Indigenous Histories in New England: Pastkeepers and Pastkeeping
The 2023 conference will be a hybrid event with both in-person and online access to the presentations. Unless otherwise stated, all events will take place at the Deerfield Community Center, 16 Memorial Street in Deerfield. This schedule will be updated as necessary.
Register for the 2023 conference either in person or through online connection at this page. We look forward to seeing you!
Friday, June 23
9am–12 Noon at the Robert Frost Library, Amherst College, in Amherst
An opportunity to visit Amherst College Special Collections and learn more about the Amherst College Collection of Native American Literature, which gathers some of the earliest published writing by Native authors from the 18th century to today. In 2013 a generous gift from alumna Younghee Kim-Wait (AC 1982) supported the purchase of Pablo Eisenberg’s collection of 1,400 Native-authored books. Since then, the collection has grown to nearly 3,500 books and other published works, expanding both the chronological and intellectual scope of Native writing represented at Amherst College.
11am at the Frost Library
Mike Kelly (Head, Archives & Special Collections), Brandon Castle (Project Coordinator, Mapping Native Intellectual Networks of the Northeast), and Sage Innerarity (Post Baccalaureate Fellow in the Native American Literature Collection) will present highlights from the collection, talk about their current Mellon-funded work, and describe ways the collection has been used in classes, exhibitions, and research projects.
The Seminar at the Deerfield Community Center
1–1:25pm — Registration and refreshments at the Deerfield Community Center
1:20pm — Virtual sign-in opens
1:25pm — Welcome to all attendees
1:30–3:00pm — Indigenous Histories and Intergenerational Collaboration: Honoring Neal Salisbury, Pastkeeper, Spacemaker
Moderator: John Davis, President, Historic Deerfield
Lisa Brooks, Henry S. Poler ’59 Presidential Teaching Professor of English and American Studies, Amherst College
Christine Delucia, Associate Professor, Williams College
Alyssa Mt. Pleasant, ATW Research and Consulting
Alice Nash, Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
3–3:15pm — Break
3:15–4:45pm — Confronting Colonization at a Commemorative Moment: Reflections on Plymouth 400
Moderator: Alice Nash, Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Can commemorations lead to institutional change? The year 2020 marked the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower, and offered an opportunity to tell a more inclusive story of Massachusetts history. Plymouth 400 was an umbrella organization to coordinate commemorations across the Commonwealth. Unfortunately many planned events were disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, an ironic reflection of the pandemics that devastated Wampanoag communities just before 1620. Speakers will share success stories, as well as some of the innovative ways they were able to pivot. Ephemeral versus enduring change?
4:45–7pm — Break for museum visits and dinner of your choice
7–8:30pm — Keynote Panel: Re-Covering and Re-Visioning: Indigenous Histories in New England Museums
Moderator: Margaret Bruchac, Professor, University of Pennsylvania
Joshua Carter, Executive Director, Mashantuck Pequot Museum & Research Center
Linda Coombs, Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head
Lorén M. Spears, Executive Director, Tomaquag Museum
This panel discussion with Native American museum professionals will highlight their experiences interpreting Northeastern Native histories in museum settings, while reflecting on changes and challenges over the past three decades. Linda Coombs (Aquinnah Wampanoag), author, historian, and living history specialist, has more than three decades of museum experience, including recent service as Program Director of the Aquinnah Cultural Center, and 15 years as Associate Director of the Wampanoag Indigenous Program at Plimoth Plantation. Lorén M. Spears (Narragansett/Niantic), historian and educator, serves as the Executive Director and Curator of the Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum in Exeter, Rhode Island. Spears has also served as a Councilwoman for the Narragansett Tribal Nation, and as the founder of the Nuweetooun School featuring an experiential Indigenous curriculum (2003–2010). Joshua Carter (Mashantucket Pequot/Narragansett), who is both a wampum artisan and an organizational development and recruitment specialist, serves as the Executive Director of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center in Ledyard, Connecticut. Carter works with museum staff coordinating a wide variety of special exhibitions, events, and activities, for tribal members and for the museum-going public. The panel discussion will be moderated by Margaret Bruchac (Nulhegan Abenaki), a long-time anthropologist, historian, and museum consultant who currently directs the Native American and Indigenous Studies Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania.
Saturday, June 24
8:30–9am — Refreshments at the Deerfield Community Center
8:55am — Virtual sign-in opens
9–10:30am — New Stories for Familiar Histories
Moderator: Barbara Mathews, Historic Deerfield
Dena Lynn Winslow, Tribal Planner, Mi’kmaq Nation (formerly the Aroostook Band of Micmacs): “Telling Our Own Story”
Majorie Gomez O’Toole, Executive Director, Little Compton Historical Society: “Reweaving Inherited Histories: New Roles for Old Organizations”
Alexandra G. Martin, Archaeologist, Strawbery Banke Museum, and Anne Jennison (of European & Abenaki heritage), Traditional Storyteller & Public Historian, Strawbery Banke Museum: “Deep History and Continuing Presence: Strawbery Banke Museum’s Abenaki Heritage Initiative”
10:30–10:45am — Break
10:45–11:45am — Relocation, Resistance, & Resilience
Moderator: Kathleen Daly, Lecturer, Bryant University
Laurie Weinsten, Professor Emerita, Western Connecticut State University, and Lucianne Lavin, Director Emeritus of Research and Collections, Institute for American Indian Studies: “Indigenous Pastkeeping on the New England Frontier”
Alexandra M. Peck, Audain Chair in Historical Indigenous Art, Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia: “Angel De Cora: Illustrating Memories of Indigenous Relocation & Resistance in New England”
12:15–1:45pm — Buffet lunch for in-person attendees and speakers at the Deerfield Inn
1:45–3:15pm — Archives and Identity: Reciprocal Conversations
Moderator: Marla Miller, Professor, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Evan Haefeli, Professor, Texas A&M University: “‘The Oldest Tribe in the Northeast’: The Power and Perils of Indigenous Historical Memory”
Kathy Hermes, Professor Emeritus, Central Connecticut State University: “Finding Wangunk Genealogies and Indigenous Networks”
Ron Welburn (Accomac Cherokee/Assateague and Lenape descendent), Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts Amherst: “Reclaiming Urban Indians in Nineteenth-Century New England and the Greater Northeast: Research Methods for Case Studies”
3:15–3:30pm — Break
3:30–5pm — Land and Indigenous Values
Moderator: Michael Emmons, Architectural Historian, Center for Historic Architecture & Design (CHAD), University of Delaware
Lydia Curliss (Hassanmisco Nipmuc Band), Ph.D. Candidate, University of Maryland: “Reclaiming, Examining and Expanding: Archival Futures for New England Indigenous Communities”
Robert Caldwell (Choctaw-Apache), Assistant Professor, University of Buffalo (SUNY); Isabella Uttley Rosado, Hampshire College; and Jean-Luc Pierite (Tunica-Biloxi), Board President, North American Indian Center of Boston: “Indigenous Presence, History and Present: Land as Living Archive at Hampshire College”
Philip P. Arnold, Associate Professor, Syracuse University, and Sandra L. Bigtree (Mohawk Nation Citizen), Founding Board member, Indigenous Values Initiative: “The Urgency of Indigenous Values: From Doctrine of Discovery to the Skä·noñh Center”
5pm — Seminar concludes
Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife 