#22 - Lenape Country Part III - The End and Sources

 

Here we are with Part III of Lenape Country. The last and final look at this book will focus on its ending and sources. According to the book, the period after the Lord Baltimore Raids have scanty documentary coverage. This is probably from the shifting of power from Dutch to the Duke of York and finally, in August of 1681, the hand off of the Lower Counties to William Penn. The Whorekill, of course was one of these counties. Unfortunately, because Jean R. Soderlund framed her book around Pre-Penn Delaware Valley, the book stops here. This is inconvenient for the study of the Ryves Holt House, since its construction date should be between 1665 and 1685. The book just doesn’t cover the last few years of that range. However, it did set the ground for the majority of our twenty year range, helping to understand the events and people active at the Whorekill around the time of the construction of the Ryves Holt House. Ryves himself is still 50 years away from buying the house! 

I found a few published reviews for Lenape Country which will be helpful to look at: 

http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=47727

https://commons.lib.jmu.edu/mhr/vol13/iss1/7

The first review is by Kyle Repella, who is a PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania and writes about early slavery in the Delaware Valley. He applauds Soderland for decentering Quakers from the history of the Delaware Valley, but criticizes lack of archaeological and oral history sources, although he does acknowledge the wide breadth of written primary sources in English, Dutch, and Swedish she uses give a very detailed accounting. 

The second review is by Erich Huhn, another PhD candidate, but from Drew University. He studies early Morristown, New Jersey. He writes that the book is overall well written, argued, and researched. He agrees with the idea that Lenape leaders consciously tried to keep violence to a minimum between themselves and the various Europeans. However, he criticises the attempt at so many native terms, claiming that, while laudable, it really took away from the readability of the book, making it confusing at times to follow.

I find I tend to agree with both Kyle and Erich for the most part. I found it refreshing to read a book that seeks to reset the traditional narrative, in this case - shifting the Big Bang of the Delaware Valley away from the arrival of the Quakers and the Pennsylvania colony to acknowledging, not just the Lenape presence, but the interplay between the early Europeans, too - Swedish, Dutch, Marylander, New Yorker. The treatment of the early history does not create a ‘hero’ like older histories tend to do, thus giving the Lenapes, traditionally regulated to ‘savage’ the opportunity to have agency and power over their circumstances just like all the other interested parties in and around the Delaware Valley. I also criticise the lack of archaeological sources, but considering the sheer volume of oral and folk history I have already had to wade through, I believe Soderlund made a good choice to stick to primary sources for her book. I did find the varied use of native terms confusing at first, but I think it was a stance to focus on the conversation more firmly on the Lenape people. The book is about the Europeans’ interactions with the Lenapes and as such, using their terms gives weight to their experiences. It would have been helpful to have a glossary or map though to help keep things straight, though. 

Well, speaking of sources: the notes section is just awash in sources, both primary and secondary. I plan to track down as many as I can, Covid willing. In fact, there are so many important sources, I am inspired to perhaps start a separate page on this blog to create an annotated bibliography so I can keep track of things, and show you where to find them. An annotated bibliography is really just a fancy way to write a list of sources with a few notes attached to remind yourself what was in the source and if you found it useful. There are tons of ways to track your sources that are searchable and sortable, but perhaps posting some version of mine for this project could help future writers, historians, and fellow nerds. 

Review Citations: 

Repella, Kyle. Review of Soderlund, Jean R., Lenape Country: Delaware Valley Society before William Penn. H-Pennsylvania, H-Net Reviews. October, 2016.

Huhn, Erich M. (2016) "Book Review: Lenape Country: Delaware Valley Society Before William Penn," Madison Historical Review: Vol. 13 , Article 7.

*Cover of book simply taken from Amazon.com