Bibliography of Pennsylvania History (review)

Book Reviews115 check, with the following results: Three were located on the pages cited and found to be accurately quoted; ten were located on the pages indicated, but with one or more errors each, one of which changed the meaning of the quotation in a serious way; one quotation, also containing an error, was located several pages removed from the page cited; three quotations could not be located. Goshen College Guy F. Hershberger Bibliography of Pennsylvania History (Second edition of Writings on Pennsylvania History, a Bibliography). Compiled by Norman B. Wilkinson; S. K. Stevens and Donald H. Kent, editors. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. 1957. xxx, 826 pages. $7.00. This volume will be warmly welcomed by every student of history, particularly Quaker history. The 1957 edition is a reprinting of the earlier edition plus substantial new material. While the basic organization of the bibliography has been changed very little since the first edition was published in 1947, the present edition is greatly enlarged and improved. While the old index listed only the names of the authors, the new one is very complete and fills 115 pages. Some 3,000 new items have been added in the new edition, making a total of 9,198 entries. The earlier volume ended with 1942, while this one covers another decade, to 1952. The scope has been broadened in this edition to include some printed source materials, and "everything which, in the compiler's judgment, might add to a more complete picture of the State's past, and to a better understanding of its contemporary affairs." Students of Quaker history will find a wealth of bibliographical material in the volume. For example , there are 135 items about William Penn and his family. There are sections on the Society of Friends, the "Holy Experiment," Indian relations , slavery, and many other reforms. Scattered through the 700 pages of bibliography are hundreds of references to Quakers in arts and crafts, the law, politics, science, literature, and in biographical sections. These are not always easy to find, and the new index will be useful in this connection. While there is some cross-referencing between categories, no attempt was made to list an item more than once when it was important in more than one section of the bibliography. For example, James Bowden's History of the Society of Friends in America is listed under state history, but not under the Society of Friends. This means that the student must take his time with the book, consider all possibilities, and consult the index carefully . Naturally any reviewer asks some questions. Items 598 and 1850 are obviously the same unpublished dissertation, listed under two titles. 116Bulletin of Friends Historical Association William H. Loyd, Jr., still has his name spelled "Lloyd" as in the first edition. Why is Howard Fast's Citizen Tom Paine omitted, while his Haym Salomon, a juvenile book, is included? These three queries are not raised to indicate dissatisfaction with the volume, but rather to indicate that the reviewer has spent many enjoyable hours poring over this very valuable new bibliographical aid. Temple University Edwin B. Bronner The Recovery of the Anabaptist Vision. Edited by Guy F. Hershberger. Scottdale, Pennsylvania: Herald Press. 1957. 360 pages. $4.50. This festschrift is a collection of twenty-five essays in honor of Harold S. Bender, dean of American Mennonite historians, whose seminal essay "The Anabaptist Vision" is also reprinted. Each contribution deals with some aspect of the history, the thought, or the influence of the oldest of the "historic peace churches." One is impressed by the learning and thoughtfulness of the essays, and one wonders if the Society of Friends today could assemble a comparable series of essays on "The Recovery of the Early Quaker Vision." Historians have often pointed out significant parallels and divergences between the Quaker and Anabaptist traditions. The two major differences appear clearly in these essays. The religious groups in the Anabaptist tradition—the various branches of Mennonites and the Hutterian Brethren —have always relied on the outward Word rather than the Spirit for guidance and authority, as John C. Wenger makes clear (though, as Ernst Crous points out, certain Dutch and Palatine Mennonites...