  The Annual Register of Indian Affairs Within the Indian (or Western) Territory. Published by Isaac M'Coy. Shawanoe Baptist Mission House, Ind. Ter. January 1, 1835 (The Annual Register of Indian Affairs Within the Indian (or Western) Territory. Published by Isaac M'Coy. Shawanoe Baptist Mission House, Ind. Ter. January 1, 1835) By introducing printing at the Shawanoe mission station in the Indian Territory in March 1834, Jotham Meeker became the first printer of what is now Kansas. He had learned his trade at Cincinnati and for some years had served as a Baptist missionary and printer among various Indian tribes. The Library of Congress' earliest example of Kansas printing is the first number of The Annual Register of Indian Affairs Within the Indian (or Western) Territory. Published by Isaac M'Coy. Shawanoe Baptist Mission House, Ind. Ter. January 1, 1835. Isaac McCoy (1784-1846), publisher of four numbers of the Annual Register between 1835 and 1838, was a prominent Baptist missionary, who also served as an Indian agent and strongly advocated the colonization of western Indians in a separate state. In this work he gives an account of the several mission stations operated by various denominations in the Indian Territory. The following passage from the first number of the Annual Register deals with the printer: At the Shawanoe station is a printing press in operation, under the management of Jotham Meeker, Missionary for the Ottawas. Mr. Meeker has invented a plan of writing (not like that of Mr. Guess, the Cherokee), by which, Indians of any tribe may learn to read in their own language in a few days. The first experiment was made with a sprightly Chippewa boy, wholly ignorant of letters, and of the English language. He studied three hours each day for nine days; at the expiration of which time there was put into his hands a writing of about twenty lines, of the contents of which he had no knowledge. After looking over it a few minutes, without the aid of an instructer, the boy read off the writing, to the unspeakable satisfaction of the teacher. Upon this plan elementary school books have been prepared, and printed, viz.—In Delaware, two; in Shawanoe, two; in Putawatomie, one; and two in Otoe, besides a considerable number of Hymns, &c. The design succeeds well. Jotham Meeker's surviving journal, from which extracts have been published, Another source of information about the Annual Register is Isaac McCoy's book, History of Baptist Indian Missions (Washington, New York, and Utica, 1840), wherein he states, I published it [the first number] at my own cost, and circulated it gratuitously. One was sent to each member of Congress, and to each principal man in the executive departments of Government. Under the circumstances it is not surprising that three copies have made their way into the Library of Congress collections. On their respective title pages they are addressed in manuscript to "Hon Nathaniel Silsbee U.S. Sen," "Hon Jno. Cramer H. Reprs. U S," and "Hon Lucius Lyon H.R.U.S." |
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