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Engraving of Baptism of Indian converts in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, 1757.
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Engraving of Baptism of Indian converts.

Credit: Courtesy of The Library Company of Philadelphia

The Moravian missionaries who came to the Lehigh Valley in the 1740s soon established several missions among the Delaware and Mahicans. This 1757 engraving shows Indians separated into male and female groups to receive baptism. Missionaries expected converts to adopt European cultural practices, including gender segregation, as well as their spiritual beliefs

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