Remsen spent most of his award-winning career in daily journalism at one of the country’s most distinguished newspapers, The Philadelphia Inquirer. Since his retirement from newspaper work, Jim has pursued his keen interest in history -- with a focus on underappreciated aspects of our nation's local history.
His book, “Visions of Teaoga” is a historical novel that has its readers sitting in on an Indian storytelling circle centuries ago, and joining a girl today who visits the same spot - and hears the whispers of its powerful history. As he explains, “Anyone studying early America comes face to face with how spotty the historical record can be, especially when dealing with the Indian world. Since the Iroquois and related tribes did not keep written histories at that time, we are generally dependent on the chronicles of Europeans. Unfortunately, those accounts were frequently slanted, ill-informed, or simply sketchy. And while prominent leaders such as Red Jacket and Teedyuscung got adequate mention in the official records, lesser-known ones like our Esther & Eghohowin remained on the margins. All too often, this has resulted in a grabbing at straws, in conjecture and rumor sometimes hardening into accepted truth, and in lore too often substituting for proven fact. Over the years, unsubstantiated and contradictory stories took hold about E & E’s backgrounds, actions, whereabouts, and even deaths. During the Revolutionary War years, as race hatred was growing, depicting Esther as the bloodthirsty “Fiend of Wyoming” may have served a propaganda purpose for settlers, but her exact role in the atrocity is actually far from clear.”
Doors open at 6pm and admission to the SRAC museum is included in your $6 donation to this program (SRAC members always receive a discount at $4 and students attend for free!) History’s Mysteries at SRAC will be presented at SRAC every first Tuesday of the month.
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