Milcah Martha Moore's Book: A Commonplace Book from Revolutionary America (review)

Book Reviews71 Having known him since 1924, 1 fully agree. And reading the book has lifted me another notch! J. Clifford Scott, M.D.Newtown Square, Pa. Milcah Martha Moore's Book: A Commonplace Bookfrom RevolutionaryAmerica . Ed. by Catherine LaCourreye Blecki andKarin A. Wulf. State College: Penn State University Press, 1997. xxiv + 341 pp. Map, chart, illustrations, appendix, notes, bibliography, and indexes. Cloth, $45, paper, $14.95. Milcah Martha Moore was a memberofPhiladelphia's elite society in the last half of the eighteenth century. She was related to the Lloyds, Norrises, Logans, and Morrises, and she represents the cultural milieu of that period. She was not the author of the Book, but rather its compiler. Milcah Martha Moore's Book might be characterized as an elevated type of literary scrapbook that contained poetry and prose selections which she considered worthy of preservation. Poetry was a favorite means of communication among the women of her social class, and many of the poems are by her cousin, Hannah Griffits. Selections written by notables of the Revolutionary period include Benjamin Franklin, Patrick Henry, and the erstwhile Friend, Timothy Matlack, secretary of the Continental Congress. The ambivalent attitude of some ofMilcah Martha Moore's friends toward the Revolution is expressed in their literary pieces. The writings of important English personages were also included, such as Queen Caroline, wife of George II; the Countess of Huntington; and the well-known English Friend, Samuel Fothergill. References are made to William Pitt, the pro-American British parliamentarian, and to Dr. John Fothergill, who ministered to her ailments when she was in England. Especially valuable are the excellent editorial chapters of Karin A. Wulf and Catherine Le Courreye Blecki, which discuss the Book as characteristic of a literary genre of that period and its relation to the society and events of the Revolutionary decades. In the chapter by Karin Wulf it is erroneously stated that on the British approach to Philadelphia in the fall of 1777, the Continental Congress moved to New York City; while it actually relocated at York, Pennsylvania. This book is an important contribution to our knowledge of the culture of a late-eighteenth-century Philadelphia Quaker society and the role of women therein. Arthur J. MekeelState College, Pa. ...