Why don’t most of us know much, if anything, about King Phillip’s War? In this fourth presentation of our Metacom’s Resistance series, Tricia Peone, project director of the Congregational Library's New England's Hidden Histories project, looks at legacy and memory in the archives. Using primary sources to show just how Indigenous history was erased by writers from Increase Mather to Edward Everett, she introduces the CLA's invaluable new online resource guide on the shaping of memory of King Philip's War.
The shaping of public memory by white religious and political leaders in New England sought to reframe the meaning and legacy of the war. Through published histories as well as sermons and commemorative speeches from the late 17th through the late 19th century, they effectively erased Indigenous people.
Congregational ministers such as Increase Mather interpreted the war in religious terms and described the outcome as providential and profoundly affected the way many people in New England would make meaning out of these events.
You can see the trajectory of this historical influence through the remarkable new online resource created by the Congregational Library & Archives on the 350th anniversary of the war. Take a few minutes to explore and better understand this history through the library’s unparallaled collections and digital archive - you won't find a more fascinating, comprehensive view of how a contentious history is documented and flattened to present a one-sided view.
The CLA resource guide includes digitized collections of church records, histories of the war written from the perspective of the colonizers, sermons and speeches given during and on anniversaries of the war, and other documents related to King Phillip’s War.
Dr. Tricia Peone is the project director for New England’s Hidden Histories, a digital archive of early church records at the Congregational LIbrary & Archives, Boston. Prior to joining the Congregational Library, she was a research scholar at Historic New England for the Recovering New England’s Voices project. She previously worked as the public programs director at New Hampshire Humanities, and as a university lecturer teaching classes on the Salem witch trials, early New England, and public history. She holds a PhD in history from the University of New Hampshire with a specialization in the early modern Atlantic world and history of science. Her scholarship focuses on early New England, particularly the history of magic and witchcraft, and her work on these subjects has appeared in journals, books, blogs, and on radio and television.
Find out more!
Congregational Library & Archives’ Research Guide to King Philip’s War/Metacom’s Resistance
PHB’s very own list of resources, here
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Image: John Eliot sermon, August 1675. Congregational Library & Archives digital record.