Imaginary Friends: Representing Quakers in American Culture, 1650-1950 (Studies in American Thought and Culture)

299 Pages·2009·1.34 MB·English

by  James Emmett Ryan

Imaginary Friends
E     E
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Imaginary Friends
Representing Quakers in American Culture,
1650–1950
James Emmett Ryan
         
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in part, through support from
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at Auburn University.
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Library ofCongress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ryan, James Emmett.
Imaginary friends : representing Quakers in American culture, 1650–1950 /
James Emmett Ryan.
p. cm.—(Studies in American thought and culture)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-299-23174-3 (pbk.: alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-299-23173-6 (e-book)
1. Quakers—United States. 2. Quakers—United States—History.
I. Title. II Series.
BX7635.R93 2009
289.6’73—dc22
2008039541
For
Renée
E

Contents
Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: National Identity, Representation,
and Genre 3
1 Quaker Religion in Colonial New England 27
2 Political Theory and Quaker Community
in the Early Republic 63
3 Chronicles of Friendship: Quaker Historiography
in the Early Republic 92
4 Quaker Biography in Transatlantic Context 128
5 Representing Quakers in American Fiction 158
6 Staging Quakerism: Theater and Cinema 187
Epilogue 223
Notes 227
Works Cited 255
Index 273
vii

Illustrations
Mary Dyer being led to the gallows 39
Quaker planters in Barbados 43
Robert Barclay, An Apology for the True Christian Divinity 56
Quaker educator Anthony Benezet teaching
African American students 72
The Quaker Giant Robert Hales and the Quaker Giantess
on display at Barnum’s Museum 153
“The Little Shaking Quakers” 205
“I Like Your Apron and Your Bonnet and Your Little
Quaker Gown” 205
“There’s a Quaker Down in Quaker Town” 209
“All the Quakers Are Shoulder Shakers (Down in
Quaker Town)” 209
ix