Preliminary Bibliography for Final Paper Part Deux

Terms
1) The History of Maria Kittle
2) Ann Eliza Bleecker
3) Captive Narratives
4) Women of the Frontier
5)Female Captivity Narratives

Beginning this assignment I had believed I would focus wholly on Maria Kittle as a woman and her life's story which is detailed by Ann Eliza Bleecker. However, after looking through some library databases and discovering what scholarly publications are present it is evident my paper may need to head in a different direction.

Many of the publications, which were discovered through various search terms, focus on the racial relations between the captors and the captive. With that in mind I believe it is important to not only focus on Kittle as a woman, but Kittle as a white woman. I have always assumed I would look at the femininity of the piece but it had never particularly occurred to me I should look at the racial tension/interaction as well.

Primilinary Bibliography for final Paper.

Here are some of the sources that I have been using to gather information on Ann Eliza Bleecker and her novel The History of Maria Kittle.  This is not yet a complete list because, even in these early days of researching, my theories on the history surrounding the novel has changed greatly.  Also, the bibliography is not exactly formatted correctly, as Blogger and Microsoft Word are very different and I could not figure how to do some of the spacing and whatnot correctly.  -Samantha

Ann Eliza Bleecker. AmericanRevolution.org. February 19 2011  http://www.americanrevolution.org/women/women32.html

Bleecker, Ann Eliza. The History of Maria Kittle.  Hartford: Elisha Babcock, 1797.

Haberly, David T. Women and Indians: The Last of the Mohicans and the Captivity Tradition.  Richmond: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1976

Harris, Sharon M. Women’s Early American Historical Narratives. New York: Penguin Books, 2003.

Mulford, Garla., ed. American Women Prose Writers to 1820.  Washington D.C.: Gale   Research, 1999.  

Portraits of American Women Writers:. Connie King. 2005.The Library Company of Philadelphia. Feb. 11, 2011.  <http://www.librarycompany.org/women/portraits/bleecker.htm>.

Rhetorical Analysis.

              When looking at the physical characteristics in the first publication of The History of Maria Kittle an observer cannot help but notice how bare the edition is.  The story, which was originally published in 1793 along with a series of other posthumous works by Ann Eliza Bleecker, was published by itself for the first time in 1797 by Elisha Babcock at the behest of Bleecker’s daughter Margaretta Bleecker Faugeres.  Fine Feeling Exemplified in the Conduct of a Negro, an essay written by Margaretta, was published in the New York Magazine in 1791 and disputed the beliefs of Thomas Jefferson.  It is our belief The History of Maria Kittle, based on its physical appearance, was not looked upon as a profitable endeavor for a publisher and was published mostly due to the literary influence of Bleecker’s daughter Margaretta. 

                Again, the front matter of the book is sparse at best providing the story’s author, Bleecker, as well as its publication information.  No dedication is present which can likely be credited to Bleeker’s death and her belief that her work would not be published.  Little is present other than the actual text providing further evidence of the publisher’s frugality.  It is worth mentioning the title of the story which is The History of Maria Kittle.  The story, as indicated by its title, is a historical narrative, a captive narrative to be more specific.  Bleecker’s work is not dealing with fiction but instead the actual history of a woman around the time of the American Revolution. 

                Sharon M. Harris, in her book Women’s Early Historical Narratives, notes, “What is unusual about much of the history writing of this period is that many of the authors were writing about very recent history, about lived history” (Harris xi).  This is quite true in the writing of Bleecker who not only writes on a factual individual, but takes their factual history, their lived history, as well and retells their story.

                Bleecker’s story is written as one, continuous letter to her friend Miss Ten Eyck detailing the life of Maria Kittle and her “unfortunate adventures” (Bleecker 3).  Kittle was, according to Bleecker, from a family of considerable means whose “good natural abilities, [were] improved by some learning” (Bleecker 4).  The beginning of the story describes Kittle’s early life as a well provided for youth who was married at fifteen and gave birth to her first child after little more than a year.  The Kittles were ideal in almost every way imaginable and were “almost adored by their neighbors” (Bleecker 6).

                However, The French and Indian War proved to be troublesome for the Kittles as Native Americans became present in the English frontiers forcing the couple to travel with family to Albany.  Reading in further pages details the captivity of Kittle which has yet to take place at this juncture of the story.

                Ann Eliza Bleecker’s captivity narrative The History of Maria Kittle was published posthumously and only in the city of Hartford.  The book’s poor aesthetics and minimal front matter lead viewers to believe the work was far from profitable.  Moreover, it is entirely possible the work was only published because of the efforts of Bleecker’s daughter Margaretta, an author herself, who fought to have her mother’s work published. 

Bleecker, Ann Eliza. The History of Maria Kittle.  Hartford: Elisha Babcock, 1797.

Harris, Sharon M. Women’s Early American Historical Narratives. New York: Penguin Books, 2003.

Portraits of American Women Writers:. Connie King. 2005.The Library Company of Philadelphia. Feb. 11, 2011.  <http://www.librarycompany.org/women/portraits/bleecker.htm>.

Artifact Inventory.

1. Published in 1797 in Hartford, Connecticut by Elisha Babcock.    After searching through the Evans database, we came to the conclusion that Babcock was publishing many bibles and religious almanacs.  We also found that he published Rudiments of English grammar.  Other than The History of Maria Kittle, Babcock only seems to be publishing factual or instructional books.  This shows that the publisher was printing useful books that were very popular instead of novels and other short stories.  

2. Reprinted many times in the late 20^th Century.  However, reprinting does not seem to be present prior to those dates.

3. The actual size of the book is 70 pages, 16 centimeters. 

4. The title page includes, The History of Maria Kittle by Ann Eliza Bleecker.  In a Letter to Miss Ten Eyck.  The book was printed in Hartford by Elisha Babcock, 1797. The History of Maria Kittle was published posthumously, by her daughter who fought to have the works published.  This may be why the authors name was included in the title page, when most women authors of the day were not included.

5. A second edition does not appear to be available. This story was found in a modern anthology but it does not contain a title page.

 6. There is no miscellaneous front matter to be found.  This could mean that the publisher did not have any extra money to spend on the copies, or it could have been printed only for the author. 

 7. The History of Maria Kittle was published as a single, seventy page letter from the author Ann Eliza Bleeker to Miss Ten Eyck.  At no point in the text is it broken up into multiple letters or chapters instead reading as one continuous letter.  The print is a relatively large size with lines spaced out in an adequate fashion.  The prose is fairly easy to read with distinct font.  The diction is at times archaic with older styled lettering.

8. No back matter is evident once the novel is complete.  The final page contains a few lines of prose followed by the typical; FINIS.

9. The text has been reprinted extensively in the late 20^th century.  Kittle’s captivity narrative has been republished in the Heath Anthology of American Literature, 5th edition.

 10. After completing an extensive day of research many different ideas for the blog have had their inception.  One of the most pronounced ideas might be to look at the text as a historical piece and how it has translated into modern times.  It is not by accident, as you have told us during our research that texts go unprinted for decades, even centuries, only to be feverishly reprinted in later centuries.  It is important to discover why these pieces, and our piece in particular, have significance at different periods of history. 

The History of Maria Kittle.

Chris and I chose to research The History of Maria Kittle By Ann Eliza Bleecker. We decieded on this selection after Googling the other authors and work titles, and nothing super interesting caught our eye.  We have both done work with captive narratives before and hope that this one will be as interesting as the others we have studied.

I Hope everyone is doing well and finding lots of information about their author and story! See everyone Monday! -Sam