Philadelphia's Indigenous History

The next monthly meeting of the Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides (APT) will be held on Wednesday, August 12 at 7 pm. The meeting will feature Brian Carpenter, the Curator of Indigenous Materials in the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research at the American Philosophical Society’s (APS) Library & Museum. What are some good approaches to talking about Indigenous history in Philadelphia and the significance of Philadelphia as a Native place? What are the various Native nations for whom the Philadelphia area holds great significance, whether as ancestral homelands or as a critical place in their history of diplomatic interactions with British and American colonial powers? And what considerations should non-Native people keep in mind when trying to share that history in a respectful and accurate way?

This presentation will be given from the perspective of a non-Native archivist, based at one of Philadelphia’s oldest cultural heritage institutions, working with Native American and Indigenous-related historical documents and cultural heritage materials and the communities connected to them. The talk will attempt to give some general advice on how to understand these issues, especially by directing people to how contemporary Native nations connected to Philadelphia speak about these issues in their own words.

In addition, it will also give some advice on ways to understand the wide range of general terms for Native people of this continent that are in use in the English-speaking world, and will cover a variety of locations in Philadelphia that are significant to Indigenous history, from the pre-colonial area to the 21st century.

Brian is an archivist by training and began working at the APS in 2008 on a six-year project to digitize and catalog all of the library’s 3,000+ hours of audio recordings of Indigenous languages of the Americas. He has worked with over 80 Native communities throughout North America to enhance their access to archival materials at the APS and receive their guidance on ways to improve the representation and uses of the collections.

The meeting will be in-person at Philly’s Gourmet Steaks, 114 Market Street, upstairs, and livestreamed on Zoom. The Zoom link will be available in the APT Tour Talk newsletter the week of the meeting; non-members should contact Marianne Ruane [president@phillyguides.org](mailto:president@phillyguides.org) no later than 5 pm the day of the meeting to receive the link. A recording will be available on the APT YouTube page for a month following the talk.

APT meetings are open to aspiring and working tour guides as well as anyone with an interest in Philadelphia-focused history. Attend one meeting for free and then it is $60 to join the association for the year or $10 per monthly meeting in-person event. Zoom meetings are free. Please join us for convivial company, good food, fascinating presentations, and lively discussions!