ABSTRACT
Although the seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is a familiar sight to scholars of early American history and literature, this iconic image of imperialism and colonialism has served as little more than an interesting footnote in the annals of early American scholarship. As scholars, we are all familiar with the stark imagery of the seal: a nearly nude, Native figure holding a bow in one hand and a down-turned arrow in the other with the appeal “Come over and help us” issuing from the mouth, 1 and we have seen it prominently displayed as a frontispiece or as a key illustration in various academic texts (see Figure 1.1). 2 In such texts, the detailed image of the seal is often accompanied by rather basic annotation which notes the seal’s imperialistic overtones and perhaps its dates of use, but then the pace of the work surrounding the image resumes, as if to move on to what “really needs to be said” about more pertinent topics, suggesting the seal itself is an interesting visual relic but an open book. It is a text about which all is transparent and readily evident to the viewer. Its motives and intent are obvious; and while arresting, there is nothing else to say or that can be said about it, really.
