The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Historic Preservation Department (THPD) is seeking community support of our Tribal archive, which documents our shared community heritage.
Over the past year, we had an opportunity for the community to contribute their personal histories to the Tribal Archive. In collaboration with UMass Boston, MWT Archives and Tribal community members are continuing this work to create a digital collection of individual and family stories to help preserve communal shared histories of our Tribal members for the future generations.
On October 26, 2024 the G.O.M. project team held an event where several dozen Tribal citizens–including youth, elders, and in-betweens–contributed photographs, documents, and personal stories to a digital collection that will be included in our Tribal Archive. This spring, UMass Boston staff, Consulting Digital Archivist Jackie Rider and Tribal community members are working with THPD staff to present these gathered belongings on a digital platform that will be shared through a Tribal Community event in June.
This project places the power of cultural preservation and memory-making in the hands of our Mashpee Tribal community, creating opportunities for everyone to be remembered and pass on knowledge to the next generations. It is funded by and produced in collaboration with the National Park Service Northeast Regional Office.
Do you have any photographs or stories to share?
We are looking for PHOTOGRAPHS of:
· family members in the military
· tribal celebrations
· community events
· weddings, funerals, and other family gatherings
and other two-dimensional belongings such as:
· letters
· scrapbooks
· diaries
A team of community members led by Gail Hendricks-Hill will be available in the Tribal Archive on Tuesdays in May and June from 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. to meet with you, capture your description of photographs through storytelling, and provide digital copies of your scanned belongings.
For more information, email Tribal.archives@mwtribe-nsn.gov
