History Prof Publishes Bartram Book
Author: Sheron Smith
Posted: Tuesday, July 15, 2014 4:00 AM
Categories:
College of Arts and Sciences | Pressroom | Faculty/Staff
Macon, GA
Mercer University Press published "The Flower Hunter and the People: William Bartram in the Native American Southeast," a volume of the famous naturalist's writings edited by Jennings, an associate professor of history at Middle Georgia State College. The book's purpose, as described on the Mercer University Press website, "is to introduce Bartram’s writings on Southeastern Native Americans, and to let Bartram and his indigenous consultants tell their stories in their own words."
Bartram journeyed through what is now the Ocmulgee National Monument in Macon in 1774 and 1776. He described the "wonderful remains of the power and grandeur of the ancients in this part of America." He was the first to record the Muscogee oral histories of the mounds' origins. (Source: Wikipedia.)
Jennings' research interests include Native American history, early American history and the history of violence. He is studying the relationship between Native American peoples and the mounds at Ocmulgee National Monument, and the intertwined history of tourism and archaeology at the site.
He is the author of the books "New Worlds of Violence: Cultures and Conquests in the Early American Southeast" and, with Middle Georgia State colleague Dr. Stephen Taylor, "Macon," a pictorial history.
"The Flower Hunter and the People" is available at http://www.mupress.org/productdetails.cfm?sku=P485.