The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees, Abridged Edition

Acknowledgments

Many persons made suggestions and assisted me in the publication of The Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees, Abridged Edition. Past acquisitions editor and director of the University of Nebraska Press Gary Dunham, now of Albany, New York, recommended that I write a thematic abridgment of the Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees (2 vols., Nebraska, 2007), similar to An American Epic of Discovery: The Lewis and Clark Journals:The Abridgment of the Definitive Nebraska Edition (Nebraska, 2003) edited and with introduction by Gary E. Moulton. Present editor-in-chief and acquisitions editor Heather Lundine has assisted me in expediting the publication process. The expert attention copyeditor Lona Dearmont had applied to the reading and correcting of the two-volume Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees allowed me to extract themes with less difficulty than otherwise. I am most appreciative of everyone who works at the Newberry Library. I use the extensive collections regularly, and the use of a Newberry carrel has allowed me to conduct the needed research for this project. Newberry Library’s John Aubry shared his finely tuned knowledge of the Ayer Collection and Native Americans in general, which enhanced my ability to comprehend the complexities and nuances of the two volumes. Overall, the Newberry’s Research and Education staff, in particular director Jim Acknowledgments  acknowledgments xvi Grossman, assistant director Diane Dillon, and Leslie Kan, make available an ongoing scholarly community.The Newberry’s Center for Renaissance Studies gave me a generous grant for the project “Moravian Roots and Culture” that augmented the religious sections of the Moravian Springplace Diary, Abridged Edition. I am grateful to the center’s director, Carla Zecher, and assistant director Karen Christianson.The Newberry Library has also bestowed on me the honor of scholar in residence. Productive travels to the Moravian Archives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, have led to more substantive information about the life of Anna Rosina Gambold. I am grateful to archivist Dr. C. Daniel Crews and assistant archivist Richard Starbuck of Winston-Salem, archivists Paul Peucker and Laney Graf of Bethlehem, and former archivist Vernon Nelson. The publication of the original volumes of the Moravian Springplace Mission to the Cherokees has led to speaking engagements, and on these occasions, I have had the opportunity to share the publication’s depiction of early nineteenth-century Cherokees and their cultural traditions. The following leaders and organizations have imparted valuable comments that have prompted a deeper understanding of Cherokees’ significant place in history: David Hampton, president of the Descendants of Nancy Ward Association; Jack Baker, president of the National Trail of Tears Association; Sandy Boaz, president of the Illinois chapter of the Trail of Tears; William Furry, executive director of the Illinois State Historical Society; Mike Batanski, executive board member of the Illinois State Historical Society; Anna Smith, president of the Cherokee Moravian Historical Society; and Tim Howard, president of the Murray County Historical Society. Conversations with colleagues Tiya A. Miles, Patsy Edgar, Ada Deer, Marybelle Chase, Sarah Hill, Tim Garrison, Julie Autry, Jeff Stencil, Duane King,Theda Perdue, Mike Green, Jamie Paxton,Thomas McCraw, Fred Hoxie, LaVonne Ruoff, Loretta Fowler, Raymond Fogelson, Helen Tanner, David Nichols, Gwynne Henderson, Cheryl Jett, Lorri Glover, Dan Smith, and Ella Drake have opened new approaches to the study of Native peoples in contact with Anglo America. My place of work, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, has encouraged a caring, collegial acknowledgments xvii workplace. I am especially grateful to Carl Springer, associate dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; to Sheryl Lauth and Edwin Franklin of the Faculty Technology Center; to fellow members of the Department of Historical Studies; and to department chair and associate professor Anthony Cheeseboro. My family has given me confidence to stay the course. I am very grateful to my three daughters, Rowena, Holly, and Kathryn, my father, Raymond McClinton, my brother, Raymond McClinton, my uncle, Richard McRae, and my cousin Vaughan McRae, all of whom have been generous in their encouragement. I also want to thank numerous friends who are unnamed but are still an indelible and constant source of spirit and strength. ...