Digitizing and Interpreting the Histories of New England Native Communities

Pequot Community Scholars from NNRC's NEH CARES Grant program. Scholars met virtually in light of COVID-19 physical distancing restrictions. Image courtesy of NNRC. — Pequot Community Scholars from NNRC’s NEH CARES Grant program. Scholars met virtually in light of COVID-19 physical distancing restrictions. Image courtesy of NNRC.

For over two decades, the Native Northeast Research Collaborative (formerly the Yale Indian Papers Project) has addressed an urgent need for reliable primary source material on the Northeast region’s Indigenous peoples. The project is a sweeping digital humanities initiative that was established in response to conversations among New England tribes, academics, and researchers who were limited in their efforts to research and advocate for Indigenous issues. Since 2010, a series of NEH-funded digitization projects have helped the collaborative publish materials spanning three centuries in partnerships with Indigenous communities. These publications have greatly expanded academic and community access to Indigenous histories.

An example of NNRC's documentation, this document is an Eastern Pequot overseer account from July 5, 1848 to May 5, 1849. Image courtesy of NNRC. — An example of NNRC’s documentation, this document is an Eastern Pequot overseer account from July 5, 1848 to May 5, 1849. Image courtesy of NNRC.

The Native Northeast Portal is the collaborative’s open-access virtual repository. There, the public can access thousands of primary source materials regarding Northeast tribes that have been digitized, transcribed, annotated, and reviewed by the appropriate community representatives. The portal’s impact extends widely—from museums, to academic research, to classrooms, to Indigenous communities’ cultural and advocacy work.

Most recently, an NEH CARES grant has supported the collaborative’s processing and publication of records that detail the income and expenses of two Indigenous communities. Access to these materials will provide insight into the daily lives of Indigenous people in 19th century Connecticut. Through this project, tribal representatives served as pivotal knowledge bearers in interpreting and contextualizing materials for the repository. When asked about the benefits of these collaborative research initiatives in a survey of project contributors, one respondent wrote, “What has always been missing is the Indigenous voice. […] By having that perspective, it creates less room for speculation about our past and brings the descendants’ voice forward, which helps eliminate the belief that Pequot People and other New England indigenous peoples are extinct.”