Edmund F. Ely (1809–1882) spent sixteen years as a missionary and teacher among the Ojibwes of Lake Superior during the 1830s and 1840s.  Theresa M. Schenck is an associate professor of life sciences communications and American Indian studies and folklore at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is the author of William W. Warren: The Life, Letters, and Times of an Ojibwe Leader (Nebraska, 2007) and the editor of William W. Warren's History of the Ojibway People: The Annotated Edition.

• List of Illustrations List of Maps List of Tables Introduction Chapter 1: Albany, New York, to Sandy Lake, Iowa Territory, July 5 to September 28, 1833 Chapter 2: Sandy Lake, September 28 to December 7, 1833 Chapter 3: Sandy Lake to Leech Lake, December 8, 1833, to May 4, 1834 Chapter 4: Fond du Lac and Travels, May 4 to December 28, 1834 Chapter 5: Fond du Lac, January 1 to September 21, 1835 Chapter 6: Life at Fond du Lac, September 20, 1835, to December 27, 1836 Chapter 7: Missionary Life at Fond du Lac, January 7 to November 25, 1837 Chapter 8: Struggles at Fond du Lac, January 4 to December 14, 1838 Chapter 9: Closing Fond du Lac, January to October 20, 1839 Chapter 10: Events of 1840 to 1842 Chapter 11: Final Years in Missionary Life, 1842 to 1849 Aftermath Appendix A: Manners and Customs of Ojibueg Appendix B: Catharine Ely's Diary, 1835 to 1839 Appendix C: Select Ojibwe Vocabulary Appendix D: Anishinaabeg of Fond du Lac and the St. Croix Valley Appendix E: Missionary Community Appendix F: List of Persons in the District of Fond du Lac, 1834 to 1835 Appendix G: Maps Bibliography Index