CULTURAL READINGS: Colonization & Print in the Americas

Special Collections, University of Pennsylvania Library

Edwin James, ed., A Narrative of the Captivity and Adventures of John Tanner... New York: G. & C. & H. Carvill, 1830.

John Tanner, captured by Shawnees in 1785 when five years of age, was raised by a female Ottawa leader. Unlike some captives, Tanner did return to white society as an adult. His re-adaptation, however, was unsuccessful, and he had several failed marriages and legal mishaps. His narrative is notable for the attention it pays to native pictography and to the multiple uses of pictographs as a means of communication among the Ottawas.

Other pages from this edition

Colonial Fictions, Colonial Histories

• Histories
• Antiquities
• [Return to] Captivities

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