of Indians by denying them a place in modernity

Resisting : claims in texts about Indian extinction fail even as they are being made

Conclusion : the continuing struggle over recognition.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-4529-4667-1

0-8166-7367-5

OCLC:

646821637