Catching Up with the Study Center

Meet some of the researchers who are helping Historic New England tell everyone’s stories

In 2021, Historic New England launched the Study Center at the Eustis Estate in Milton, Massachusetts. The Study Center conducts and oversees research to support tours and programs at our sites. It houses our internship program, fellowship program, and Recovering New England’s Voices—our institution-wide initiative for telling inclusive and authentic stories that challenge standard accounts of the past and promote community, collaboration, and inspiration at our sites. This year, we welcomed new researchers whose work supports Historic New England’s goal to tell everyone’s stories. It is also deeply meaningful to them, and so we have asked some of them to share that meaning with you.

-Dr. Alissa Butler, Study Center Manager

Tell us a little about yourself.

Danikah Chartier, Indigenous Community Liaison and Researcher: I belong to the Eskasoni Mi’kmaw Nation. I also work at Colby College Museum of

Art as a Gallery Educator. I graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2023 with a BFA in photography and related media and minors in art history, fashion history theory and culture, and film and media studies.

Justin Kedl, Research Fellow: I am an artist and art historian born in Minnesota and raised in Colorado. I hold an undergraduate degree in sculpture and graphic design and a master’s degree in art history with a modern and contemporary focus.

Eleanor Martinez-Proctor, Research Fellow: I hold a master’s degree in public history from UMass Boston, where my work examined urban renewal and the working class. At Historic New England, my focus has been on finding and highlighting stories of people who are often overlooked at historic sites. These have so far included American descendants of slavery, women, immigrants, and members of New England’s working class.

What are you working on this year at Historic New England?

DC: My research delves into the complex history of Indigenous peoples in the Northeast region and examines the direct interactions between former owners of Historic New England properties and Indigenous communities. I am also organizing and co-curating an exhibition of contemporary Indigenous art at the Sarah Orne Jewett Gallery, which will open in August, and writing an Indigenous terminology dictionary and allyship style guide.

JK: I’m researching the history of the technology at the Eustis Estate. Technological developments were happening rapidly when the estate was built in 1878, changing how we worked, how we traveled, how we communicated with each other, and how we lived in our own homes. The gradual technological developments at the Eustis Estate give us insight into how families adapted to new, modern lifestyles.

EMP: I’m looking at women’s history at the Eustis Estate. Between the family and the staff who lived here, these stories illuminate the lives of women during the Gilded Age across a wide range of experiences and social classes. Although there are great contrasts, there are also surprising parallels in the ways in which women navigated their worlds and found power within the rigid social structures of the time.

What made you want to do this work?

DC: This work is particularly important to me because my grandmother is a survivor of the Schubenacadie Residential School. I honor the revitalization work of my grandmother’s siblings, my cousins, and the entire community in Eskasoni, who refused to let the Canadian government and Catholic Church erase our culture despite their best efforts.

JK: I originally began working with Historic New England as a tour guide at Gropius House. I was interested in the project at the Eustis Estate as a generation prior to the Gropius House, whose technological developments set the stage for twentieth-century modernism as we know it.

EMP: I began my work with Historic New England as a guide when I was in graduate school. I’ve always focused on working class history, so I was immediately excited to do this research at an organization I’m so passionate about. I also listened to visitors during my tours and realized that there was a growing need to tell these stories at our sites.

What do you wish people knew about New England history that most don’t?

DC: I wish people knew more about Indigenous epistemology, spirituality, and ways of life. We were once abundant in resources and wellness because we didn’t take more than needed; we offered gratitude and shared amongst our community members.

JK: When most people think of New England architecture, they think of Colonial- or Federal-style houses. However, many architects built experimental, modern buildings in New England, beginning with Eleanor Raymond in the 1930s. New England is as significant a player on the modern architectural stage as it is a home for older styles of architecture!

EMP: The history of this region is often broader than we’ve been taught. From colonial histories of enslavement in New England to the midcentury workers who fought back against the clearing of Boston’s West End, there are many narratives in our collective history that deserve to be better known and understood.

Outside of your work with Historic New England, what are you passionate about?

DC: As an artist, I make long-term performance-based photographic series centered around mindfulness, self-cultivation, and social liberation. Beyond my conceptual photo series, I also make images documenting my Memere, Pepere, and Aunt B, paired with conversational interviews I have had with them over tea.

JK: I am also a practicing artist! I work mainly in ceramics, but I have also begun branching out into photography, fibers, and other mediums. My artwork is very informed by the historical research I do, and vice versa. I have been fortunate to show my sculptural work in galleries nationally and internationally, including a few closer to home here in the Boston area.

EMP: Before working in public history, I began my professional life as a classical violinist, and I remain passionate about music and playing the violin. I also love attending live performances and exploring museums with my family—it’s wonderful seeing my kids discover what excites them!