The following text is being posted on Ma'at at the request of Sensations Magazine:

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My name is David Messineo, and I run a small literary magazine based in Lafayette, NJ, called Sensations Magazine. For 20 years, our publication has published contemporary poetry and fiction, with occasional footnoted research projects. Sensations Magazine is available to university libraries through EBSCO, and I'm pleased that our past work has led us into The New York Public Library, the university libraries of all but two of the Ivy League, and others. You may find out more about our publication's history at my website, www.sensationsmag.com.

Sensations Magazine Issue 43, Spring/Summer 2008, will be on the theme of "Sixteenth Century America," and Issue 44, Fall/Winter 2008, will be on the theme of "Seventeenth Century America." These are the first two of a six-part, three-year research project celebrating six centuries of history to the present, and imagining the possibilities of the future up to the year 2100.

I am trying to create magazine issues that blend poetry and fiction writers reconstructing America during those years in imaginative ways, along with creating a one-publication "resource" on that topic, with a special emphasis on finding primary sources and giving a 2008 "snapshot" of the time period with a tremendous degree of historical accuracy. In browsing websites on the Internet, I was impressed with the level of scholarship and research in many of your posted articles, especially some related to questioning Gavin Menzies' 1421 research findings.

There are many sources for information, from university libraries to great Internet websites such as yours, and figured I'd start by asking you if you could pass these rather obscure questions to your readers, and let me know if anyone can help me with some of the missing information below.

My publication is not associated with any university library, and does not accept government grant funding. This allows us to provide a free and more balanced, multicultural view of what happened in present-day America in the years 1501 to 1700, from both a Native American and Western European visitor perspective.

Our focus for this project is what happened in what is now the present-day United States of America during the years 1501 to 1700, with a special emphasis on incidents and documentation related to Native American-Western European contact. Here are some questions, generated from a lengthy recent browse of the Internet:

1. I found a reference online to Spanish exploration of the coast of Alaska in the year 1512. Do you have any university library websites to recommend that may have more information on this?

2. True or not true: the earliest "likely" or "verifiable" Western European-Native American contact on present day United States of America soil was Ponce de Leon's landing in Florida in 1513.

3. Close to a decade ago, I saw a dance performance in New York City by the Forces of Nature Dance Company, which worked with a Native American dance troupe on a series of dances inspired by a pre-1530 event in Florida, where some African slaves escaped from their Spanish captors and were assisted and hidden by a Native American tribe. There was a book written about this incident that was cited in the dance performance program - and I've lost the program. Anyone know the name and author of the book, or which Spanish voyage this was? I don't think it was the Cabeza de Vaca one, perhaps earlier. The years 1524 or 1538 keeps coming to mind, and the name Ayllon, if that helps.

4. There is some question as to the validity of the Jacques le Moyne de Morgues painting in the New York Public Library as the earliest extant painting of an American scene done on present-day U.S. soil. Aside from the 1580s paintings by John White, and the engravings of de Bry, were there any other artists - Spanish, Native American, French, Dutch, or Swedish - who have left extant color paintings or watercolors made in America before the year 1600? And before the year 1700? If so, please provide any online webstring for home viewing, along with which organization holds print reproduction rights to that work.

5. I am especially interested in recent archaeological findings that reshape our knowledge of America before the year 1700, and was wondering if you knew of any discoveries in the 21st century that are generally regarded as proven scientifically, which would be of interest to our readers? I am aware of the diggings at Jamestown, the discovery of the village where John Smith's life was "spared," and the discovery of the remains of a Spanish fort from the 1560s/1570s in western North Carolina, and changes to our knowledge through research at Parris Island (Fort Caroline/San Mateo/Charlesfort), but was wondering if you knew of others.

6. On my website, I posted for our writers a list I compiled of known explorations of present-day U.S. soil between the years 1501 and 1600. If there are any inaccuracies on this list, or any I'm missing that I should include, I'd welcome additional missing information. The list is posted at [www.sensationsmag.com], "Submit" button, then "Poetry" button, then scroll down and you'll see it.

7. I've found some great websites for early American history research through google - yours was one, another that impressed me was the National Humanities Center one. Any others you would recommend that would be of help for the subject matter/years I'm seeking? I keep running into JSTOR, but since I'm not affiliated with a university, I regrettably don't think I can get free in-home access to it.

8. In regard to Gavin Menzies' claim - years ago, I remember reading that someone was talking with the Smithsonian Institute about a map they had found that they purported pointed to a Chinese discovery of America. This map was published in a large hardcover color coffee-table type book that I have not since been able to find. I don't think this is the map that Gavin was trumpeting, but something else, as I probably came across it sometime during the years 1988 to 1990, implying a pre-1990 publication date. Are there presently any other "Chinese discovery" theories that are floating around that have more backable heft to them than Gavin's? If so, any website strings or university website leads would be welcomed.

I will only have two months to pull together this 2008 "snapshot" of these early time periods, and would welcome hearing from you, or multiple individuals with expertise on these separate questions, sometime soon. Thank you for your excellent website, which I plan to check from time to time as our "American Century" research series progresses.

Hope to hear some answers to the above soon.

Sincerely,

David Messineo
President, The Six Centuries Club
Publisher, Sensations Magazine
Three-time winner, national American Literary Magazine Awards, 1994-1996
Website: [www.sensationsmag.com]