A Harmony of the Spirits: Translation and the Language of Community in Early Pennsylvania by Patrick M. Erben

Abstract

Tradition holds that colonists such as George Thomas and Benjamin Franklin considered Pennsylvania to be a colony challenged by its multiplicity of faiths, ethnicities, and languages. In A Harmony of the Spirits: Translation and the Language of Community in Early Pennsylvania, Patrick M. Erben disputes this myth, using contemporary writings that range from promotional lit-erature to calligraphies, hymns, and religious tracts to demonstrate that the people of Pennsylvania appreciated the multilingual diversity of the province and used it as a means to encourage inclusiveness, not division.