The Spice of Popery: Converging Christianities on an Early American Frontier

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments When I began this study, I braced myself for a long, lonely scholarly endurance race.The process has proved to be anything but, becoming instead an opportunity for the joy of new discoveries and thoughtful, fruitful collaborations. Many people—friends, colleagues, professionals of various backgrounds, and family—have all put their stamp on this book. What follows is a long list of those to whom I owe my heartfelt thanks. Topping it is Carol Berkin, who advised this work in its dissertation phase and continued to provide helpful comments and criticism throughout the revision process. She sets the bars of mentorship and collegiality very, very high. Angelo Angelis read many incarnations of this project and offered sage advice, as have David Jaffee, Barbara Welter, and Jonathan Sassi. The members of Carol’s “writing salon”—Phil Papas, Cindy Lobel, and Iris Towers (in addition to Angelo)—were patient readers and encouraging critics. Emerson Baker, Edwin G. Burrows, and Julie Miller read portions of the manuscript and offered critical help for reshaping the narrative. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Ann M. Little and an anonymous reader who reviewed the manuscript for the University of Notre Dame Press xi and provided me with a compelling template for expansion and revision .The input of all these scholars and friends has made this an immeasurably better book. Purchase College’s supportive and collegial atmosphere has made it a second home. My colleagues there are quick to offer professional wisdom and cheerful encouragement whenever needed. They are too numerous to list here, but they know who they are. My sincere thanks to all. The courteous and knowledgeable staffs of the Maine Historical Society, Maine State Museum, Library and Archives Canada, Massachusetts State Archives, Massachusetts Historical Society, and New York Public Library all patiently fielded my questions and pointed out potential avenues for exploration. I am indebted to them for helping me work through their collections in an efficient and timely manner. My employer, Purchase College of the State University of New York, contributed in many generous ways to the completion of this project, most notably with a junior faculty sabbatical to finish this manuscript. Other funding from Purchase included the Provost’s Faculty Support Awards Fund, the Greenwood-Labadorf Fund, and the Union of University Professionals JLM Fund. I also thank the Colonial Dames of America, the Colonial Dames of the State of New York, and the CUNY Writing Fellows Program for their financial support. My family —father Stás Chmielewski, and sisters Christine Smith and Mary Kay Hauser and their families—is thanked, with lots of love, for providing years of moral support and cheerful hospitality . My daughter, Maria Theresa Eberhardt, who has never known life outside of the long shadow cast by The Spice of Popery, receives special thanks for understanding that I couldn’t always “spend the time” as she would have liked. I hope she knows how much I look forward to making it up to her. My late mother, Mary Theresa Jaskowiak Chmielewski, for whom my daughter is named, knew well the value of good books and lovingly fostered my childhood enthusiasm for all things early American.The seeds of interest she planted took deeper root than she likely ever imagined, but I think she would xii Acknowledgments have been pleased with the result. For that reason, I dedicate this book both to her memory and to the beautiful little namesake she never met. Finally, I thank my husband, Herman R. Eberhardt, for making all aspects of my professional life possible. I relied heavily on his brilliance as a historian and writer to guide me through the process of crafting this study. As if that weren’t enough, his generous spirit, constant loving support, and skills as a parent and architect of family fun provided me with the greatest gift one can give an aspiring author— time. To say I never could have completed this work without him is an understatement. For all these reasons, I also dedicate this study to him, with all my love. Acknowledgments xiii ...