An bibliography of non-contemporary works which discuss Henry Tufts, scholarly, popular, and otherwise. I intend to include everything which even mentions Henry once. If you know of any that are not listed here, please contact me.
For downloadable resources, see Downloads.
| Henry Tufts: A Bibliography | ||
| Allie, D. (2024, May 14). A visit to Boston. Henry Tufts Online.https://henrytufts.wordpress.com/2024/05/14/a-visit-to-boston/ | My account of visiting the Massachusetts State Archives and all of the Henry Tufts documents I saw there, as well as my subsequent jaunt over to Castle Island in February 2024. | Blog Post |
| Allie, D. (2024, April 12). Book review: Samuel Adams and the vagabond Henry Tufts. Henry Tufts Online. https://henrytufts.wordpress.com/2024/04/12/book-review-samuel-adams-and-the-vagabond-henry-tufts/ | My review of Nathaniel Parry’s book on Henry Tufts and Samuel Adams. | Blog Post |
| Allie, D. (2024, January 17). Every edition of Henry Tufts. Youtube.https://youtu.be/PEZ2cfcVMbE | My video showcasing every edition of Henry Tufts’ book I know to exist. | Video |
| Allie, D. (2023, August 17). The “devouring element:” The growing myth of the Samuel Bragg fire. Henry Tufts Online. https://henrytufts.wordpress.com/2023/08/17/the-devouring-element-the-growing-myth-of-the-samuel-bragg-fire/ | My refutation and summary of the history of the claim that a mob burned down Samuel Bragg’s print shop because he published Henry Tufts’ book. | Blog Post |
| Allie, D. (2017, March 26). Henry Tufts was a villain. Tufts Family Genealogy. http://tuftsgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/03/henry-tufts-was-villian.html | My defense of Henry Tufts as a source of historical information. Written under the less inflammatory title “In Defense of Henry Tufts.” | Blog Post |
| Allie, D. (2017, August 17). When lies are found to be truth: Henry Tufts’ final escape. Henry Tufts Online. https://henrytufts.wordpress.com/2017/08/17/when-lies-are-found-to-be-truth/ | My analysis of a newly-found piece of historical evidence which verified that Henry Tufts really had escaped from his life sentence in Salem, and was never confined again. | Blog Post |
| Allie, D. (2014, March 6). Hypocrite lecteur: Henry Tufts. UConn, University Libraries Archives and Special Collections Blog. https://blogs.lib.uconn.edu/archives/2014/03/06/hypocrite-lecteur-henry-tufts/ | My first impressions on Henry Tufts upon first discovering his book. Written for an internship project. | Blog Post |
| Anthony, D., and Reynolds, G. (2016). Henry Tufts. Episode 198 of The Dollop podcast.https://www.iheart.com/podcast/299-the-dollop-with-dave-27979491/episode/198-henry-tufts-27992957/ | Humorous podcast episode covering the rough outline of Henry Tufts’ life and career, clearly informed by Pearson. Occasionally inaccurate in particulars, but entertaining. The hosts find a great deal of humor in Henry’s exploits, particularly the early incident in which Henry steals and hides a neighbor’s sickle in a bush, leading them to create a new term “bushing a sickle.” | Podcast Episode |
| Beem, Engar Allen. (2008). “Rogues, Rascals, & Villains.” In Down East Magazine, August 2008, 86-91. | Henry Tufts receives a brief rundown in this article of brief anecdotes on the worst, most notorious people ever to reside in Maine. Henry’s crimes are rather pallid compared to those of the gallery of murderers and images of neo-Nazis that follow. | Magazine Article |
| Bell, Charles Henry. (1888). History of the Town of Exeter, New Hampshire. (p. 256). https://www.google.com/books/edition/History_of_the_Town_of_Exeter_New_Hampsh/ngo1AAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=henry%20tufts | Bell mentions Henry Tufts briefly in discussing the history of the Exeter jail: “it was not a very safe place of confinement, as was proved by the notorious Henry Tufts and others having made their escape from it.” No specific source given; Tufts’ book is likely the source. | Historical Book |
| Butterfield, M. (2016). The notorious Henry Tufts. In The land in our hands: Burley-Demeritt farm in Lee, NH: Its history. (pp. 41-42).https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Land_in_Our_Hands_Burley_Demeritt_Fa/9Jd5DAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=henry+tufts&pg=PA41&printsec=frontcover | Recounts some Lee, NH and Burley family legends of Henry Tufts, which the author admits do not match anything in Henry Tufts’ book. Author also makes it clear she has only seen the Loompanics edition at the time of writing. | Historical Book |
| Cohen, Daniel A. (1988). A fellowship of thieves: Property criminals in eighteenth-century Massachusetts. Journal of Social History 22(1), 65-92. | Discusses the careers of middle-range criminals of Henry Tufts’ time and place through the lens of literature published about them. Including Henry Tufts and his book. Later expanded into a chapter in Cohen’s dissertation and book, below. | Academic Article |
| Cohen, Daniel A. (1988) Pillars of salt: The transformation of New England crime literature, 1674-1860. [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. Brandeis University. https://www.proquest.com/openview/b2e6a4cc01b297a2a9c8e1408b666638/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y | Cohen’s dissertation on New England crime literature, including A fellowship of thieves, above, and later expanded into the book Pillars of salt, monuments of grace, below. | Doctoral Dissertation |
| Cohen, Daniel A. (2006). Pillars of salt, monuments of grace: New England crime literature and the origins of American popular culture, 1674-1860. University of Massachusetts Press. | Book on the history of early American crime literature. Includes Cohen’s article “A Fellowship of Thieves,” which discusses Henry Tufts’ book as a part of a new literary movement. | Academic Book |
| Coleman, J. (2004). The life of Henry Tufts (1807). In A history of cant and slang dictionaries, volume 2: 1785-1858. (pp. 238-241). Oxford University Press. https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_History_of_Cant_and_Slang_Dictionaries/2lMTDAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=henry+tufts&pg=PA238&printsec=frontcover | A brief examination of Henry Tufts’ “Nomenclature of the Flash language.” Concludes that the list was probably compiled from experience rather than plagiarized from other sources that existed at the time. A good attestation to the veracity of this portion of Tufts’ Narrative. | Academic Article |
| Crooks, Marley, et al. (2018). Critical introduction: A narrative of the life, adventures, travels, and sufferings of Henry Tufts. In A narrative of Henry Tufts: The critical edition. (pp. 1-9). Library of Early Maine Literature. | A brief introduction to Henry Tufts and his book. Repeats the spurious claim of arson of Samuel Bragg’s printshop, citing Keating. Includes other obvious errors as well. | Book Article |
| Day, G.M. (1974). Henry Tufts as a source on the eighteenth century Abenakis. Ethnohistory, 21(3), 189-197. | Examination of Henry Tufts’ accounts of the way of life of the people of Sudbury. | Academic Article |
| Fitts, James Hill, and Carter, N.F. (1912). History of Newfields, New Hampshire. Concord: Rumford Press. https://www.google.com/books/edition/History_of_Newfields_New_Hampshire_1638/8nEUAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=henry%20tufts | Brief summary of Henry Tufts’ life and career on pages 662-663, which appears to be based entirely on information found in Tufts’ book. Includes some genealogical information. | Historical Book |
| Garvin, D.B., and Garvin, J.L. (1988). People of the road. In On the road north of Boston: New Hampshire taverns and turnpikes, 1700-1900. (pp. 107-128). University Press of New England. https://www.google.com/books/edition/On_the_Road_North_of_Boston/PtZDVgSvFp8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=henry+tufts&pg=PA124&printsec=frontcover | Includes occasional mentions of Henry Tufts, as a fruitful source of information on the life of the road and tavern in New Hampshire in his era. Entries on pages 18, 65-66, 68, 78, 100, 103, 118, 123-124, 126-128, 158. | Historical Book |
| Helfrich, G.W. An uncommonly misspent life. (1989). In Down East Magazine, November 1989, 74-77, 85, 88. | Article on Henry Tufts’ life, similar to Stevens (1986). Appears to be using Pearson almost exclusively as a source, to the extent that portions of Pearson’s words appear without quotation marks, including in the opening paragraphs. Occasionally incorrect about places. Relates the spurious story of the burning of printer Samuel Bragg’s shop being arson. Also seems to be using Tufts Kinsmen Association (1976) as a source at the article’s close. Includes an illustration of Henry tipping his hat to a woman at the door of a tavern while leading a horse laden with stolen goods, and followed by what is likely the repeatedly stolen and sold dog of Newburyport, by Chris Van Dusen. Cited in Nelson (2011). | Magazine Article |
| Herzog, D. (2006). Cunning. Princeton University Press. | Herzog, professor of law at the University of Michigan, takes on the concept of what cunning is with real world examples ranging from Machiavelli to used car dealers. His examples also include Henry Tufts briefly (169-170) in a section discussing people using the religious views of others to cheat and swindle them, mentioning specifically the incident in which Tufts convinces a fellow prisoner he can escape prison with the help of the devil, and his impersonation of the devil himself with the ox’s leg. | Academic Book |
| Higginson, T.W. (1885). American Flash Language in 1798. In Science, Vol. 5, No. 118 (May 8, 1885). (pp. 380-382).https://www.jstor.org/stable/1761064?seq=1 | Brief article by Higginson on the Flash Language, also soliciting advice from readers on the origins of some of the terms. | Magazine Article |
| Higginson, T.W. (1889). A New-England vagabond. In Travellers and outlaws: Episodes in American history. (pp. 88-115). Lee and Shepard. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Travellers_and_Outlaws/VxUOAAAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=higginson+henry+tufts&pg=PA89&printsec=frontcover | Probably the first essay ever written on Henry Tufts and his book. Higginson praises it as a source of information and “coarse verisimilitude.” | Magazine Article |
| Higginson, T.W. (1902). John Greenleaf Whittier. The Macmillan Company.https://www.google.com/books/edition/John_Greenleaf_Whittier/f58pAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1 | Higginson’s biography of Whittier just happens to include reference to Henry Tufts by chance, as Whittier acknowledged him once in this couplet on the books he read in his youth: “and Tufts, too, though I will be civil, / Worse than an incarnate devil.” (18). This is accompanied by a brief description of Tufts’ book. A later offhand mention of Henry Tufts occurs on page 103. | Historical Book |
| Keating, N. (1993). Foreword. In The autobiography of a criminal: Henry Tufts. (pp. i-xxix). Loompanics Unlimited. | Neal Keating goes into great detail contextualizing Henry Tufts’ Narrative, and cites a great many sources. However, he takes as fact such things as Henry Tufts’ authorship, and the rumored mob-driven burning of Samuel Bragg’s print shop. | Book Article |
| Keating, N. (1992). The lost history of Henry Tufts. In Gone to Croatan: The origins of early American drop-out culture. New York. Autonomedia. | Keating digs deeper into the wider context of Henry Tufts’ life, particularly his military service as relates to George Washington’s perspective on his own troops. Keating also elucidates a theory of the “Land Pirate,” of which he sees Tufts as one of the chief representatives. | Book Chapter |
| The Many Loves of Henry Tufts: Original Colonial Badboy. (2016). New England Historical Society. https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/henry-tufts-original-colonial-badboy/ | Summary of Henry Tufts’ life. | Blog Post |
| Molly Ockett meets Henry Tufts. (n.d.). Museums of the Bethel Historical Society Online Collections & Catalog. https://bethelhistorical.org/catalog/exhibits/show/mollyockett/henry-tufts | Summary of Henry Tufts’ time with the Abenakis, including book excerpts. | Web Article |
| Nelson, Shirley. (2011). Lydia. S.l.: T.S. Nelson. https://www.amazon.com/Lydia-Shirley-Nelson-ebook/dp/B0050Q9DKM/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Lydia+tufts&qid=1597114398&sr=8-2 | Fictional account of the life of Henry Tufts’ long-suffering wife Lydia Bickford. | Fiction |
| Nemec, A. Vagabond. (2017). Episode 9 of A Time for Horses podcast. https://atimeforhorses.blubrry.net/2017/12/07/vagabond/ | An entertaining look at Henry Tufts and his horse-related exploits. Cites my edition of the book and this website as a source. | Podcast Episode |
| Noted and notorious residents. (n.d.). Lee Historical Society. http://leenhhistoricalsoc.org/the-history-of-lee-nh/987-2/ | Brief summary of Henry Tufts’ life. Information and images gleaned from Pearson. Misidentifies Pearson’s images and misattributes Samuel Bragg’s print shop burning to an angry mob. | Web Article |
| Parry, Nathaniel. (2024). Samuel Adams and the vagabond Henry Tufts: Virtue meets vice in the Revolutionary era. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland.https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/Samuel-Adams-and-the-Vagabond-Henry-Tufts/ | Forthcoming book comparing and contrasting the contemporary figures of Samuel Adams and Henry Tufts, focusing on the pivotal event in Henry Tufts’ life in which his and Adams’ paths crossed – Henry Tufts sentencing to death and Adams’ commutation of his sentence. | Historical Book |
| Pearson, E. (1930). Introduction. In The autobiography of a criminal. (pp. ix-xvii). Duffield & Company. See my PDF. | Discusses Henry Tufts’ place in American History and American Literature, and discusses previous research into Henry Tufts. See also my transcription of this source. | Book Article |
| Pearson, E. (1930). The six silver spoons. In The autobiography of a criminal. (pp. 347-357). Duffield & Company. See my PDF. | Pearson’s illuminating research into the truth of Henry Tufts’ claims about his trial and commuted death sentence in Massachusetts. Includes the only document known to be written by the hand of Henry Tufts himself. See also my transcription of this source. | Book Article |
| Pearson, E. (1928). A Yankee Casanova. In Queer books. (pp. 271-298). Doubleday, Doran and Company, Inc. | Pearson recounts events in Henry Tufts’ book, praising it as a historical source. In substance, very similar to works such as Higginson’s. See also my transcription of this source. | Book Chapter |
| Robinson, J.D. (2011). Henry Tufts wrote first American criminal autobiography. SeacoastNH.com. http://www.seacoastnh.com/henry-tufts-wrote-first-american-criminal-autobiography/ | A local look at Henry Tufts. Mainly a summary of events recounted in his book. | Web Article |
| Searle, S.W., illustrated by Pietsch, C. “A lonely line.” In Colonial comics: New England: 1750-1775. (pp. 22-31). | A short graphic account of the life of Molly Ockett, Henry Tufts’ “Indian Doctress,” makes a brief acknowledgement of Henry himself (page 30). | Graphic Nonfiction |
| Scee, Trudy Irene. (2014). Henry Tufts, thief extraordinaire, “Knight of the Rascals.” In Rogues, rascals, and other villainous Mainers. (pp. 1-12). Down East Books. | Summary of Henry Tufts’ life as described in his book. Author appears to have not personally examined the first edition, stating it was 266 pages in length (in actuality, 366 pages), and believes that the woodcut prints in Pearson’s edition were taken from there, when in fact they were not. | Book Article |
| Stevens, J. (1986). Confessions of a professional black sheep. In Yankee Magazine, September 1986, 136-141, 194-199. | Summary of Henry Tufts’ life and career, appearing to mostly use Henry’s book and Pearson as a source for background information. Also makes some observations similar to ones later made by Keating. Occasionally is incorrect about facts relating to places and dates. Illustrated with an artful eighteenth-century style portrait of Henry Tufts as an anthropomorphic black sheep man, painted by John Jude Palencar. Cited in Nelson (2011). | Magazine Article |
| Thompson, M.P. (1892). Tufts’ boundary. In Landmarks in ancient Dover. (p. 257). https://www.google.com/books/edition/Landmarks_in_Ancient_Dover_New_Hampshire/QarkVaNCBvEC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=henry+tufts&pg=PA257&printsec=frontcover | Mary P. Thompson is highly derisive of Henry Tufts, and makes it clear she has not read his book. Nonetheless, she provides some potentially helpful hearsay-based anecdotes related to the real-life Henry Tufts and his book. | Historical Book |
| Tufts Kinsmen Association. (1976). Yes, he was the very worst! Tufts Kinsmen, II(3), 37-40. | A quick rundown of Henry Tufts and his career. Quotes in full a short essay by Dr. George Carter of Manchester, NH, which asserts that the publication of Henry Tufts’ book led to the burning of Samuel Bragg’s print shop, and that a mob did it. Edmund Pearson is the only apparent source for this. However, the main article’s author shares a remarkable image of an otherwise unknown holograph document of Henry Tufts accepting payment for doctoring services in Limington, ME in 1817. | Newsletter Article |
| Tufts, T.W. (2012, October 25). Henry Tufts; black sheep of an otherwise respectable family. Tufts Family Genealogy. http://tuftsgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/10/henry-tufts-blacksheep-of-otherwise.html | Thomas W. Tufts recounts events in Henry Tufts’ book, and reflects on Henry Tufts’ position in his family’s history. | Blog Post |
| Tufts, T.W. (2018, October 3). My search for Henry Tufts’ grave in Limington Maine. Tufts Family Genealogy. http://tuftsgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/10/my-2018-search-for-henry-tufts-grave-in_13.html | Thomas W. Tufts recounts his search for Henry Tufts’ grave, which remains missing to this day. | Blog Post |
| Vaver, A. (2010, November 10). Early American criminals: Henry Tufts’ Thanksgiving. Early American Crime.https://www.earlyamericancrime.com/criminals/henry-tufts-thanksgiving | Brief account of Henry Tufts’ life and career, particularly the burning of the Falmouth jail and Henry’s stay with the jailer’s family for Thanksgiving. Notably, informed by the first edition of the text and Williams (1984), not Pearson. | Blog Post |
| Wadleigh, G. (1913). Notable events in the history of Dover, New Hampshire. (p. 185). https://www.google.com/books/edition/Notable_Events_in_the_History_of_Dover_N/A3ywiDfSrY8C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=wadleigh+henry+tufts&pg=PA185&printsec=frontcover | George Wadleigh shares a brief anecdote from the historical record, courtesy of Sheriff Theophilus Dame, who provides the only known physical description of Henry Tufts. Attributes the authorship of Henry Tufts’ book to Thomas Tash. | Historical Book |
| Wells, Frederic P. (1902). History of Newbury, Vermont, from the discovery of the Coös country to present time. (pp. 121-122) https://www.google.com/books/edition/History_of_Newbury_Vermont/tY9Lxurlpu0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=henry%20tufts | Wells shares a unique and previously overlooked anecdote of Henry Tufts in Newbury, Vermont in 1786, during the time of Shays’s Rebellion. Tufts attempted to foment rebellion against local authorities, and was punished for it; later he attempted to regain a gun confiscated from him at the time by writing to a local authority under an assumed name. Tufts’ presence in Vermont has otherwise not been the subject of study and is worth further investigation.Many thanks to Mike Davis, Assistant Director of the Bridgton Historical Society, Maine, for finding and sharing this item. | Historical Book |
| Williams, D.E. (1993). The autobiography of a criminal. Journal of the Early Republic, 14(1), 116-118. | Review of the Loompanics edition of Autobiography of a Criminal, and the foreword by Neal Keating. | Academic Article |
| Williams, D.E. (1984). Doctor, preacher, soldier, thief: A new world of possibilities in the rogue narrative of Henry Tufts. Early American Literature, 19(1), 3-20. | Exploring the developing literary concept of “rogue” through Henry Tufts’ narrative. | Academic Article |
| Williams, D.E. (1990). Gadding about quack like: The science of deception in the practice of physic in the Narrative of Henry Tufts. In B. Clarke and W. Aycock (Eds.), The body and the text: Comparative essays in literature and medicine. (pp. 77-89). Texas Tech University Press. | A look at Henry Tufts’ medical quackery alongside his exaggerated narrative, interpreting both as a form of class rebellion. | Academic Article |
| Williams, D.E. (1991). My only practical atonement: Variations of personality and performance in the Narrative of Henry Tufts. South Central Review, 8(1), 23-36. | An examination into the nature of Henry Tufts’ fraudulent behavior, and its literary character. | Academic Article |
| Williams, D.E. (1983). Rogues, rascals and scoundrels: The underworld literature of early America. American Studies, 24(2), 5-19. | The history of rogue literature in America, including Henry Tufts. | Academic Article |
Henry Tufts Online 