The Other Side of Plymouth Rock

“…Native Americans in the Valley and elsewhere in New England are looking at the [Plymouth] 400th anniversary through a different lens. For them, Plymouth Colony was the opening chapter of a far grimmer story, one in which regional tribes would be stricken by European diseases such as smallpox, forced from their land, and finally decimated by the violence of King Philip’s War in 1675-1676. It’s a fraught memorial, much like 2019, which marked 400 years since the introduction of African slaves to North America.”

Read the full story in The Recorder.

Podcast: David Brule on River Stories 2020

David Brule, president of the Nolumbeka Project, based in Greenfield, speaks about a series focusing on Native Americans in the Valley. The series, which will consist of about a dozen events, is in part a response to this year’s Plymouth 400 observance, which is more focused on white settlers and the 1620 Plymouth Rock landing by the Pilgrims.

Check out the podcast at the article link.

Putney Mountain Association Annual Meeting: Talking to the Mountain

On January 13, 2019 I was invited by Emily McAdoo, board member, to present at the Putney Mountain Association‘s annual meeting, held at the Putney Community Center on Christian Square. About 100 people attended – PMA members and the general public – and we discussed a Native relationship with place, in this case, of course, Putney Mountain itself. Russ Grabiec from Brattleboro Community Television (BCTV) was there and he graciously filmed the proceedings. This is the first time I’ve used slides throughout to accompany the narrative, and it seemed to be quite helpful. The audio is a little echo-y, due to the large space, but the gist is apparent.

Link to listing on BCTV’s site.

UMass Anthropology Speaker Series

These events are all at UMass Amherst, Machmer Building.

Link to poster pdf here: anthr 370-670 sp 19 speaker series

Putney Mountain Association Annual Meeting 01-13-2019

I was asked to speak at this event last Sunday, Feb. 13, 2019, at the Putney Community Center on Christian Square (slight irony) in Putney, VT. Super turnout – maybe 80-100 people? There may be video coverage on BCTV at some point soon; my friend Russ was there filming…

Link to a pdf of the poster here: putney mt association 2019 poster

Stolen Identities: The Mashpee Wampanoag, Defined Out of Rightful Inheritance

Listen to Hartmann’s presentation at MCTV, from the Nolumbeka Project:

Dummerston: Presenting an Archaeological History of Vermont

From the Brattleboro Reformer, posted Friday, October 19, 2018 4:54 pm

DUMMERSTON [VT] — Jess Robinson, PhD, state archaeologist for the Vermont State Division for Historic Preservation, will present a follow-up to his 2017 presentation on Vermont’s pre-contact past. This year he will be focusing on the woodland and early contact periods, ca. 3,000 – 300 years ago. The presentation will be held from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 23, [2018] at the Dummerston Grange, 1008 East-West Road. Robinson will answer questions following the presentation.

This free event is being sponsored by the Dummerston Conservation Commission and the Dummerston Historical Society. Refreshments will be served. Donations are appreciated. For information and directions contact 802-257-00012, info@dummerstonconservation.com.

How the Saco River Got its Name: Wabanaki Place Names in Context

Biddeford Historical Society and Biddeford Pool Historical Society are co-hosting a weekend of events illuminating life in the 17th century colonial Province of Maine. Events are free, but donations are accepted/

“How the Saco River Got its Name: Wabanaki Place Names in Context,” will be held at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 24 at First Parish Meetinghouse, corner of Pool and Meetinghouse roads in Biddeford. Joe Hall, professor at Bates College, will present the program.

Plenty of people know that many placenames in Maine, such as “Saco,” come from Wabanakis, the indigenous group of this region. A few people might know what some of these words mean, such as that “Saco” means “a river outlet.” But what did it mean for Wabanakis to use these words and not others in their conversations with English colonists? In exploring that question, participants can see how Wabanaki place names tell us not only something about English-Wabanaki relations in the 1600s, but also how Wabanakis continue to have a presence in Maine in the centuries since.

Hall teaches colonial, American Indian and environmental history. He is researching the history of Wabanakis, Maine’s indigenous peoples, and is particularly interested in the ways that Wabanakis continued to cultivate ties to their homeland even as colonial peoples sought to dispossess them of it. In his lecture he will speak about the ways that Wabanaki place names offer some clues not only to how Wabanakis inhabited their homelands before colonists’ arrival, but also how they continued to inhabit those lands in the midst of colonization.

See the original listing in the Courier.

Michael Tougias: Native American, English Colonial Struggle for Control of New England

While no battles were fought in the Monadnock Region — the closest was in what’s now Northfield, Mass. — more activity happened there than conventional histories of the war acknowledge, said Rich Holschuh of Brattleboro, a member of the Vermont Commission on Native American Affairs.

Supplies from Canada came down the Connecticut River, and natives from southeast New England took refuge “by the thousands” in what is now Hinsdale and Vernon, Vt., he said. “This was still a very strong Abenaki homeland,” Holschuh said, referring to another Algonquian people, “and they had shelter and they were welcomed there.”

In addition, Mary Rowlandson, an English captive who would later write a popular memoir of her ordeal, was taken to modern-day Chesterfield.

Lurking behind the immediate causes of the war were ongoing tensions over land. The English imposed a foreign concept of land ownership on New England, which clashed with Algonquian understandings of the landscape.

Read the full story by Paul Cuno-Booth in the Keene Sentinel.

On 7/24/18, Lynne Keating Murphy: the Sadoques Family in Keene, NH

Facebook Event listing here.

The Historical Society of Cheshire County will offer the first lecture of its 2018 Wyman Tavern Lecture Series Tuesday, July 24, at 7 p.m.

Lynn Keating Murphy, Abenaki Indian, master educator, and descendant of the Sadoques of Keene, will discuss the history of her family in the Connecticut River Valley and Quebec and their basket-making traditions. The history of the Sadoques family intersects with this area, and provides insights into the complex story of the Abenaki people in the region. The talk will be held at the historical society’s headquarters, 246 Main St. in Keene, and admission is free.

The theme of this year’s Wyman Tavern Lecture Series is “Indigenous people, history and culture into the 21st century.” The Wyman Tavern Lecture Series will continue Aug. 29 when Keith and Kathy Stavely do a book signing for their early American cooking book — “United Tastes: The Making of the First American Cookbook” — and Linda Stavely prepares samples of early American recipes including a Native-American-inspired dish.

On Oct. 7, The Colonial Theatre will host a showing of “A Good Day to Die” — a 2010 documentary that chronicles the American Indian Movement that fought for the civil rights of American Indians.

The series concludes Nov. 3 with a “Basket Day” at the historical society. Members of the public are invited to bring their baskets, and basket experts will be available at the full-day event to identify and record the age, origin, physical characteristics, and known history of each basket. Basket Day will end with a talk by basket expert Lynn Clark on the history of Native American baskets in the Monadnock Region and New Hampshire, and by Lynn Murphy on her family’s Abenaki Indian basket history.

More information: visit hsccnh.org or call 352-1895.

See the original listing in the Keene Sentinel.