Originally published in 1893 and 1901, Simon Pokagon’s birch bark stories were printed on thinly peeled and elegantly bound birch bark. In this edition, these rare booklets are reprinted with new essays that set the stories in cultural, linguistic, historical, and even geological context. Experts in Native literary traditions, history, Algonquian languages, the Michigan landscape, and materials conservation illuminate the thousands of years of Indigenous knowledge that Pokagon elevated in his stories. This is an essential resource for teachers and scholars of Native literature, Neshnabé pasts and futures, Algonquian linguistics, and book history.
ContentsPrefaceIntroduction | Bmejwen Kyle Malott and Blaire MorseauA Note on the Texts | Kelly WisecupA Brief Survey of Documenting the Potawatomi Language | Corinne KasperSummary for Pottawatamie Book of Genesis | Blaire MorseauDibangimowin Pottawattamie Ejitodwin Aunishnawbe (Pottawattamie Legend of the Creation of Man) | Chief PokagonSummary and Geological Context for Algonquin Legends of Paw Paw Lake | Nicholas Marcelletti and Blaire MorseauAlgonquin Legends of Paw Paw Lake | Chief PokagonSummary for Algonquin Legends of South Haven | Blaire MorseauAlgonquin Legends of South Haven | Chief PokagonSummary for The Red Man’s Rebuke | Blaire MorseauThe Red Man’s Rebuke | Chief PokagonPrinting and Circulating Simon Pokagon’s The Red Man’s Rebuke and The Red Man’s Greeting | Kelly WisecupMateriality and Conservation of Simon Pokagon’s Birch Bark Books | Oa Sjoblom and Marieka KayeAcknowledgmentsContributors
