As Portsmouth honors the 400 years since its settlement in 1623, memories and stories of the city’s past have sprung to the surface. The history of this area is all around us and there is no shortage of resources for anyone wishing to learn about Portsmouth. But what have we learned from the past? And how will that inform our future? We now turn our eyes to the next 400 years and what lies in store. On April 17, 2023, a panel of community leaders shared their visions of a future Portsmouth, considering everything from the climate crisis and sea level rise to education, demographics, and everyday life. About the Panelists Steve Butzel, moderator, served as director of the Portsmouth Public Library (NH) from 2014-2022 and is currently the interim library director at the Fiske Public Library in Wrentham, MA. Through his business, Uncomfortable Fun, Steve is also a leadership coach and organizational consultant who works 1-on-1 with organizational leaders, hosts leadership retreats, and speaks at conferences around the country. He earned his MLIS from Simmons University and his BA from Yale University. Lucia Hillman is a senior at Portsmouth High School where she is a member of the Sustainability Club. She has lived in downtown Portsmouth for 15 years and cares deeply about its vitality and natural life. Lucia loves to surf (or pretend to surf), listening to podcasts, and moving her body in various ways. Her passion for the environment has led her to decrease her carbon footprint, whether it's walking to work or supporting local businesses over others. She also loves learning about different ecosystems, the gut microbiome, neuroscience, and the human mind-body connection. Lucia’s plans for the future include taking a four-week trip to Indonesia this summer, focusing on sustainable development and marine conservation, and taking a gap year before attending university. She is excited to participate in this panel and contribute to a creative discussion! Brian Murphy is a father, husband, educator, and architect. He lives in Portsmouth where he and his wife founded Placework, an architecture and planning firm. His work focuses on the effects of buildings on the environment and mitigating their role in climate change. Brian also teaches architectural design at UNH as well as topics related to architecture and the environment for middle school and high school programs. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects and a Living Future Accredited profession through the International Living Future Institute. Rodney Rowland is the Director of Facilities and Environmental Sustainability at Strawbery Banke Museum where he is responsible for 37 buildings spread over 9 acres and oversees the Facilities, Restoration and Landscape Departments. He co-curator a 2021 exhibit at the museum titled, “Water Has a Memory: Protecting Strawbery Banke Museum and Portsmouth from Sea Level Rise” and he represents the museum on the Local Advisory Committee for the Historic Resource Study for the City of Portsmouth. #Sustainability #PortsmouthNH #SeacoastNH

Making Place, Placing Makers: Connecting History, Memory and Land by Indigenizing New Hampshire Public Library Local History Collections Learn about the relationship between Indigenous representation in public library local history collections and the collective understanding of the land now known as New Hampshire. Findings demonstrate that New Hampshire public library's local history collections often lack recognition or an accurate representation of Abenaki histories, and, instead, hold a majority white authorship which relegates Abenaki peoples to a distant past, casting indigeneity in the light of myth and folklore. The harm of this relegation of Indigenous nations to antiquity perpetuates the genocide that began hundreds of years ago and prevents New Hampshire’s non-Indigenous community members from engaging with the complex history of the land which they now occupy. The findings of our presenters, a settler educator, and a settler librarian, illuminate the need for collaboration between libraries, communities, and Indigenous peoples to provide all patrons access to a more accurate understanding of the state’s history to create a more equitable and honest present. More About the Presenters Jed Crook has spent much of his career working at the intersection of social justice and education. He worked internationally with Protestant and Catholic youth from Northern Ireland as well as locally as the Assistant Supervisor and Resource Educator of the Adolescent Boys unit at the Nashua Children's Home. He studied the role of colonialism in K-12 science education at Keene State where he worked in the Office for Multicultural Student Support and Success. Jed currently works with the Organization of Refugee and Immigrant Success in empowering refugees and new Americans through food sovereignty and small-scale agricultural entrepreneurship as well as independently through his own regenerative farming and landscaping business. We are deeply indebted to the Indigenous peoples and nations that participated in this research. Lou Marie Judge is a librarian, musician, and printmaker who currently works at the West Springfield Public Library in the Adult Services Department. Besides working in public libraries, Lou has also been a research assistant at Harvard, a lecturer at Keene State College, a teacher, audio-visual archivist, and has spent time on the lecture circuit in Hungary. She holds a BA in Film Critical Studies, an MA in Film Theory, and a forthcoming MS in Library and Information Science. Her research interests include gender studies, social justice in LIS, techno feminism, and disability studies. We are deeply indebted to the Indigenous peoples and nations that participated in this research. Here are some of the links shared by the presenters during the presentation: Our Resource Guide https://sites.google.com/view/nhlandlibraries/resources?authuser=0 Mapping NH Indigenous Heritage Sites Indigenous New Hampshire Collaborative Collective https://www.arcgis.com/apps/MapJournal Anthology with Lou and Jed's chapter https://litwinbooks.com/books/land-in-libraries/ Native Land Digital https://native-land.ca/ Facing East From Indian Country https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674011175 #IndigenousStories #NewHampshire #PublicLibrary

Although the Isles of Shoals are visible from the beaches of New Hampshire, researching ancestors who lived out there can sometimes feel as elusive as the fogbanks. The Isles of Shoals boasted a thriving settlement with international connections in the 1600s, yet were all but abandoned a century later before enough fishermen returned to form the town of Gosport. Gosport was itself an important part of the interconnected seacoast community. Its most prominent surnames - Caswell, Robinson, Downs, Randall, Berry - are also common in the vital records of Rye, Newcastle, Portsmouth, Kittery, and York. With the decline of the fisheries and the rise of tourism, the Shoals became home to several large hotels. Today one of those hotels still stands on Star Island and is used along with former fishermen's homes to host conferences on a variety of subjects throughout the summer. Another island, Appledore, is home to the Shoals Marine Laboratory among the ruins of the former Appledore Hotel. A few private families still own Smuttynose, Malaga, and Lunging Island. In this workshop hosted in March 2023, historian Sam Collins, former curator of the Vaughn Cottage Museum on Star Island, explores the historical records of the Isles of Shoals. He digs into the wide range of archival materials both on the islands and accessible at mainland institutions, and explains how to get out to see the islands for yourself!​ Sam Collins is a maritime historian and tall ship sailor who has spent the last 20 years working on boats and islands up and down the coast of New England. After receiving an undergraduate degree in Maritime history and an MA in museum studies with a focus on Atlantic history, he ran the museum on Star Island for 6 years and wrote his final project on the rise and fall of the salt cod fishing community that made up the former town of Gosport. He lives in Maine on a small farm not too far from salt water. Give the library feedback and enter to win a library book bag! This helps us make decisions about library programming and advertising. Fill out a brief Event Feedback Form here: https://forms.gle/uLaj2MrLtenEZmvH7 Want to learn about more upcoming events at the library? Sign up for our monthly newsletter here: https://www.cityofportsmouth.com/library/newsletter #GenealogyWorkshop #IslesOfShoals #StarIsland #GosportNH

Members of the Indigenous New Hampshire Collaborative Collective share how their work is reframing New Hampshire’s history from an Indigenous perspective. The history of the Indigenous communities of the Seacoast has been endangered since the colonization of this land by white settlers in 1623. While it was a momentous occasion for those forging a path for themselves in a new world, their discovery of this shore led to the displacement of the Indigenous communities who lived here for over 12,000 years. In this panel discussion, local Indigenous leaders clarify long-held falsehoods, share their peoples' history, and discuss their current projects. As we move into a new century of colonial settlement let us recognize that Indigenous ties to the Piscataqua region have never ceased. Their stewardship of the land has never wavered. Indigenous perspectives must be heard in order for us to understand the land we call home and move together toward our shared future. About the Panelists Catherine Stewart is a writer, director, media designer, and facilitator working in theatre and film. She developed her practice as part of the Lincoln Center Directors’ Lab and today runs Film Unbound LLC, a media production company making both fictional and documentary films. Catherine will be the moderator for the panel discussion. Paul W. Pouliot is the Sag8mo or Chief Speaker for the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook and Abenaki People and president of COWASS North America and the Abenaki Nation of Vermont. He is an Indigenous historian, lecturer, Federal Religious Advisor, and a founding member of the Indigenous New Hampshire Collaborative Collective. Denise K. Pouliot is the Sag8moskwa (Female Head Speaker) of the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook Abenaki People and traditional artist. She currently serves on the New Hampshire Commission on Native American Affairs, is a Federal Religious Advisor, and is a founding member of the Indigenous New Hampshire Collaborative Collective. Kathleen A. Blake is a retired educator of mixed heritage, whose indigenous descendency is from the Wendat (Huron), Algonquin, and Mi’kmaq peoples. She currently serves as an affiliate faculty member of UNH’s Native American and Indigenous Studies Minor Program, a board member for the Racial Unity Team, and a member of the Dover Racial Equity and Inclusion Committee. Anne Jennison is a traditional Native American storyteller and historian. She is the current Chair of the NH Commission on Native American Affairs and is a member of the Indigenous NH Collaborative Collective, an affiliate faculty member for UNH’s Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) Minor, and co-creator of the "People of the Dawnland" exhibit at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH. Give the library feedback and enter to win a library book bag! This helps us make decisions about library programming and advertising. Fill out a brief Event Feedback Form here: https://forms.gle/uLaj2MrLtenEZmvH7 Want to learn about more upcoming events at the library? Sign up for our monthly newsletter here: https://www.cityofportsmouth.com/library/newsletter