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At Historic Northampton, we are connecting the past with the present through
restoration, lectures, active exploration, art and so much more. Come discover the city's rich history with us!
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Current Exhibition
Chaotic Freedom and the Scars of Slavery: From Baton Rouge to Northampton
Exhibition Dates: October 12 - December 9, 2018
Exhibition Talk by Bruce Laurie: Saturday, October 20, 2018 at 2 pm
Exhibition Dates: October 12 - December 9, 2018
Exhibition Talk by Bruce Laurie: Saturday, October 20, 2018 at 2 pm
Historian Bruce Laurie's research into the story revealed by card photographs brought home from Civil War Baton Rouge by Northampton newspaper publisher Henry S. Gere is paired with photographer Stan Sherer's large-scale reproduction photographs of original 1863 carte-de-visite images.
Carte-de-visite photograph of the "Contraband" Camp
in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where Henry Gere and Marshall Stearns served during the Civil War. |
In 1863, Northampton newspaper publisher Henry S. Gere and Northfield currier and carpenter Marshall S. Stearns came face-to-face with slavery while serving in the Union Army in Baton Rouge. Thousands of enslaved people fled plantations for freedom at the Union army encampment where they were stationed.
Gere and Stearns wanted to inform those back home of the brutality of slavery. Gere chronicled what he saw for reports in the Hampshire Gazette. Together, they collaborated to produce a photograph of the scars on the back of an enslaved man named Peter. Months later, a version of the image reached a national audience on the pages of Harper's Weekly magazine. The photograph of Peter outlived the Civil War and is considered the most iconic image of an enslaved American. |
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Attributed to McPherson & Oliver, Baton Rouge
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Upcoming Programs
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A Witch in Paradise
by Kathy-Ann Becker Wednesday, October 17, 2018 at 7 pm A slide-show enhanced story of the so-called “Witch of Northampton,” Mary Bliss Parsons, will be presented on the very grounds where Cornet Joseph and Mary Bliss Parsons made their early wilderness home in the 1650s.
Kathy-Ann Becker, author of Silencing the Women: The Witch Trials of Mary Bliss Parsons, will speak at Historic Northampton on Wednesday, October 17th at 7 pm. Learn More |
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"Chaotic Freedom" in Civil War Louisiana: The Origins of an Iconic Image
Saturday, October 20, 2018 at 2 pm Historian Bruce Laurie will speak at Historic Northampton in conjunction with the exhibition Chaotic Freedom and the Scars of Slavery. The new exhibition is based upon Dr. Laurie's 2016 essay, "Chaotic Freedom" in Civil War Louisiana: The Origins of an Iconic Image. Henry S. Gere of Northampton and Marshall Stearns of Northfield came face-to-face with slavery while serving in the Union Army in Baton Rouge in 1863. They informed those back home of the brutality of slavery and the disorder that followed emancipation through letters published in the Hampshire Gazette and through a carte-de-visite photograph that became an iconic image of American slavery.
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Underground Railroad and Abolition Sites Walking Tours with Steve Strimer
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Northampton Underground Railroad and Abolitionist Sites Sunday, October 21, 2018
10 am |
Northampton Underground Railroad and Abolitionist Sites Sunday, October 28, 2018
10 am |
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Steve Strimer will lead a walking tour of Underground Railroad and Abolition sites in Northampton along Bridge Street, Pomeroy Terrace, Phillips Street, and North Street. Meet at Historic Northampton
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Steve Strimer will lead a walking tour of Underground Railroad and Abolition sites in the village of Florence.
Meet at the David Ruggles Center,
225 Nonotuck Street, Florence |
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All Hamptons Read Capstone Event
Escaping Slavery, Envisioning Freedom by Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Barbara Krauthamer Tuesday, November 27, 2018 at 7 pm
Northampton Center for the Arts at 33 Hawley Street
A Community Reading Event for the residents of Easthampton, Northampton, Southampton and Westhampton
sponsored by their public libraries October & November 2018 |
Never Caught, a book
by Erica Armstrong Dunbar |
Historic Northampton
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46 Bridge Street Northampton, Massachusetts 01060
info@historicnorthampton.org | 413-584-6011
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Museum Hours
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