202 Magazine of History

Frontier : The Life and Times of Robed Richford Roberts, 1778- 1843. By Worth M. Tippy. (New York: Abingdon Press, 1968. Pp. 207. Bibliography, index. $3.60.) Dr. Tippy, director of the Archives of DePauw university and Indiana and former of Christ Church (Methodist) in New York City, has given in this slender volume an interesting and able portrayal of “the life and times of Robert Richford Roberts, 1778- 1843.” He has given more of the life than of the times actually. If the book has any single deficiency, the blame lies not with the author but with the paucity of materials from which he has worked. Direct biographical data in any considerable corpus are limited to a statement dictated by Bishop Roberts while sitting for a portrait painted at Indiana Asbury University (now DePauw) . Combined with scattered reminiscences of those who knew the bishop, a few sermon fragments, and some records of the Methodist Conferences over which he presided, the primary sources still have a gaunt, underfed appearance. One has the impression that Dr. Tippy has had to pad his narrative in order to compensate for this defect. But the padding, while historically risky, arises from sound intui- tion. For Bishop Roberts’s significance to nineteenth century Methodism and to frontier Indiana is unquestionably bulkier than the record which he and others failed to leave. Born in , coming to Penn- sylvania as a boy, rising from reticent obscurity to reluctant eminence in the church, settling in Indiana in 1819, traveling throughout the church (a duty which has apparently always been laid upon ), giving much energy to the founding and proportionate substance to the strengthening of Indiana Asbury, preaching effectively but un- dramatically-all resulted in a quiet, compelling piety and in a broad, refined statesmanship which places him among the primary if lesser known figures of the Midwest and of the Methodist Church. Indiana readers will be especially attracted by the Hoosier geo- graphical and historical backgrounds in this very human portrait. Indiana University readers will be interested in the author”s chapter on the controversy between early Methodists and the officials of the &ate university, leading ultimately to the founding of DePauw, although this chapter contains no new details. The book is unfortunately marred by several typographical errors. The style is facile but not flowery, the scholarship accurate but not pedantic. Withal, Frontier Bishop is a worthwhile footnote on a little known chapter in nineteenth century Indiana-Methodist history and an affectionate tribute to an effective clergyman. Bloomingtcm, Indiana R. Benjamin Garrison

History of the North Indiana Conference, 1917-1956. By Frederick A. Norwood. (North Indiana Conference Historical Society, 1967. Pp. 331. Illustrations, graphs, appendices, index.) During the last five years histories have been published concerning all three Indiana conferences of the Methodist Church: Jack J. Detzler’s History of the Northwest Conference of the Methodiet Church (1963) ; Book Reviews

Herbert L. Heller’s Indiana Conference of the Methodist Church, 1892- 1956 (1956) ; and the present volume, a sequel to A Histmy of the North Indiana Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church from Its Organ- ization in 184.4 to the Present, written in 1917 by H. N. Herrick and William W. Sweet. After a quick resume of Indiana Methodism in the nineteenth century, Dr. Norwood plunges into the principal developments and highlights of Methodism in the North Indiana Conference during the twentieth century. Buildings and finances, conferences and other meet- ings, and homes for children and the aged are given attention. But emphasis is also placed on Christian education, lay Methodism, social problems and concerns, preaching and evangelism, and the missionary work of Methodists in the North Indiana Conference. Now and then the author indicates that the Methodists of this Conference have generally been conservative regarding innovations, yet he offers much evidence that nonetheless significant changes have taken place. Dr. Norwood’s account is readable and well grounded regarding the main currents of Methodism. Certain parts, however, are the result of composite research and writing and these parts are of uneven value. Appendices list superintendents, ministerial appointments, , retirements, lay readers, etc. Hundreds of small individual pictures are included. In short, this book has a number of built-in sales features. Even so, the pictures, lists, and the like have value as historical com- pilations. Though the addiction of numerous Methodists to the infamous Ku Klux Klan of the 1920’s is rightfully condemned, the Methodists in this book are not quite real persons. They get along remarkably well together and exhibit few outcroppings of original sin. The men and women here portrayed have a bit of gloss which prevents this history from being aa impartial and accurate as it might otherwise have been. Moreover, one gains the impression that perhaps this problem bothered Dr. Norwood as he wrote this volume. Indiana University Donald F. Carmony

The Prison at , Cherry Hill: The Separate System of Penal Discipline, 1829-1919. By Negley K. Teeters and John D. Shearer. Temple University Publications. (New York : Columbia University Press, 1956. Pp. xvi, 249. Illustrations, appendices, index. $5.50.) The problem of dealing with convicted criminals has long been of concern to society. In spite of intensive attention to this problem, to date comparatively little progress has been made in finding solu- tions. The Prison at Philadelphia makes the following important con- tributions to our thinking on this: 1) It rounds out and adds con- siderably to the historical analysis of the very important phase of American penology which is usually referred to 88 the Pennsylvania system. Since the scope of the book is limited to the description and analysis of the Cherry Hill Prison between 1829 and 1913, it was