History of the Ojibway People

by William W. Warren, Theresa Schenck (Editor)

For the first time since its initial publication in 1885, this classic history of the Ojibwe is available with new annotations and a new introduction by Theresa Schenck.

William W. Warren's History of the Ojibway People has long been recognized as a classic source on Ojibwe history and culture. Warren, the son of an Ojibwe woman, wrote his history in the hope of saving traditional stories for posterity even as he presented to the American public a sympathetic view of a people he believed were fast disappearing under the onslaught of a corrupt frontier population. He collected firsthand descriptions and stories from relatives, tribal leaders, and acquaintances and transcribed this oral history in terms that nineteenth-century whites could understand, focusing on warfare, tribal organizations, and political leaders. First published in 1885, the book has also been criticized by Native and non-Native scholars, many of whom do not take into account Warren's perspective, goals, and limitations. Now, for the first time since its initial publication, it is made available with new annotations researched and written by professor Theresa Schenck. A new introduction by Schenck also gives a clear and concise history of the text and of the author, firmly establishing a place for William Warren in the tradition of American Indian intellectual thought.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Native American, Indigenous, Classics

344 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1885

About the author

William Whipple Warren (May 27, 1825 – June 1, 1853) was a historian, interpreter, and legislator in the Minnesota Territory. The son of Lyman Marcus Warren, an American fur trader and Mary Cadotte, the Ojibwe-Metis daughter of fur trader Michel Cadotte, he was of Ojibwe and French descent. His mother was Ojibwe and he learned her culture from her family. He is the first historian of the Ojibwe people in the European tradition.

Bilingual and educated in the United States style, Warren started collecting stories from the oral tradition of the Ojibwe to tell their history. He drew from oral history to tell about the people prior to their encounter with Europeans, and combined it with documentation in the European style. After suffering from tuberculosis for many years, he died as a young man of 28 from a hemorrhage on June 1, 1853 and was buried in Saint Paul, Minnesota. His history was published posthumously in 1885 by the Minnesota Historical Society. A revised, annotated edition was published in 2009.

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredible book, an incredible look inside the Ojibway culture back before the traditional ways had completely disappeared. Written in 1852 by an astutely observant Ojibway/Yankee author, he collected the oral traditional stories from lots of tribal elders from around both the southern & northern shores of Lake Superior, and put together what I think is the best history of a tribal people, from inside the tribe, that I have ever read. He was completely aware of the ambiguities (and other weaknesses) of the oral tradition from the perspective of scientific reasoning expected from European cultures at that time, and navigated that gap masterfully. His usage of personal anecdotes, legends & myths weaves together into a wonderfully colorful covering of what it meant to be a traditional Ojibway warrior, trader, chief in the first century of contact & clash with the European and American cultures. This is one of the books I'll happily recommend to anybody interested in native American history & culture.

[Tim Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this landmark book many times, as have many scholars and students of Native American history since 1885, and still do. A reference, the first of its kind, and an amazing read. Schenck's annotated version gives valuable perspective and places the man in his time. We contemporary readers would benefit to understand the context of Anishinaabe history and society as they understood it in their 19th century world. Warren, raised among them and considered a grandson, understood this and more.

To contribute to that understanding, I've just published Mixed Blood: Last Winter in America (Polyverse Publications, CA.). A historical novel based on Warren's life and last voyage as he crossed the Great Lakes in 1853, the year he died, to publish his History. He was 28, a young man who devoted his life to collecting his People's stories traditions and writing them down so they would live, as the Ojibwe elders said, forever.

[Val · Rating 5 out of 5]

A primary source document told in personal account by an Ojibway man, William Warren, in 1850 detailing the general history from 7 generations back to his present of the Anishinaabe, sweeping throughout Minnesota, Northern Canada, and the rest of the Great Lakes region. I used this piece as a historical and cultural reference for some research for my novel, a purpose it served with lots of detail and information. Anyone from Minnesota would enjoy these histories, as they provide the long-term history of familiar territory, lakes, and river valleys.

[Sarah]

I'm dragging with this book. I have to admit I'm only on page 111. It's challenging for me to stay with it. But as I was reading about people being burned alive and eaten last night, I thought, "I have 12 days before this is due back to the library, I think I can do it."

[Deborah Ingersoll · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Warren showed up on my family tree so I read this with great interest. If you enjoy history and can find a copy, this is worth the read.

[Daniel Kleven · Rating 5 out of 5]

I live in Minnesota, a little ways south of the historic boundaries between Ojibwe and Dakota lands, and lately I've been drawn north, to Lake Superior and the original neighbors to the north. As I was doing some research for a family trip to Madeline Island this summer, I saw a reference to William Warren and his History of the Ojibway People. This was a book I checked out from the library but soon purchased for myself. Reading this book was such a rich experience, a beginning of understanding the roots in this land. The book is a mix of history drawn from oral accounts, some written accounts, myths and legends, and a double view toward Native history and Colonial history, and the interplay between them. The best insights in this book are not taught didactically from the page, but instead emerge subtly and almost imperceptibly as you accumulate the stories over time. We are blessed to have Warren's work.

I read the 2009 edition edited by Theresa Schenck, but also read the introductions to the 1984 and original 1885 editions as well. I plan to read Schenck's biography of Warren (William W. Warren: The Life, Letters, and Times of an Ojibwe Leader).

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written in 1852 the book includes much fascinating information. However, it was intended to be the first of a three volume history that was left unfinished when the author William Warren, a mixed blood Ojibway/French scholar, died at the age of 28. Thus the story is tragically incomplete. This first volume details the expansion of the Ojibways into Lake Superior, the head waters of the Mississippi River, and the southern part of Manitoba, and unfortunately is taken up with rather too many accounts of battles with the Dakotas for the territory. But Warren also includes stories of the fur trade, the progress of the War of 1812, and the eventual annexation of Ojibway territory in Wisconsin and Minnesota by the USA among many other incidental tidbits that will be of great interest to students of the Anishinaabe.
The author's compromised and complicated position as an Indigenous person in 1850 writing for a White reader is often painfully apparent. His prose is frequently obsequious to the Settlers and disparaging to his own people. Yet the book is a valuable text whose distinct, colonized perspective rang true to me as an acculturated Anishinaabe reader in 2020.

[Matt Herbert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really important in documenting a ton of first hand accounts, as well as oral histories of Ojibwe in the Lake Superior, Red River and Upper Miississippi, and historians have benefited from it greatly. So the book is extremely important as reference material.

It can be somewhat of a slog though. Written in 1885, there are a lot of pretty cringy stereotypic perspectives about the Ojibwe that were common in those times, even though the author was half Ojibwe. And I was disappointed that so much of the book was dominated by the long-time battles with the Dakota and Fox in the upper Mississippi, and less about Michigan Ojibwe, about everyday life (e.g., seasonal movement and foraging patterns), and about impacts from, conflicts and agreements with European settlers. I suspect Warran actually avoided the latter, to avoid turning off white settler readers, who likely wouldn't have been sympathetic at the time.

But there was still a lot here of interest. And the annotations by historian Theresa Schenck were extremely helpful, providing some corrections, but.often backing the accounts up with other source material. And this provides increased confidence in the general accuracy of the book.

[Lissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've decided to donate this book to my local library in hopes they will make a decision on the validity of the origins of Ojibwe people. Even the way he has titled his book is whitewashed, so, because at his own admission early in chapter one, his straddling two worlds/two cultures, I cannot follow this survey of the American indigenous peoples.

[Ryan Fischer]

A very interesting and layered primary source providing a relatively rare perspective - excerpts would be very teachable. Unfortunate that Warren was not able to finish.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just as the title says, it's a well done history of the Ojibway people. A good read.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written 19th century history of a once-powerful tribe of the Great Lakes Area. Though, there are some inaccuracies (as notated in the footnotes), I feel the author was as truthful and as accurate as he could be. I recommend this book for those interested in the French and Indian War, the history of the fur trade, the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812 as well as general American history.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really focused on war!!

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

love this book