Pulitzer Prize History Winner

Puritan Village: The Formation of a New England Town

by Sumner Chilton Powell

Summary

Powell reconstructs how English settlers founded Sudbury, Massachusetts, tracing the people and customs they carried from old England to the new world. By studying land records, town meetings, and disputes in fine detail, he reveals how an English community transformed into a distinctly New England town. The book became an early model for the close grained local history that would shape later colonial scholarship.

Historical Context & Significance

Sumner Chilton Powell's microhistory of Sudbury, Massachusetts won the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1964.