Colonization & Print in the Americas

Hello all!!! I wrote a paper for my presentation, forgetting that I was supposed to write a blo0g about it. This is basically the "copy & paste" version:

Summary
The title of the web site is “Cultural Readings: Colonization & Print in the Americas”. The site may be viewed at: http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/rbm/kislak/index/cultural.html. The web site was conceived by John Pollack, designed by Greg Bear, Anne Lutun, and John Pollack, and the design was implemented by Greg Bear and Anne Lutun. The images were scanned by Greg Bear, Elissa Brown, Julian Hoeber, and Anne Lutun. It is important to mention who scanned the images because the website presents many images and then explains their cultural and historical significance. The images were chosen from two exhibits concerned with colonization and print in the Americas that were exhibited in late 1997 and early 1998. Also, the web site text was done by Arthur Dunkelman, John Pollack, Michael T. Ryan, and Karim M. Tiro. All of the people who helped design this online exhibit are scholars, professors, curators, or directors within the University of Pennsylvania Library or the Rosenbach Museum.
The site is divided into six main categories: Promotion and Possession, Viewers and the Viewed, Print and Native Cultures, Religion and Print, New World Lands in Print, and Colonial Fictions, Colonial Histories. Each category, or link, contains further links within each page. The site also includes an introduction, scholarly essays on topics related to the exhibition, a bibliography, and a list of web links.
“Promotion and Possession” deals with the European desire to obtain land in America for colonization, exploitation of resources, and the furthering of Christianity. This section contains links to “New Spain”, “English”, and “New France”, and deals with how each country used print to accelerate the European push for colonization and make colonial outposts attractive to would-be emigrants.
The next link, “Viewers and the Viewed”, shows us images of Indians that circulated throughout Europe. This section has four further links entitled “Early Impressions”, “Black Legends”, “The de Bry Engravings”, and “Native Cultures, Ancient Cultures”. Each section describes its topic according to images that circulated that promoted certain ideals regarding Indians in the Americas.
“Print and Native Cultures” is the third link from the main page. This section illuminates the differences between Indians throughout North, Central, and South America. European observers used native informants to record indigenous traditions. The three further links from “Print and Native Cultures” are “Print as a (Re)source for Native Cultures”, which is a collection of prints and manuscripts that document the cultures, “Oral Cultures in Print”, which contains images of Indians giving speeches, a speech from Red Jacket, and also contains images of the wampum, and “Native Writing”, which shows how many Indians used their newfound literacy to advance their own goals, preserve their oral traditions, appeal to religious white audiences, and to help each other become literate.
The fourth link entitled “Religion and Print” deals with the difficulties the colonizers had when converting indigenous peoples to Christianity. The two links from this page are “Missionary Accounts” and “Missionaries and Indian Languages”. “Missionary Accounts” shows several accounts of various missionaries from various countries and each discusses the obstacles of conversion. “Missionaries and Indian Languages” documents the importance of the printing press in New Spain, shows examples of a codified native language in western forms that missionaries used as a sort of guide book for converting Indians, and also shows how New Englanders attempted to translate and print Indian languages.
“New World Lands and Print” discusses how new maps of the 15th century caused people to view their world differently and shows how use of maps was critical in compelling native populations to accept the division of their lands. The first further link from this page is “New Geographies” and it discusses individual cartographers’ influence on the way the people of their respective countries were affected by their new maps and labels of outside lands. The second further link is “Dividing Territory”. Here, the use of print to legitimize of claims for land ownership by the colonizers is discussed.
The final section, “Colonial Fictions, Colonial Histories” discusses accounts of the new world that were generated in print in order to formulaically confirm readers’ impressions of the Americas and of American peoples. This page has three further links: “Histories”, “Antiquities”, and “Captivities”. “Histories” shows excerpts from historical writers who wrote histories of their encounters in the New World. Generally, histories were used to justify European empire building. “Antiquities” discusses how it became fashionable during the 18th and 19th centuries to delve into the histories and antiquities of various Indian cultures. “Captivities” shows examples of captivity stories that were written as early as the 16th century, but their popularity among European readers continued on through the 18th and 19th centuries.

Was It Worthwhile?
This topic interested me because it deals with the ways print can influence readers, even if the information is biased. Many of the accounts of the New World that were disseminated throughout Europe were cleaned-up versions of the real atrocities that were occurring in the New World. My first impression of the site was that it was scholarly, because it is sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania. The physical format of the site was inviting; the way that it encouraged me to click on links in order to view more information regarding specific topics gave the feeling that I was delving deeper into the information, as I really was getting more specific information regarding the pictures that were presented. I also liked that I could either click on the picture for more information or follow the link within the text to get to the same information. The pictures were created from scans of colors slides or from direct scans of original materials, and also a few from black and white photographs. This helped to create the feeling that I was looking at authentic materials.

The information presented within this web site is definitely reliable and valid. All of the persons involved with the production of the site are academia-related people. The information does not seem to be biased; it presents images of printed materials and discusses the relevance they have to each category in which they are presented. The sources for the information presented are two exhibits: one that was shown at the University of Pennsylvania’s Van Pelt-Dietrich Library and the second exhibit was shown at the Rosenbach Museum and Library. The University of Pennsylvania sponsors the site, and the domain of the document is an .edu domain, further attesting to its validity. The format, appearance, and writing style all appear professional. There are many images, but each is accompanied by text that not only explains the image, but gives detailed information regarding the impact of the material that the image was taken from.

This web site serves to illuminate the fact that print was a reliable tool to influence people’s views on the world around them. Although much of the information sent back to Europe was skewed in favor of colonization, the fact that print was used in order to further a mission is what really relates to our class. Print was used in many ways to further the majority’s views. Regarding print in the Americas, it was used to promote emigration, validate possession of lands, present idealized views of natives, disseminate Christian religion, and create histories of conquests in the New World. I would recommend this site to anyone interested in the impact of print on the colonization of the Americas.