Book of the Week #26

The Indian History of an American Institution: Native Americans and Dartmouth by Colin G. Calloway (Hanover, NH: Dartmouth College Press/UPNE, 2010)

Dartmouth College was founded in 1769, in part, for the "instruction of Youth of the Indian Tribes" and the college's past is entwined with that of America's indigenous peoples. In this book Dartmouth professor Colin G. Calloway documents this shared history. Dr. Calloway was recently a guest on Views from the Green where he talked about this, his latest book.

"Dartmouth's Indian history is a troubled one, as is the history of Native Americans in this country. In its failings, contradictions, and attempts (sometimes misguided) to do the right thing, it mirrors the larger story of English and American dealings with Native peoples over time and across the continent. Yet is also has its own stories that are, for better or worse, unique. It is a history about which Dartmouth itself would not agree, which is as it should be in a liberal arts college that encourages multiple perspectives and understandings, but it is a history that Native and non-Native members of the Dartmouth community --at different levels and with different experiences-- have shared, and it is a past that continues to shape Dartmouth present." [Introduction, p. xxii-xxiii]