Editor’s note: This story by Harmony Birch first appeared in the Brattleboro Reformer on Dec. 20, 2017.
[B]RATTLEBORO — Did you know that the first United States edition of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” was printed in Brattleboro? Or that the author of the first known poem by an African-American lived in Brattleboro? Or that Harriet Beecher Stowe bathed in the “healing waters” of the Brattleboro Hydropathic Institution? Or that the first Bible printed in Vermont was printed in Brattleboro?
Windham County has a rich literary heritage, and a new Brattleboro organization, known as Peoples, Places and the History of Words, wants to connect people with the history of the area through stories.
The Words Project was launched in February and seven months later was backed by a $150,000 National Endowment for the Humanities Creating Humanities Communities matching grant for a three-year period.
Hilary Twining, the director of corporate and foundation relations at Marlboro College, presented the grant to the project. “The idea with this NEH grant program is about bringing humanities into the local community and having as broad a coalition as possible to bring humanities to light and put your own stamp on it,” Twining said.
The project has a wide scope, but the main goal is to offer podcasts that describe the history of Windham County. The “Research Pods” can be listened to during guided biking, walking and driving tours. The Brattleboro Historical Society, one of the partners in the Words project, is already creating podcasts with Brattleboro Area Middle School about Brattleboro’s history.
Lissa Weinmann, the Words project director, says the Research Pods will enhance tourism and give locals a better sense of place.
“Although the project will help attract tourism and wider interest in our area, its real heart is building relationships within the community among people that might not otherwise have a reason to interact,” Weinmann said.
Reggie Martell, a historical society board member, said the Words project builds on expertise from area organizations. “We all hopped on a train that’s heading in the same direction,” Martell said.
The newly formed group already has an impressive list of 49 local backers and collaborators. Weinmann is bringing together writers, academics, local schools and the historical society for the interdisciplinary initiative. Write Action, a nonprofit that connects Brattleboro writers, one of the contributors had already planned, for example, to write a book about local history before the Words Project was launched.
The Words Project debuted a mobile museum called “Lucy Speaks” at the Brattleboro Literary Festival in October, featuring Lucy Terry Prince, an African American poet.
The Words Project puts a premium on place-based education programs. Julianne Eagan, the WSESU curriculum coordinator, said social studies is a challenging subject for students.
“Place-based education allows students an entry point to where they live and what it’s like in the past,” Eagan said. “From that they can see how concepts apply to greater trends historically, or, ‘this is how it applies to how I can understand myself today.’ It really gives students a new lens when they learn to see their environment through the lens of the past. It changes how they interact with their local community.”
Judy Dow, an Abenaki educator, teaches science, history, and math through art and is one of the scholars working with the Words Project. Dow is helping students connect the oral stories of Abenaki tribes to local geography.
