Abby Epplett, Historian

Back in June 2023, I visited the sector of Gascue in Santo Domingo, the capital of the Dominican Republic. Also spelled Gazcue, this historic neighborhood is adjacent to Zona Colonial [Colonial Zone] and home to federal government buildings, museums, and public art. This area reminded me of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. I previously wrote about my visit to Museo de Arte Moderno de la República Dominicana [Museum of Modern Art of the Dominican Republic] and Museo del Hombre Dominicano [Museum of the Dominican Man] , two museums in this area. Government Buildings & Museums Palacio Policía Nacional [Palace of National Police]. The police website created an incredible, detailed, 34 page white paper written by Colonel Dr. Pablo Antonio Castro Ramirez in 2008 . The paper covers the history of the police beginning with the Roman Empire, detailing early Catholic kingdoms, and describing the Dominican Republic from early colonization to the present at

On Thursday, November 2, and Friday, November 3, I attended Historic New England Summit 2023 , a two-day event held at The VETS , or Veterans Memorial Auditorium, in Providence, Rhode Island that brought together members of Historic New England (HNE) and others interested in the history and preservation of the area. Yesterday, I posted a summary for Day 1 . My summary for Day 2 is adapted from 10 pages of notes. If you would like to learn more about any of the sessions, please let me know, and I can post a more detailed write-up or share my notes. Opening Keynote: Built for Zero: Ending Homelessness After an introduction by Vin Cipolla , President & CEO of HNE, Rosanne Haggerty opened Day 2 of the Summit with a keynote describing solutions to the public housing crisis. Haggerty is President & CEO of Community Solutions , headquartered in New York City, which assists 107 communities in their initiative Build for Zero . Since 2015, the project has housed over

Historic New England Summit 2023 just finished earlier today! Held at The VETS , or Veterans Memorial Auditorium, in Providence, Rhode Island on Thursday, November 2, and Friday, November 3, this two-day event brought together members of Historic New England (HNE) and others interested in the history and preservation of the area. I also attended the first HNE Summit last year, in 2022, and summarized both Day 1 and Day 2 for that conference. This post summarizes Day 1 of this year’s event based on my fifteen pages of notes. Day 2 is coming soon. If you would like to learn more about any of the sessions, please let me know, and I can post a more detailed write-up or share my notes. Opening Welcome The Summit began with an introductory view that reviewed ongoing HNE projects such as the reimagination of the Haverhill Center and the Recovering New England’s Voices project. Danikah Chartier , Indigenous Community Liaison and Researcher at HNE, gave a land acknowledgemen

During my trip to the Dominican Republic in June 2023, I visited Museo del Hombre Dominicano [Museum of the Dominican Man] in Santo Domingo. This museum is located in the cultural district of the capital not far from Museo de Arte Moderno de la República Dominicana (MAM) [Museum of Modern Art of the Dominican Republic], which I visited at the beginning of my trip to the city , and recently underwent renovation and exhibit redesign. Both floors of exhibits are new and give a modern perspective to Caribbean history. Outside the museum were copper statues of notable historical figures. These statues were recently cleaned, as older photographs show them with a green patina, much like the Statue of Liberty . The middle statue portrayed Fray Bartolomé de las Casas , a Dominican friar, who Ferdinand II designated as “Protector of the Indians” in 1544. This realistic depiction of of de las Casas portrayed him wearing his friar robes and holding out a cross, a sharp co

Yesterday — Monday, October 30, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. — I watched the three-expert panel Bringing Phillis to Life hosted by Massachusetts Historical Society (MHS) at their headquarters in Boston and streamed via Zoom. The talk focused on the life and work of Phillis Wheatley , a colonial American poet who was the third woman, first Black person, a first enslaved person in British North America to publish a book of poetry, called Poems on Various Subjects Religious and Moral . Each speaker presented for about ten minutes, followed by a twenty minute Q&A. Dr. Tara Bynum, professor at University of Iowa , recently published the book Reading Pleasures: Everyday Black Living in Early America . She spoke in a lyrical style describing surviving letters between Wheatley and her friend, Obour Tanner , another formerly enslaved Black woman who lived in Newport, RI. The letters were written between 1772 and 1779, and they are currently held by MHS , and the story of how they got there