John Neagle: Philadelphia Portrait Painter (Historical Society of Pennsylvania)

John Neagle:
Philadelphia Portrait Painter
by Robert W. Torchia, foreword by Peter J. Parker (Historical Society of Pennsylvania)
(Paperback, 195 pages, 1989, ISBN: 1422358283, $25.00)

This catalog records an exhibition held at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP).

In 1861, John Neagle himself recorded on canvas his earliest-known association with the HSP. When he captured the appearance of three Plains Indians visiting Philadelphia in 1821, he was an artist functioning as a historian.

The Society has collected 15 of Neagle’s paintings, and its manuscript holdings on the artist were most impressively augmented in 1985 through the generosity of the Barra Foundation.

Torchia has done much to restore a long-underrated painter to his proper place in American art history. In planning the exhibition upon which this catalogue is based, Torchia selected paintings and related material from 14 private and public collections in the Delaware Valley. Illustrations.

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Elin’s Amerika by Marguerite de Angeli (American Swedish Historical Museum)

Elin’s Amerika (Revised, 3rd Ed.)
by Marguerite de Angeli
American Swedish Historical Museum
(Paperback, 98 pages, 2007, $16.00, ISBN: 0980076102)

Award-winning children’s author Marguerite de Angeli tells the story of Elin, a young girl who has come to live in the New Sweden Colony.

She helps us envision how these many different peoples — Swedes, Finns, Lenape, Minquas (Susquehannock), Dutch and British related to one another.

Elin’s search for friendship, love of family, and anticipation of celebrations seem familiar. Her isolation from other children, lack of basic things, and the daily routine of chores may seem quite unfamiliar.

New Sweden was established in 1638, under the guidance of Peter Minuit, when Swedish colonists were sent to the New World to claim lands in the area around the Delaware River in southeastern PA and south NJ. For ages 8-12. Illustrations.

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To Do Justice to Him and Myself: Evert Wendell’s Account Book of the Fur Trade with Indians in Albany, New York, 1695-1726 (includes cd-rom with original Dutch text) (ISBN: 1606189123)

To Do Justice to Him and Myself:
Evert Wendell’s Account Book of the Fur Trade with Indians in Albany, New York, 1695-1726
by Kees-Jan Waterman (American Philosophical Society, ISBN: 1606189123)
(Paperback, 310 pages and CD-ROM with original Dutch text, 2008, $50.00)

This translated Dutch account book of the fur trade with Indians yields essential data for understanding workings of intercultural fur trade in colonial North America.

It contains accounts of hundreds of Indians, many listed with their own names, who purchased merchandise on credit from Evert Wendell (1681-1750) and his relatives in Albany, NY. Over 2,000 credit transactions and payments are recorded. This book has been praised as a major addition to the literature on the fur trade which challenges many widely held interpretations.

Illustrations. Tables. The book also includes a CD-ROM with transcription of the Dutch manuscript (searchable).

“The introductory essay and the tables put together from Waterman’s detailed reading of the account suggest an active trade between the Evert family and a wide range of Indians from many different tribal groupings,” writes Ann M. Carlos in the Journal of Economic History (70:2). “One has to be particularly impressed with the level of detail extracted from the accounts after looking at the photographs of the original documents.

“Waterman argues that these accounts with about 300 different individuals give us an unprecedented glimpse into intercultural exchanges in the upper Hudson River valley. He points to the role played by women in this trade; to the nature of the goods exchanges; to the range of different tribal groupings; to the mention of “white” and “black” individuals and to the descriptions of naming practices and tattoos or lack of same.

“Not too many family account books from the early eighteenth century exist. This one documents commercial exchanges between an important Dutch trading family and native traders. Waterman provides an incredible level of detail about the people in these transactions [in this] interesting primary source.”

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