New Bedford Historical Society Newsletter
Spring Newsletter  April 2016
In This Issue
Featured Article
Article Headline
Featured Article
Johnson House

We have been working on renovations to the Nathan and Mary Johnson House all winter. We replaced the kitchen floor with new yellow pine and pointed the brickwork above the kitchen fireplace. We hope to add a central air conditioning system by the end of May. We have been working with an exhibit designer for new signage throughout the house to create a better visitor experience. The house will open for the summer tour season in June. 
Quick Links...
 
Join Our Mailing List


Happy Spring, 

Have you had enough of cabin fever? It is time to get out and enjoy the change in the weather. The members of the New Bedford Historical Society have been busy planning talks and tours to welcome spring. Mark your calendars for these upcoming talks and join us for our April programs that include book readings and workshops on history and historic preservation.  
Brethren by Nature, Colonists and the Origins of American Slavery 
Author Margaret Ellen Newell reveals a little-known aspect of American history: English colonists in New England enslaved thousands of Indians. Margaret researched letters, diaries, newspapers, and court documents to recover the slaves' own stories and shows us how they influenced New England society in crucial ways. 
I bet you didn't read this in your school history books. 

Thursday, April 7, 6:30 PM
New Bedford Free Public Library
613 Pleasant Street  

Celebrate National Poetry Month and discover lost African American voices. 
Voices Beyond Bondage: An Anthology of Verse by African Americans of the 19th Century 

Join Erika DeSimone and Fidel Louis, editors of this extraordinary collection that re-discovers the hopes and dreams of people who were finding a way out of no way. In the 19th century almost every black-owned periodical featured an open call for poetry. African Americans, both free and enslaved, responded by submitting droves of poetry for publication. This book celebrates a literary movement that was almost lost to us! 

April 14 at 6:30 PM
NPS Corson Building
133 William Street   
 
Save the date: 
April 30 - Sailing to Freedom: New Bedford and the Underground Railroad all-day workshop for local teachers. Workshop will be free and limited to 30 teachers. 

May 21- Building Neighborhoods, Preserving Our History 2016. The New Bedford Historical Society and WHALE have partnered to host a preservation conference that will serve as a platform for networking, information sharing and workshops with local and regional experts on neighborhood building and cultural and historic preservation. Program will be open and free to the public. More information on both of these events will be available on our website soon. 
Thank you for your continued support of our programs as we work to preserve and celebrate the heritage of African Americans, Cape Verdeans, Native Americans, and other people of color in New Bedford.  
Sincerely,
 
Members of the Board of the 
New Bedford Historical Society