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"Anachronism"

(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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Stepping out of his 18th century character, this 'Indian' photographs a fellow 'Indian' in a child-like pose next to an anxious looking 'Puritan' woman. Adding a layer to the image, the Allen sisters photographers captured the scene with their famed cameras. This scene epitomizes the irony of the Old Deerfield Pageants where community members of English descent impersonate their Puritan ancestors and their historic enemies, the Indians. Pageants sought to accurately recreate the past, but they allowed popular stereotypes and misconceptions to seep into their historical presentations. In reality, the Old Deerfield, Massachusetts, pageants were an early 20th century attempt of a town to define a popular version of the past.

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