On Thursday, November 6 at 6:00 pm, the Mattapoisett Museum is proud to unveil its new, permanent exhibit entitled “From the Land to the Shore: The Wampanoag of Mattapoisett.” Curator and Administrator Connor Gaudet acted as coordinator, curator, and facilitator of the exhibit. Aquinnah Wampanoag historian Linda Coombs was the consultant, curator, and primary author of the text, who writes in her voice from her perspective – that of a Wampanoag person. Steven Peters of SmokeSygnals Indigenous Creative Productions in Mashpee, MA, designed the exhibit panels.
This exhibit explores the history and culture of the Wampanoag People who have continuously inhabited this part of New England for at least 12,000 years. It follows the story of the Early Contact Period and Colonization through King Philip’s War, and its outcomes on the Wampanoag culture and community as they exist today. The exhibit weaves in local, Tri-Town-Area-related examples of broader historical narratives whenever possible.
The topics that will be covered in the exhibit include: the early history and traditional life of the Wampanoag, the Great Dying, the contact period and early European settlement and colonization, causes and impacts of King Philip’s War, historical erasure, and the Wampanoag today. Featured will be an authentic diorama depicting a Wampanoag summer village. It was created in the 1990s by the Old Rochester Regional High School art teacher and students and has recently been completely restored.
Mattapoisett-specific Wampanoag history has been difficult to find because of the impacts of colonization and indigenous displacement after King Philip’s War. What has been found, and some of what will be explored in the exhibit are examples of erasure of the Wampanoag presence from the Town’s physical landscape as well as the historical record.
Coombs began her museum career in an internship at the Boston Children’s Museum and later worked there in the Native American Program. Coombs also worked for 30 years in the Wampanoag Indigenous Program (WIP) of Plimoth Plantation, now called Plimoth Patuxet, including 15 years as WIP’s Associate Director, and 9 years at the Aquinnah Cultural Center. Presently, she does independent museum consulting and cultural presentations.
In her latest book, Colonization and the Wampanoag Story, Coombs aims to educate students about the Wampanoag perspective of the European colonization of New England. It was published in September of 2023, as one of five titles in Penguin Random House’s Race to the Truth series of similarly themed stories intended for middle grades. She is also co-author (with Mark Skipworth) of The Massachusetts Chronicles: The History of Massachusetts from Earliest Times to the Present Day, published in 2020 in partnership with Plymouth 400. It aims to provide a new way of looking at Massachusetts history, incorporating perspectives from both the English settlers and the Indigenous people.
Because the Museum could never fit everything into the panels, a scrapbook that expands on the information in the panel “blurbs” will be included for those who want to dive deeper into various topics and learn about primary sources.
This exhibit was supported in part by grants from the Mattapoisett Cultural Council, the Marion Cultural Council, and the Rochester Cultural Council, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
For more information, please contact Katherine Gaudet at katherinegaudet52@gmail.com or visit www.mattapoisettmuseum.org. Additional imagery can be found here.