Description
Book SynopsisPresents the story of an American Indian community in the Housatonic Valley of northwestern Connecticut. It is based on three decades of nearly uninterrupted German-language diaries and allied records kept by the Moravian missionaries who had joined the Indians. It is supplemented by colonial records and regional political, social, and religious histories and ethnographies.
Trade Review"An impressive achievement."—Robert L. Gallagher,
Evangelical Missions Quarterly"As anyone who has dabbled in the archives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, can attest, the German script in which most of these documents are written makes for very slow going indeed—in fact, the Moravian Archives offers an annual class simply to help visitors learn how to navigate the difficult orthography. The editors' accessible translation of these diaries will therefore be welcomed by scholars of early America, Native America, and the history of religion in America and will serve as an invaluable research tool for undergraduates and graduate students alike."—Linford Fisher,
New England Quarterly"These two volumes serve as a worthwhile addition to our understanding of Gideon's people, whose lives are immortalized by missionaries who were there to record the mundane, the twisted, and the profound."—Rowena McClinton,
Ethnohistory"
Gideon's People offers an exceptional portrait of Moravian values and mission structure and a uinque window into the daily rhythm of life for missionaries."—Sharon Sauder Muhlfeld,
Journal of Moravian HistoryTable of ContentsVolume 1 Acknowledgments; List of Illustrations; Maps; Introductions; Translation and Editorial Comments The Pachgatgoch Diaries: Johann David Bishoff : 18 May to 5 June 1747; Abraham Buninger: 27 June to 11 December 1751; Joachim Heinrich Sensemann: 6 December 1751 to 15 April 1752; Carl Gottfried Rundt: 15 April to 22 May 1752; Joachim Heinrich Sensemann: 7 August 1752 to 18 February 1753; Joachim Heinrich Sensemann: 19 February 1753 to 27 February 1754; Joachim Heinrich Sensemann: 2 March to 14 May 1754; No. A. Appendix to the Bethlehem: 2 March to 14 May 1754; Christian Heinrich Rauch: 17 June to 27 July 1754; Abraham Buninger and Christian Heinrich Rauch: 25 July to 31 December 1754; Abraham Buninger and Carl Gottfried Rundt: 1 January to 7 December 1755 Volume 2 Christian Seidel: 17 November to 22 December 1755; Richard Utley: 19 December 1755 to 18 January 1756; Nicolas Heinrich Eberhardt: 28 February 1756 to 13 March 1757; 14 March to 7 November 1757; Bernhard Adam Grube: 12 October to 29 December 1758; 1 January to 11 August 1760; Johann Martin Mack: 15 August 1760 to 11 January 1761; 12 January 1761 to 14 February 1762; Joachim Heinrich Sensemann: 16 February to 31 July 1763 Appendix 1; Appendix2; Appendix 3; Appendix 4; List of Moravian and Colonial Participants; Gazetter; Glossary; Latin Terms and Abbreviations; Symbols; Abbreviations Used in the Notes; References Cited; Index
