Meet the Author-Joan Tavares Avant

People of the First Light
Saturday, March 31, 2012, 11 am to noon

Join us in welcoming Mashpee Wampanoag elder, Joan Tavares Avant, known as Granny Squannit, to the Research Library. Talking about her book-a collection of history, stories, recipes, newspaper articles, and more, she makes the stories come alive. We think it’s always a privilege to be able to sit down and talk with an author and this is a rare opportunity to spend time with Granny Squannit and hear her stories. If you love Cape Cod, and you want to learn about the first people who have lived there for years and years, you should come. Copies of her book will be available for purchase. Meet the Author is a free program; please use the Group Entrance in the middle of the building.

Postcards and Ship's Log - What's the Story?

The Archives and Special Collections recently acquired two postcards showing a parade in Stonington,CT circa 1914. The program can be found in the Library of Congress.The participants on the “Tepee” float are named in the program book of the 1914 Centennial Pageant and Parade held to honor the Town of Stonington’s defense against the British during the War of 1812. If you have visited the Museum, you know that the Native people in the area were more likely to be found in a wigwam than a tipi.

Also in the parade was a whaling boat, brought from New Bedford for the occasion. Again Museum visitors will know that Native people were found on whaling ships, according to a variety of historical resources including ships’ logs. A digital copy of the Blackstone Ship’s Log, 1837, was recently created at the Museum to further such research, thanks to the loan of the original, which is permanently housed at the Stonington Historical Society.

Would you like to know more about wigwams, where and how Pequot tribal members lived in the early 19th and 20th centuries, or how they fit into the story of the whaling industry? Visit us!