Researchers Roundtable: New Scholarship from the Longfellow Archives

On November 10, 2022, three scholars shared results of their recent research in the site’s archival collections.

Jacqueline Marie Musacchio is Professor of Italian Renaissance and Baroque Art at Wellesley College. Her scholarship has focused on the intersection of female experience and material culture from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century. She discussd research on the Longfellows and their social circle in Italy.

Kaila Schwartz is a PhD candidate at Willilam & Mary. Her presentation focuses on research in the Frances Longfellow papers. Her dissertation, "Naming New Englanders," investigates how people framed their perceptions of names, family, memorialization, and identity in New England across the generations. The presentation highlighted the insights Frances Longfellow provides into the process of naming.

Troy Smith is an independent scholar based in Brooklyn, NY. This presentation discussed extant thank you notes from African American students sent to Northern donors from 1893-1930. Students at these schools were required to write such notes to their Northern benefactors, and these letters, found in the archival records of donors like Alice Mary Longfellow, represent some of the few voices of the students themselves found in the historical record during this period.