Press Release
Framingham History Center
For more information contact: Stacen Goldman, curator@framinghamhistory.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Framingham History Center Releases New Resource Focused on BIPOC History
[Framingham, MA] – The Framingham History Center (FHC) has completed a new project to increase the accessibility of collections relating to BIPOC stories from 1600-1800.
This year-long project, which began in December 2020 was funded by the Sudbury Foundation Racial Equity Mini Grant program. The FHC contracted Mary McNeil, a PhD Candidate at Harvard University, as a Scholar-in-Residence to create a finding aid of collections relating to Framingham’s People of Color from 1600-1800. Completed in December 2021, this 16 page document provides a comprehensive overview of the FHC’s collections as they pertain to the lives of 17th and 18th century Black and Indigenous persons living within and around the bounds of present-day Framingham. The first of its kind for this institution, it is a cross-collection finding aid that seeks to assist the public in learning more about Black and Indigenous persons who lived and labored in the area in varying states of freedom/unfreedom.
“This is an incredibly exciting resource to have in our arsenal,” says FHC Curator Stacen Goldman, “The stories of Black and Indigenous people during this time period are frequently hidden or hard to find in archival collections like ours. Having a document that is dedicated entirely to these items, ensures that they will never again fall by the wayside.”
The FHC invites the public to access this new tool on their website with the goals of calling attention to these objects and inspiring research projects to further highlight their significance. It is expected that the document will expand as relevant collections are acquired or discovered, and will accordingly be kept up-to-date at framinghamhistory.org