River of History: The Hudson/Mahicannituck with Kerry Hardy

As a part of Discover History Month, the Camden Public Library welcomes eco-historian, researcher, and author Kerry Hardy for his presentation “River of History.” Hardy’s talk will introduce how he uses different disciplines (geology, linguistics, ethnography, primary source historical documents, and human ecology and economy) to understand a place, and produce what some people call a “public history.” In this case, Hardy investigates the area at the mouth of the Hudson River, which might better be called the Mahicannituck. Hardy will show how its development has been shaped by glaciers, oysters, beavers, Native Americans, pirates, enslaved people, and assorted events and accidents, into what we today call New York and Jersey City.

This talk stems from Hardy’s work for the last five years as the lead researcher and cartographer for the Public History Project, under Dr. Jack Tchen, who currently heads the Clement Price Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience at Rutgers-Newark. “Our contention is that these cities, and this nation, have been built with substantial and unrecognized subsidies like the dispossession of Native Americans, the enslavement of Africans, and the sacking of a bountiful environment,” Hardy says. “A greatly revised, and much fuller, historical narrative is needed.”

This is a hybrid program and will take place in the Picker Room as well as on Zoom. To attend virtually, register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_7lSTPCNzQ6C1mqlPaqLK-w

Kerry Hardy is a researcher, eco-historian, and author who studies the human ecology of pre-Contact Native Americans, primarily through geographic and linguistic analysis. He is the Lead Researcher and Cartographer at the Public History Project, the Stewardship Coordinator at the Vinalhaven Land Trust, and author of Notes on a Lost Flute: A Field Guide to the Wabanaki that delves into the Native American foodways, languages, place names and ecologies of Maine in 2009.

He has presented talks at Maine Audubon, the Conference on Endangered Languages and Cultures of North America, Algonquian Conference, and was a keynote speaker at the Common Ground Fair. He was the former executive director and education coordinator at Merryspring Nature Park, a nonprofit organization in Camden, Maine.

He holds a Master’s Degree in Landscape Architecture from the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Studies.

This program is a part of the Camden Public Library’s “Discover History Month” series of history-themed programs, events, and exhibits. CLICK HERE for more special Discover History Month programs!

Special thank you to our Discover History Month sponsor, The Smiling Cow. The Smiling Cow is celebrating their 83rd year of business!