Ann Plato: Hartford's literary enigma -- The Natives of America and To the first of August: contrasts in cultural investment -- Missinnuok at the Hartford space -- Long Island sound platos and their circle -- Coordinates for social and religious identities -- Schooling: some speculations; teaching: some documentation -- Essays: publication and reception of the book -- Essays and Lydia Sigourney: the poetics of borrowing -- The literary personality of the essay topics -- Four women in a cultural circle -- The poetics of a young writer -- Epilogue: after the paper trail