Post Center images
- Floor 1 Signage: The Treaty of Shackamaxon
This historic image, created in 1982 by Leonids Linauts of Mohnton, PA, depicts the The Treaty of Shackamaxon, otherwise known as William Penn鈥檚 Treaty with the Indians or 鈥淕reat Treaty.鈥 It is Pennsylvania鈥檚 most longstanding historical tradition, a counterpart to the foundation stories of Virginia (John Smith and Pocahontas) and New England (the first Thanksgiving).
According to the tradition, soon after William Penn (1644-1718) arrived in Pennsylvania in late October 1682, he met with Lenni Lenape Indians in the riverside town of Shackamaxon (present-day Fishtown) and exchanged promises of perpetual friendship.
There is no written record of this treaty, however, the treaty鈥檚 renown was amplified through literature and art. The French philosopher Voltaire (1694-1778) famously declared it 鈥渢he only treaty between those people [the Indians] and the Christians that was not ratified by an oath, and was never infring鈥檇.鈥 (Quaker doctrine prohibited Penn from making oaths.) The painter Benjamin West (1738-1820), commissioned by Penn鈥檚 son Thomas (1702-75), created the ubiquitous emblem of colonial Pennsylvania and American Quakerism in William Penn鈥檚 Treaty with the Indians When He Founded the Province of Pennsylvania in North America (1771-72). West鈥檚 tableau (now at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts) informed early historical accounts of the treaty. It was adapted, and further popularized, in the Quaker folk artist Edward Hicks鈥檚 (1780-1845) Penn鈥檚 Treaty and Peaceable Kingdom paintings. To this day it illustrates history textbooks.
In 1827, claiming the treaty year as 1682, the Penn Society erected an obelisk where the Great Elm had once stood. Its inscription reads:
TREATY GROUND
of
WILLIAM PENN
and the
INDIAN NATIVES
1682
UNBROKEN FAITH
Sources- Floor 2 Signage: Conrad Weiser
This historic stained-glass image, created in 1982 by Leonids Linauts of Mohnton, PA, depicts Conrad Weiser. Weiser was one of the original commissioners of the town of Reading, PA, established in 1748. He was also Berks County鈥檚 first Justice of the Peace.
Conrad Weiser was born in Astaat, Germany, in 1696, and his family migrated to America in 1710, settling in New York State. In New York, Weiser studied the Iroquois Nations, and at the age of 15, he voluntarily decided to live amidst the Mohawk tribe of the Iroquois. He gained significant knowledge of the language, customs, and traditions of the Mohawk, which proved invaluable later in his career. With this knowledge, Weiser served as interpreter and negotiator through many interactions between colonists and Native Americans. He was one of the few interpreters who comprehended the overwhelming importance of the use of Wampum (beaded textile depicted within this image in the form of the sash being held up in the air by the Indigenous individual) in conducting matters of diplomacy with the Iroquois. Weiser was able to maintain fairly stable relations between the Pennsylvania government and the Iroquois Nation during the 1730s and 1740s.
Having grown up around and among the Iroquois Confederacy, Weiser privileged his relationship with that Indigenous group, and this contributed to tensions between colonist and the Lenape people who originally resided on this land. The French and Indian War (1754-1763) turned those tensions into a full-blown rift as Lenape, feeling marginalized by English colonists, sided with the French during the war.
Alvernia recognizes Conrad Weiser鈥檚 work in mediating tensions between Indigenous people and European colonists, and we understand that these mediations contributed to the displacement of the Lenape. We acknowledge that 媚娘直播 resides on Lenapehoking (leh-NA-pe-ho-king), the traditional home of the Lenni Lenape. Honoring our Franciscan call to collegiality and peacemaking, we recognize, support, and advocate for Indigenous peoples who live here now, and for those who were forcibly removed. In humility, we acknowledge, honor, and respect the past, present, and future of the diverse Indigenous peoples connected to this land, whose presence continues in the region due to their resilience in the face of colonization.
Sources- Floor 3 Signage: Daniel Boone
This historic image, created in 1982 by Leonids Linauts of Mohnton, PA, depicts Daniel Boone early American frontiersman and legendary hero who helped blaze a trail through Cumberland Gap, a notch in the Appalachian Mountains near the juncture of Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky.
Boone was born c. November 2, 1734 in Berks County, Pennsylvania and died c. September 26, 1820, St. Charles County, Missouri. Most of his life was spent as a wandering hunter and trapper. He reached as far south as Florida and at least as far west as present-day Missouri and possibly Nebraska during his travels.
In March 1775 Boone and 28 companions were employed by Richard Henderson鈥檚 Transylvania Company to blaze a trail through Cumberland Gap. The company planned to establish Kentucky as a 14th colony. In August 1775 Boone brought his wife Rebecca and their daughter to Boonesborough. They were among the first white women in Kentucky, and their arrival may be said to mark the first permanent settlement there. The plan to establish the 14th colony failed, however, and Kentucky was made a county of Virginia.
Boone became a captain in the county鈥檚 militia during the American Revolution and a leader in defending Boonesborough against Indigenous attacks. In July 1776 he led a group of settlers who were able to rescue, unharmed, his daughter and two other girls who had been captured by Native Americans three days earlier. News of that incident greatly enhanced his reputation. He was captured by Shawnee in early 1778 and was adopted as a son by the Shawnee chief, Blackfish. After five months he escaped to warn Boonesborough settlers of an impending attack. When the attack came (September 1778), the vastly outnumbered defenders of the settlement successfully withstood an 11-day siege.
After the American Revolution, Boone worked as a surveyor along the Ohio River. He settled for a few years in Kanawha county, Virginia (now in West Virginia). Then, in 1799, he and members of his family (including son Nathan Boone) followed another son, Daniel Morgan Boone, to Missouri, in Louisiana Territory (then belonging to Spain), where he continued to hunt and trap. He died at Nathan鈥檚 home west of St. Louis and not far from the Missouri River.
The fame of Daniel Boone, a legendary hero even at the time of his death, spread worldwide when in 1823 Lord Byron devoted seven stanzas to him in his long satiric poem Don Juan. Boone has been the subject of other works of literature (fiction and biography), paintings, and dramatic productions, including a long-running (1964鈥70) television series. His name has been preserved in a variety of geographic names in the United States in addition to Boonesborough, including Boone, North Carolina. The Daniel Boone Homestead in southeastern Pennsylvania, about 9 miles (14 km) southeast of Reading, preserves structures associated with Boone鈥檚 birthplace, and Nathan Boone鈥檚 house in Missouri is also a historical site.
Alvernia recognizes Daniel Boone鈥檚 work in opening up the Midwest region to settlement by people of European descent, and we understand that Boone鈥檚 efforts contributed to the displacement of Indigenous people. We acknowledge that 媚娘直播 resides on Lenapehoking (leh-NA-pe-ho-king), the traditional home of the Lenni Lenape. Honoring our Franciscan call to collegiality and peacemaking, we recognize, support, and advocate for Indigenous peoples who live here now, and for those who were forcibly removed. In humility, we acknowledge, honor, and respect the past, present, and future of the diverse Indigenous peoples connected to this land, whose presence continues in the region due to their resilience in the face of colonization.
Sources
