Recovering Black History in Rural New England, a workshop

Workshop, April 20, 2024

Partnership between Historic Bostons, Monadnock Center for History and Culture, and the Historical Society of Cheshire County

Learn about the methods, sources and person-power you need to recover the stories often missing from local history - bringing people of color back into historical memory.

Led by Jennifer Carroll, director of education at the Historical Society of Cheshire County, and Michelle Stahl, executive director of the Monadnock Center for History and Culture, this workshop draws on their work in tracing the lives of around 450 members of the Black community in southern New Hampshire, an area traditionally thought of as white.

Painstakingly examining primary and secondary sources, they've developed a systematic, uniform research method that enables researchers to work simultaneously and assemble this vital information in a single central spreadsheet. The system ensures that no sources are overlooked, and that source citations are linked with the information found within a given resource. It's a blueprint that can be used by local historians and independent scholars all over New England.