In the 1740s and 1750s, Shamokin, a waystation at the confluence of the North and West branches of the Susquehanna River, represented a meeting not only of two rivers but of multiple cultures. The village hosted fragments of displaced Native tribes, white blacksmiths, and Moravian missionaries in these fragile moments as the boundaries of frontier and colony warped and shifted.

Katherine Faull is a prolific translator of Moravian archival documents, including her previous works on manuals for church leaders as well as myriad Moravian memoirs. In this volume, she expands that focus to include the diaries of the Shamokin mission and contextualizes them within the complexities of the Pennsylvanian frontier in the mid-eighteenth century. Her masterfully written introduction sets the stage for 17 installments that span the decade 1745–1755 and include the names of many prominent Moravian men, such as Martin Mack, David Zeisberger, and Christian Rauch. The Shamokin diary reveals negotiations between the missionaries and Chief Shikellamy, importantly acknowledging that, at least at first, the Moravian presence was not an infringement of tribal sovereignty but rather the fulfillment of a treaty to provide much-needed blacksmithing services. However, as the decade passed, Faull deftly outlined how the location at Shamokin shifted from mission to plantation, marking the end of the Moravians’ time there. While these documents were written by white men, Faull’s prefatory remarks urge readers to view these documents for what they can tell us about Native cultures at the edge of major change. The multiplicity of groups clearly identified and helpfully defined by Faull, each interacted with the Moravians differently and made clear that Native groups cannot be viewed as monolith.

This volume will prove very useful to both scholars and educators. The introduction alone can be assigned as a master class in historical contextualization. The documents themselves prove insightful for fields as broad as Native American studies, religious studies, the history of emotion, and colonial American history. As with each of Faull’s earlier translations, Cultures at the Susquehanna Confluence shares the bounty of the Moravian archive and displays its importance to scholars far beyond the boundaries of Bethlehem.