North Country Captives

Selected Narratives of Indian Captivity from Vermont and New Hampshire

Edited by Colin G. Calloway

Revealing firsthand narratives of Indian captivity from eighteenth-century New Hampshire and Vermont. Narratives of Europeans who experienced Indian captivity represent one of the oldest genres of American literature. They are often credited with establishing the stereotype of Indians as cruel and bloodthirsty. While early southern New England accounts were heavily influenced by a dominant Puritan interpretation which had little room for individual and cultural distinctions, later northern New England narratives show growing independence from this influence. The eight narratives selected for this book challenge old stereotypes and provide a clearer understanding of the nature of captive taking. Indians used captives to replace losses in their tribes and families, and also to participate in the French and British ransom market. These stories portray Indian captors as individuals with a unique culture and offer glimpses of daily life in frontier communities. Calloway complements them with valuable historical background material. His book will appeal especially to readers interested in Native American peoples and life on the north country frontier of Vermont and New Hampshire.

Paper: $19.95 | E-book: $18.99

ISBN-13: 9780874515824

Pages: 176 | Size: 6 in. x 9 in.

Date Published: May 1, 1992

Imprint:

University Press of New England

About the Author

Colin G. Calloway

Colin B. Bailey is Director of The Morgan Library & Museum. Previously, he served as the Director of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, overseeing the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park and the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park.

Prior to his arrival in California, Bailey served as Deputy Director and Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator at The Frick Collection in New York. He had been Deputy Director and Chief Curator at the National Gallery of Canada, Senior Curator at the Kimbell Art Museum in Ft. Worth, and held curatorial posts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum earlier in his career.

Bailey earned a DPhil in Art History from the University of Oxford. A specialist in 18th- and 19th-century French art and responsible for many celebrated exhibitions and publications, he has been an Officier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres since 2010.

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