Samson Occom and the Uses of Bibliography

When the 1,500 volumes of the Kim-Wait/Eisenberg Native American Literature Collection arrived at Amherst College in August 2013, the earliest item in the collection was the fourth edition of Samson Occom’s A Sermon, Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul, An Indian. Although it is frequently cited as the first book published by a Native American author, no one had yet attempted a systematic bibliographical description of its many reprints. This lecture is a report on bibliographical work in progress that will demonstrate the value of rigorous bibliographical research for the field of Native Studies, and the ways that Native Studies can inform bibliography.

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