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.