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The Moravian Mission Diaries of David Zeisberger
1772—1781

Edited by Hermann Wellenreuther and Carola Wessel

February 2004 | 6.125 x 9.25
680 pages | 1 illustration/9 maps

History-American, History-European
Hardback: $65.00 SH
ISBN: 978-0-271-02522-3
Max Kade German-American Research Institute Series





 


   
“David Zeisberger’s diaries are a rich source for Native American and Moravian history. The 1772–1781 diaries remain largely untapped by American scholars because they have not been available in English translation. Publication of this modern scholarly edition, therefore, will have a major impact on the field of early American history.” —Daniel K. Richter, University of Pennsylvania

David Zeisberger (1721–1808) was the head of a group of Moravian missionaries that settled in the Upper Ohio Valley in 1772 to minister to the Delaware Nation. For the next ten years, Zeisberger lived among the Delaware, becoming a trusted adviser and involving himself not only in religious activities but also in political and social affairs. During this time he kept diaries in which he recorded the full range of his activities. Published in English for the first time, The Moravian Mission Diaries of David Zeisberger offers an unparalleled insider’s view of Indian society during times of both war and peace.

Zeisberger’s diaries, today housed at the Moravian Archives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, present a detailed picture of the effect of the American Revolution on one Indian nation—not only on political issues but also in terms of its economy, culture, and demographic structure. A later portion of the diaries, covering the post–Revolutionary War years, was translated and published in the nineteenth century, but the 1772–81 diaries have never been published in English translation. This translation is based on the full scholarly edition of the diaries, which Wellenreuther and Wessel published in Germany in 1995. Publication of this volume will forever change the way we see the impact of the American Revolution on Indian life and on the Ohio country.

 

   
Contents

Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations
Introduction
The Moravian Mission F\Ciaries of David Zeisberger, 1771–1781
Appendix
Register of Persons
Index of Place and River Names and Other Geographical Terms

Bibliography
Index
Maps of Ohio Region
   

Hermann Wellenreuther is Professor of Modern History at the Georg-August-University in Göttingen and the author of books on early modern German, English, and North American history. He co-edited, with Hartmut Lehmann and Renate Wilson, In Search of Peace and Prosperity: New German Settlements in Eighteenth-Century Europe and America (Penn State, 2000).

Carola Wessel was a scholar at the University Library in Göttingen and a part-time librarian at the University Library in Bielefeld at the time of her death in 2004.