The Best Land: Researching a Contested Place - Webinar

Susan A. Brewer discusses her book, The Best Land: Four Hundred Years of Love and Betrayal on Oneida Territory, in which she investigates the history of the parcel of central New York land on which she grew up. Brewer and her family had lived on this land for generations when the Oneida Indian Nation claimed that it rightfully belonged to them. Why, she wondered, did she not know what had happened to this place her grandfather called the best land. She tells its story, tracing over the past four centuries the two families---her own European settler family and the Oneida/Mohawk family of Polly Denny---who called the best land home. In her presentation, Brewer addresses the challenges of researching this history of two families whose lives were profoundly intertwined on contested land. Registration info can be found on our site.