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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 June 2018
This article explores the secularization of the American historical profession through the lens of an early twentieth-century historical controversy: the debunking of the legend that nineteenth-century missionary Marcus Whitman saved the Pacific Northwest from becoming a British possession. The Whitman controversy was a key skirmish in an ongoing, and still unresolved, debate about what constitutes right practices and ideations of history in the American academy, what counts as undue historical bias, and what place (if any) appeals to religion should have in academic historical discourse. Through the Whitman debate and other early twentieth-century historical battles, Protestant providential narratives of history were purged from academic textbooks and providential historians marginalized from the academy. Taking a cue from the evolutionary schemas of religious studies scholars, professional historians cast tales like the Whitman legend—and the providential narratives that undergirded them—as primitive myths unfit for a modernizing society. The Whitman controversy thus serves as a case study into the American historical profession's transformation at the turn of the twentieth century, a transformation that remains contested and incomplete.
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4 By using the language of secularization projects, I follow scholars, including Christian Smith and Talal Asad, who argue that rather than being a natural process of societal evolution, the secularization of modern societies has been brought about by power struggles between particular groups seeking particular ends, and thus has continued to be contested, multivalent, and incomplete. See Smith, Christian, preface to The Secular Revolution: Power, Interests, and Conflict in the Secularization of American Public Life (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003), 37Google Scholar; and Asad, Talal, Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2003), 25Google Scholar.
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6 The first organized Anglo-American emigration to Oregon occurred a year prior, in 1842, but encompassed only 112 migrants. The Emigration of 1843, by contrast, was comprised of 120 wagons and an estimated 875 emigrants: Woodworth, Stephen E., Manifest Destinies: America's Westward Expansion and the Road to the Civil War (New York: Knopf, 2011), 64, 73Google Scholar.
7 U.S. Congress, S. Comm. on Indian Affairs, Letter from the Secretary of the Interior, Communicating, in Compliance with the Resolution of the Senate of the 2nd Instant, Information in Relation to the Early Labors of the Missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions in Oregon, Commencing in 1836, 41st Cong., 3rd sess. (February 9, 1871).
8 Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash.
9 Frances Fuller Victor, “Did Dr. Whitman Save Oregon?” Astorian, 6 March 1881, 1; Elwood Evans to Charles H. Phelps, editor of the Californian, draft, 19 November 1880, box 3, folder 1, Elwood Evans Papers, William Winlock Miller Collection, Beinecke Library, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
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38 Marshall to G. H. [George Henry] Himes, 24 August 1888, box 1, folder 2, George H. Himes Papers, Oregon Historical Society Research Library, Portland, Oreg.
39 Bourne, “The Legend of Marcus Whitman,” in Essays in Historical Criticism, 8.
40 Bourne, “Method of Historical Study,” 927.
41 Bourne, “Legend of Marcus Whitman,” American Historical Review, 276.
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43 For instance: “History's Iconoclasts,” Seattle Mail and Herald, 14 December 1901, box I, Marcus and Narcissa Whitman Collection, Whitman College and Northwest Archives, Walla Walla, Wash. (hereafter cited as Whitman Collection); H. J. Haskell, “Myths of American History,” Independent, 5 July 1906, 31; “Marcus Whitman,” Independent, 29 November 1909, 1206; “The Whitman Controversy,” Independent, 3 February 1910, 275; and C. H. Howard, “Not a Legend,” Interior, 14 February 1901, 201.
44 S. A. Clark to William A. Mowry, 8 November 1902, box E, Whitman Collection; and T. C. Elliot to Edwin Eells, 24 December 1907, box 5, folder 1, Thompson Coit Elliot Papers.
45 Bourne, “Legend of Marcus Whitman,” American Historical Review, 276.
46 Bourne, “Legend of Marcus Whitman,” in Essays in Historical Criticism, 5.
47 Bourne, “Legend of Marcus Whitman,“ American Historical Review, 276.
48 Bourne, “Method of Historical Study,” 929.
49 Bourne, “Legend of Marcus Whitman,” in Essays in Historical Criticism, 6.
50 “American Historical Society Makes an Exposure,” Los Angeles Times, 29 December 1900, 14. See also “Now Deny That Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon,” San Francisco Chronicle, 29 December 1900, 2; “Ride of Dr. Whitman; Story of How He Saved Oregon Called a Mere Legend . . . Proofs that There Is No Truth in It,” The Washington Post, 17 March 1901, 27.
51 “The Marcus Whitman Legend,” Dial 32, no. 374 (16 January 1902), 40.
52 Alice Carman, “The Whitman Myth,” clipping from an unknown newspaper, box E, Whitman Collection; see also Ripley Hitchcock, “The Whitman Legend: Another Revival of a Curious Myth Concerning the Early Days of Oregon,” New York Times, 28 September 1901, BR1; “Another Page to Be Rewritten,” Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1 January 1901, 4; and “Whitman's Real Foes,” Oregonian (Portland, Ore.), 6 October 1901, 4.
53 “Religious World: The Legend of Marcus Whitman,” Chicago Advance, 17 Jauary 1901, 75.
54 I. K. Funk and D. S. Gregory, editors’ introduction, “How Oregon Was Saved to the United States,” Homiletic 14 (July– December 1901), 21.
55 William A. Mowry to Myron Eells, 11 February 1901, box E, Whitman Collection.
56 Minutes of the General Association of Connecticut, at the One Hundred and Sixty-First Annual Meeting, Held in Meriden, June 21–22, 1870, with Reports (Hartford, Conn.: Case, Lockwood & Brainard, 1870), 110Google Scholar. For Schaff's historical providentialism, see Graham, Stephen R., “‘Cosmos in the Chaos’: Philip Schaff's Vision of America,” American Presbyterians 67, no. 4 (Winter 1989): 260–261Google Scholar.
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58 Eells, Myron, “The Thunder Bird,” American Anthropologist 2, no. 4 (October 1889): 329–336Google Scholar; Eells, , “The Chinook Jargon,” American Anthropologist 7, no. 3 (July 1894): 300–312CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Eells, , “Twins among the Indians on Puget Sound,” Science 20, no. 504 (30 September 1892): 192–193Google Scholar; Eells, , “Aboriginal Geographic Names in the State of Washington,” American Anthropologist 5, no. 1 (January 1892): 27–36Google Scholar; Higham, C. L., “Saviors and Scientists: North American Protestant Missionaries and the Development of Anthropology,” Pacific Historical Review 72, no. 4 (November 2003): 549–551Google Scholar; and Paulus, Michael, “Cultural Record Keepers: The Myron Eells Northwest History Collection, Whitman College,” Libraries and the Cultural Record 43, no. 2 (2008): 214–217Google Scholar.
59 Myron Eells, A Reply to Professor Bourne's “The Whitman Legend” (Walla Walla, Wash.: Statesman, 1902, reprinted from Whitman College Quarterly 4, vol. 3); Eells, “As To The Value Of Historical Testimony,” Oregonian, 22 March 1903, 32; Eells, “Public Opinion on Whitman Question: Rev. Eells Reviews Professor Bourne's Article from the Whitman Side,” Oregonian, 31 May 1903, 15; Eells, “Professor William I. Marshall's Seven Mistakes,” Oregonian, 17 December 1905, 45; and Eells, , Marcus Whitman: Pathfinder and Patriot (Seattle: Alice Harriman, 1909)Google Scholar.
60 Eells, Reply to Professor Bourne's “The Whitman Legend,” 29, 36.
61 Ibid., 38.
62 Ibid., 37.
63 Ibid., 44.
64 Ibid., 89.
65 For instance, see Eells, Myron, “Dr. Whitman's Bill and His Letter to the Secretary of War,” Transactions of the Oregon Pioneer Association Fifteenth Annual Reunion (Portland: G. H. Himes, 1887), 69–78Google Scholar; Brown, Joseph Henry, Brown's Political History of Oregon, vol. 1, Provisional Government (Portland: Lewis & Dryden, 1892), 147–154Google Scholar; and Nixon, Oliver Woodson, How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon: A True Romance of Patriotic Heroism, Christian Devotion, and Final Martyrdom, introduction by Gunsaulus, Frank W., 2nd ed. (Chicago: Star, 1895) 315–324Google Scholar.
66 For instance, “Among the Books,” New York Observer and Chronicle (1833–1912), 11 July 1901, 79, 28; and William A. Mowry to M. Eells, Hyde Park, Mass., 8 October 1902, box E, Whitman Collection.
67 For instance, S. A. Clark to William A. Mowry, 8 November 1902, box E, Whitman Collection. See also William A. Mowry to Myron Eells, 1 February 1899, box E, Whitman Collection; Mowry to Eells, 11. February 1901, box E, Whitman Collection; and “What Marcus Whitman Did Do,” Congregationalist and Christian World, 16 August 1902, 239.
68 “The Whitman Controversy,” Independent, 13 November 1902, 2712.
69 Hart, Albert Bushnell, “Imagination in History,” American Historical Review 15, no. 2 (January 1910): 227–251, 242Google Scholar.
70 Ogg, Frederic Austin, “Paolo Toscanelli and the Discovery of America,” New England Magazine 30, no. 6 (August 1904): 664–673, 666Google Scholar.
71 Jameson, J. Franklin, review of Essays in Historical Criticism, by Bourne, Edward Gaylord, American Historical Review 7, no. 4 (July 1902): 746–747Google Scholar.
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73 “Death of Professor Marshall,” Oregonian, 16 November 1906, 5; “Pays Tribute to Memory of Late Myron Eells,” Olympian, 21 February 1907, 2; and “Obituary: Prof. Edward Gaylord Bourne,” New York Tribune, 25 February 1908, 5.
74 “Marcus Whitman,” Independent, 23 November 1909, 1206; also “On the Book Table” Chicago Advance, 9 September 1909, 340; “With Authors and Books,” Idaho Statesman, 27 October 1909, 4; and “Marcus Whitman as Missionary,” Springfield (Mass.) Republican, 31 October 1909, 27.
75 Review of Marcus Whitman, Pathfinder and Patriot, by Eells, Myron, Magazine of History with Notes and Queries 11, no. 3 (March 1910), 179Google Scholar.
76 Reviews of Marshall's work included Scott, Leslie M., review, Oregon Historical Quarterly 12, no. 4 (December 1911): 375–384Google Scholar; and Smith, Charles W., review, American Historical Review 17, no. 2 (January 1912): 385–386Google Scholar. The only two scholarly reviews of Eells's work were a short positive review in the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society and a review essay in the Washington Historical Quarterly. Charles Smith, the reviewer for the Washington Historical Quarterly, stated that Marshall's Acquisition of Oregon “closes the case for the negative.” See review, Bulletin of the American Geographical Society 42, no. 4 (1910): 299; and Smith, Charles W., review, Washington Historical Quarterly 3, no. 2 (April 1912): 154Google Scholar.
77 Holman, Frederick V., Dr. John McLoughlin: The Father of Oregon (Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark, 1907)Google Scholar.
78 See, for example, “Whitman, Marcus,” in Encyclopaedia Britannica, ed. Chisholm, Hugh, 11th ed. (New York: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1911), 610Google Scholar; “Whitman, Marcus,” New International Encyclopedia, vol. 28 (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1916), 611Google Scholar; Muzzey, David Saville, An American History (New York: Ginn, 1920), 267Google Scholar; Larned, J. N., A History of the United States for Secondary Schools (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1903), 436–437Google Scholar; and “Whitman, Marcus,” Americana: A Universal Reference Library ed. Beach, Frederick Converse, vol. 22 (New York: Scientific American Compiling Department, 1911)Google Scholar. One exception was William A. Mowry who continued to print the Whitman story in his school textbooks until at least 1914: Mowry, William A. and Mowry, Arthur May, First Steps in the History of Our Country (New York: Silver, Burdett, 1914), 233–235, 315Google Scholar.
79 The congressman was Francis W. Cushman: “Cushman Offers Prize,” Olympian, 30 October 1905, 3; “Cushman Prize for Essay,” Olympia Daily Recorder, 10 November 1905, 2; and “Marcus Whitman by E. A. Winship,” Walla Walla Statesman, 16 November 1905, 3.
80 “Address by Governor Recites Story of Terrible Tragedy of First Pioneer's Death,” Olympian, 30 November 1907; and “Northwest Territory Honors Memory of Marcus Whitman,” Idaho Statesman, 3 December 1907, 8.
81 “Governor Hays Speaks at Unveiling of Statue,” Olympian, 24 September 1909, 4.
82 “Summer Church Work Planned,” Philadelphia Inquirer, 25 June 1910, 9; “A Nation Builder Worthy of Honor,” Montana Anaconda Standard, 4 July 1910, 7; “Red-Blooded American Heroes: Marcus Whitman the Saviour of Oregon,” Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, 10 March 1911, 10; Shelton, Don O., Heroes of the Cross in America (New York: Literature Department, Presbyterian Home Missions, 1904)Google Scholar; and Hallock, Leavitt Homan, Why Our Flag Floats Over Oregon: Or, the Conquest of Our Great Northwest (Portland, Maine: Smith & Sale, 1911)Google Scholar.
83 C. H. Howard, “Not a Legend,” Interior, 14 February 1901, 201.
84 “Marcus Whitman,” Journal of Education 61, no. 18 (4 May 1905): 490Google Scholar.
85 Ibid., 492.
86 Novick, That Noble Dream, 152.
87 For instance, see Walker, Williston, A History of the Christian Church (New York: C. Scribner's Sons, 1918), esp. 589–590Google Scholar; McGiffert, Arthur Cushman, Martin Luther: The Man and His Work (New York: Century, 1910), esp. 381–388Google Scholar; and Porterfield, Amanda, “Leaving Providence Behind,” in the forum “One Hundred Years of Church History,” Church History 80, no. 2 (June 2011): 361–368Google Scholar.
88 Millard, Catherine, The Rewriting of America's History (Traverse City, Mich.: Horizon, 1991), 209Google Scholar. See also “Blaze Magazine Interview with David Barton: ‘Saving History,’” The Blaze, 6 July 2012, http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/07/06/blaze-magazine-interview-with-david-barton-saving-history; and Robert James, “Who Really Settled the West (Part 2),” The American Truth: A Heritage Lost, http://www.heritagelost-amtruth.com/settled-west2.htm.
89 These goals are diverse and sometimes conflicting, but they include restricting access to abortion, limiting LGBTQ+ rights, and promoting conservative Christian teachings (such as young-earth creationism and abstinence-only sexual education) in public schools. See Dowland, Seth, Family Values and the Rise of the Christian Right (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017)Google Scholar; and Lienesch, Michael, Redeeming America: Piety and Politics in the New Christian Right (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1993)Google Scholar. New providential lay historians support these policy agendas by rooting these policies in the notion that the United States was founded as an intentionally Christian nation, and that progressive social policies are thus a corruption of America's purpose and identity. See Stephens, Randall and Giberson, Karl, The Anointed: Evangelical Truth in a Secular Age (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2011), 61–91Google Scholar.