Indigenous Stories — Making Place, Placing Makers: Connecting History, Memory and Land by Indigenizing New Hampshire Public Library Local History Collections

Learn about the relationship between Indigenous representation in public library local history collections and the collective understanding of the land now known as New Hampshire. Findings demonstrate that New Hampshire public library's local history collections often lack recognition or an accurate representation of Abenaki histories, and, instead, hold a majority white authorship which relegates Abenaki peoples to a distant past, casting indigeneity in the light of myth and folklore. The harm of this relegation of Indigenous nations to antiquity perpetuates the genocide that began hundreds of years ago and prevents New Hampshire’s non-Indigenous community members from engaging with the complex history of the land which they now occupy. The findings of our presenters, a settler educator, and a settler librarian, illuminate the need for collaboration between libraries, communities, and Indigenous peoples to provide all patrons access to a more accurate understanding of the state’s history to create a more equitable and honest present.

More About the Presenters 
Jed Crook has spent much of his career working at the intersection of social justice and education. He worked internationally with Protestant and Catholic youth from Northern Ireland as well as locally as the Assistant Supervisor and Resource Educator of the Adolescent Boys unit at the Nashua Children's Home. He studied the role of colonialism in K-12 science education at Keene State where he worked in the Office for Multicultural Student Support and Success. Jed currently works with the Organization of Refugee and Immigrant Success in empowering refugees and new Americans through food sovereignty and small-scale agricultural entrepreneurship as well as independently through his own regenerative farming and landscaping business. We are deeply indebted to the Indigenous peoples and nations that participated in this research. 

Lou Marie Judge is a librarian, musician, and printmaker who currently works at the West Springfield Public Library in the Adult Services Department. Besides working in public libraries, Lou has also been a research assistant at Harvard, a lecturer at Keene State College, a teacher, audio-visual archivist, and has spent time on the lecture circuit in Hungary. She holds a BA in Film Critical Studies, an MA in Film Theory, and a forthcoming MS in Library and Information Science. Her research interests include gender studies, social justice in LIS, techno feminism, and disability studies. We are deeply indebted to the Indigenous peoples and nations that participated in this research. 

Registration is required. This is a hybrid event offered in person and online via Zoom. If you plan to attend online, please register and login with the Zoom invitation that will be sent to your email. If you plan to attend in person, join us in the Levenson Room.