Baker, Emerson W. 1958–

views updated

Baker, Emerson W. 1958–

(Emerson Woods Baker, II)

PERSONAL:

Born 1958; married; children: two daughters. Education: Bates College, B.A., 1980; University of Maine, M.A., 1983; College of William and Mary, Ph.D., 1986.

ADDRESSES:

Home—York, ME. Office—Department of History, Salem State University, Sullivan Bldg., Ste. 106A, Salem, MA 01970. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Worked as historical archaeologist and museum director; Salem State College, Salem, MA, assistant professor of history and public historian. Cochair of Maine Humanities Council, 1991-2000; chair of Maine Cultural Affairs Council; member of executive committee of Maine Historic Preservation Commission. Consulting historian and archaeologist for Parks Canada and the Province of Quebec, Canada.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Elected to membership in the Colonial Society of Massachusetts; Keith Matthews Award, Canadian Nautical Research Society, 1999; Neil Allen Award, Maine Historical Society, 1999.

WRITINGS:

Clarke and the Lake Company: The Historical Archaeology of a Seventeenth-Century Maine Settlement, Maine Historic Preservation Commission (Augusta, ME), 1985.

(Editor) American Beginnings: Exploration, Culture, and Cartography in the Land of Norumbega, University of Nebraska Press (Lincoln, NE), 1994.

(With John G. Reid) The New England Knight: Enrichment, Advancement, and the Life of Sir William Phips, 1641-1695, University of Toronto Press (Toronto, Ontario, Canada), 1998.

The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New England, Palgrave Macmillan (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

A scholar with a particular interest in colonial North America, Emerson W. Baker has been involved with several books dealing with various aspects of the colonial era in American history. Baker has especially focused on events and individuals that were a part of the New England landscape. In 1994, he edited American Beginnings: Exploration, Culture, and Cartography in the Land of Norumbega, a book that was inspired by an international conference held in Portland, Maine, in 1988. At the conference, which was held in the wake of the donation of two significant map collections to the University of Southern Maine in Portland, Maine, distinguished scholars from a host of disciplines presented their researched essays about the "Land of Norumbega." In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, European explorers believed Norumbega was a paradise, where the aboriginal inhabitants harbored tremendous wealth, similar to El Dorado, the mythic land of gold that the Spanish had so desperately sought. While trying to locate the Northwest Passage, Europeans founded Norumbega in the wilds of Maine in the upper Penobscot River region. The surrounding area, from Cape Cod to Penobscot Bay, continued to be referred to as Norumbega for one hundred years, until John Smith renamed it New England in the early 1600s.

American Beginnings contains nearly one hundred illustrations and reproductions of several maps donated to the Osher Map Library at the University of Southern Maine, ten of which are duplicated in full color. Many of the contributors to the book utilize maps to provide a more well-rounded picture in their essays. Because of the nature of the material presented, the book contains comprehensive bibliographical citations and notes. Baker found a favorable audience among critics for American Beginnings. John H. Long, a contributor to the New England Quarterly, called it the "best single book on the history of Norumbega." Believing it to be "full of interesting insights," Long appreciated the book because of its wide variety of essayists and the difficulty of their task. "Many scholars will benefit from seeing how these authors cope with difficult sources, like Indian oral tradition, as they attempt to solve such problems as that of reconstructing the point of view of a different culture at a time nearly four centuries in the past," Long wrote. Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, reviewing the book for English Historical Review, called it an "impressive collection" that reaches "praiseworthy standards." Declaring the work to be a "significant contribution," Canadian Historical Review critic Ralph Pastore praised the book for displaying "convincing evidence of the value of multidisciplinary studies." "Its editors and contributors should be proud," Pastore concluded.

Another one of Baker's important works is The New England Knight: Enrichment, Advancement, and the Life of Sir William Phips, 1641-1695, written with John G. Reid. As the title suggests, it is a historical monograph about William Phips, who rose from obscure beginnings to become the first royal governor of colonial Massachusetts. In between that time, Phips, who was born in what is now the state of Maine, led the life of a true adventurer. Getting his start in the busy seaport of Boston, Massachusetts, Phips became a sea captain who scoured the Caribbean region for Spanish treasures. He went on to lead the forces that captured the powerful Acadian Port-Royal, located in present-day Nova Scotia, Canada. In 1690, he unsuccessfully attacked the French stronghold of Quebec, Canada. Phips's tenure as governor also produced its share of colorful events. He was the man who put an end to the infamous Salem witchcraft trials, which had condemned many innocent people; he was also the main negotiator in a treaty signed with the regional Wabanaki Indian tribe. Phips's rise to power is significant because it is emblematic of the power structure throughout the British Empire, especially in remote outposts such as those in the New World. In The New England Knight, Baker and Reid chart every stage of Phips's life, particularly his struggle to advance up the ladder of power.

Baker's The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New England focuses on incidents that occurred in a community south of Maine: Great Island, now know as New Castle, New Hampshire. In the sum- mer of 1682, a tavern keeper named George Walton reported that as he walked home at night, he was hit by stones flung by unseen assailants. This occurred throughout the summer, and the tavern keeper accused an elderly widow, Hannah Jones, of using witchcraft against him. Her motive, he claimed, was a grudge she bore him due to a property dispute. According to Baker's research, however, Walton—and a tenant at the tavern, Richard Chamberlain—roused the community's ire because of their association with Royalist politics and Quaker and Anglican religious beliefs.

In a review of The Devil of Great Island for the Boston Globe, Michael Kenney observed that the case "clearly deserves the attention" that Baker gives it. A contributor to Kirkus Reviews also respected the book, but noted that its overwhelming level of detail could make it "heavy-going" at times. Houston Chronicle reviewer Robert Cremins, however, enjoyed the "pungent details" that Baker includes in the book, and commended The Devil of Great Island as a "stimulating history that underscores how people 400 years ago could be as petty, grasping, stubborn and, above all, lawsuit-prone as we are today."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Indian Culture and Research Journal, fall, 1995, James Drake, review of American Beginnings: Exploration, Culture, and Cartography in the Land of Norumbega, p. 241.

Boston Globe, October 29, 2007, Michael Kenney, "Fear, Faith, and Witches in Old New England," review of The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New England.

Canadian Historical Review, September, 1996, Ralph Pastore, review of American Beginnings, p. 463.

Cartographica, summer, 1996, review of American Beginnings, pp. 65-66.

Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, June, 1995, G. Jeane, review of American Beginnings, p. 1658.

English Historical Review, June, 1997, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, review of American Beginnings, pp. 757-758.

Ethnohistory, spring, 1997, James Delle, review of American Beginnings, p. 295.

Geographical Journal, March, 1997, Kirsten A. Seaver, review of American Beginnings, p. 96.

History: The Journal of the Historical Association, October, 1996, Susan Gole, review of American Beginnings, p. 577.

Houston Chronicle, October 28, 2007, Robert Cremins, "Witches, the Bard and Survival: The Devil of Great Island Is a Look at a Ghostly 1682 Attack," p. 16.

Journal of Historical Geography, April, 1996, Scott Anderson, review of American Beginnings, p. 230.

Kirkus Reviews, July 15, 2007, review of The Devil of Great Island.

New England Quarterly, September, 1995, John H. Long, review of American Beginnings, pp. 516-518.

Publishers Weekly, July 30, 2007, review of The Devil of Great Island, p. 68.

Sixteenth Century Journal, fall, 1997, James Robertson, review of American Beginnings, p. 1051.

Virginia Quarterly Review, autumn, 1995, review of American Beginnings, p. 116.

William and Mary Quarterly, April, 1996, Kirkpatrick Sale, review of American Beginnings, p. 391.