A large part of the material for the early history of Pennsylvania is contained of course in the writings and papers of the founder. The "Life of William Penn" by S. M. Janney (1852) is perhaps the most trustworthy of the older biographies but it is a dull book. A biography written with a modern point of view is "The True William Penn" by Sydney G. Fisher (1900). Mrs. Colquhoun Grant, a descendant of Penn has published a book with the title "Quaker and Courtier: the Life and Work of William Penn" (1907). The manuscript papers of Penn now in the possession of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, together with much new material gathered in England, are soon to be published under the able editorship of Albert Cook Myers.
There is a vast literature on the history of Quakerism. The "Journal of George Fox" (1694), Penn's "Brief Account of the Rise and Progress of the People called Quakers" (1695), and Robert Barclay's "Apology for the True Christian Divinity" (1678) are of first importance for the study of the rise of the Society of Friends. Among the older histories are J.J. Gurney's "Observations on the Religious Peculiarities of the Society of Friends" (1824), James Bowden's "History of the Society of Friends in America," 2 vols. (1850-54), and S.M. Janney's "History of the Religious Society of Friends," 4 vols. (1860-67). Two recent histories are of great value: W. C. Braithwaite, "The Beginnings of Quakerism" (1912) and Rufus M. Jones, "The Quakers in the American Colonies" (1911). Among the older histories of Penn's province are "The History of Pennsylvania in North America," 2 vols. (1797-98), written by Robert Proud from the Quaker point of view and of great value because of the quotations from original documents and letters, and "History of Pennsylvania from its Discovery by Europeans to the Declaration of Independence in 1776" (1829) by T. F. Gordon, largely an epitome of the debates of the Pennsylvania Assembly which recorded in its minutes in fascinating old-fashioned English the whole history of the province from year to year. Franklin's "Historical Review of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania from its Origin" (1759) is a storehouse of information about the history of the province in the French and Indian wars. Much of the history of the province is to be found in the letters of Penn, Franklin, Logan, and Lloyd, and in such collections as Samuel Hazard's "Register of Pennsylvania," 16 vols. (1828-36), "Colonial Records," 16 vols. (1851-53), and "Pennsylvania Archives" (1874-). A vast amount of material is scattered in pamphlets, in files of colonial newspapers like the "Pennsylvania Gazette," in the publications of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and in the "Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography" (1877-). Recent histories of the province have been written by Isaac Sharpless, "History of Quaker Government in Pennsylvania," 2 vols. (1898-99), and by Sydney G. Fisher, "The Making of Pennsylvania" (1896) and "Pennsylvania, Colony and Commonwealth" (1897). A scholarly "History of Proprietary Government in Pennsylvania" has been published by William R. Shepherd in the "Columbia University Studies" (1896) and the "Relations of Pennsylvania with the British Government, 1696-1765" (1912) have been traced with painstaking care by Winfred T. Root.
Concerning the racial and religious elements in Pennsylvania the following books contribute much valuable information: A. B. Faust, "The German Element in the United States," 2 vols. (1909); A. C. Myers, "Immigration of the Irish Quakers into Pennsylvania, 1682-1750" (1909); S. W. Pennypacker, "Settlement of Germantown, Pennsylvania, and the Beginning of German Immigration to North America" (1899); J. F. Sachse, "The German Pietists of Provincial Pennsylvania, 1694-1708" (1895), and "The German Sectarians of Pennsylvania, 1708-1800," 2 vols. (1899-1900); L. O. Kuhns, "The German and Swiss Settlements of Colonial Pennsylvania" (1901); H. J. Ford, "The Scotch-Irish in America" (1915); T. A. Glenn, "Merion in the Welsh Tract" (1896).
The older histories of New Jersey, like those of Pennsylvania, contain valuable original material not found elsewhere. Among these Samuel Smith's "The History of the Colony of Nova Casaria, or New Jersey" (1765) should have first place. E. B. O'Callaghan's "History of New Netherland," 2 vols. (1846), and J. R. Brodhead's "History of the State of New York," 2 vols. (1853, 1871) contain also information about the Jerseys under Dutch rule. Other important works are: W. A. Whitehead's "East Jersey under the Proprietary Governments" (New Jersey Historical Society "Collections," vol.1, 1875), and "The English in East and West Jersey" in Winsor's "Narrative and Critical History of America," vol. III, L. Q. C. Elmer's "The Constitution and Government of the Province and State of New Jersey" (New Jersey Historical Society Collections, vols. III and VII, 1849 and 1872.) Special studies have been made by Austin Scott, "Influence of the Proprietors in the Founding of New Jersey" (1885), and by H. S. Cooley, "Study of Slavery in New Jersey" (1896), both in the Johns Hopkins University "Studies;" also by E. P. Tanner, "The Province of New Jersey" (1908) and by E. J. Fisher, "New Jersey as a Royal Province, 1738-1776" (1911) in the Columbia University "Studies." Several county histories yield excellent material concerning the life and times of the colonists, notably Isaac Mickle's "Reminiscences of Old Gloucester" (1845) and L. T. Stevens's "The History of Cape May County" (1897) which are real histories written in scholarly fashion and not to be confused with the vulgar county histories gotten up to sell.
The Dutch and Swedish occupation of the lands bordering on the Delaware may be followed in the following histories: Benjamin Ferris, "A History of the Original Settlements of the Delaware" (1846); Francis Vincent, "A History of the State of Delaware" (1870); J. T. Scharf, "History of Delaware, 1609-1888," 2 vols. (1888); Karl K. S. Sprinchorn, Kolonien Nya Sveriges Historia (1878), translated in the "Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography," vols. VII and VIII. In volume IV of Winsor's "Narrative and Critical History of America" is a chapter contributed by G. B. Keen on "New Sweden, or The Swedes on the Delaware." The most recent minute work on the subject is "The Swedish Settlements on the Delaware," 2 vols. (1911) by Amandus Johnson.
All books are sourced from Project Gutenberg