The Importance of Acknowledging our History: The National Archives at Boston and the Boston Federal Records Center

This is another post from our ongoing series of blog posts that acknowledges the ancestral lands on which the National Archives’ buildings are situated. I started this series of acknowledgements as a simple way to offer recognition and respect to the people who lived on these lands before us.

Photo of the National Archives at Boston from https://www.archives.gov/boston

The National Archives at Boston and the Boston Federal Records Center is located in Waltham, Massachusetts, which is situated on the ancestral lands of the Massachusett and Pawtucket Tribes.  

The Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness website notes, “Land Acknowledgements are a simple, powerful way to show respect to the original inhabitants of the land where you are currently standing, presenting, about to engage in an activity, etc. The Massachusetts Center for Native American Awareness (MCNAA) believes that this is a meaningful step toward honoring the truth, making the invisible visible, and correcting the American stories that erase indigenous people’s tribal history and culture. Land Acknowledgements demonstrate a commitment to counter the Doctrine of Discovery and to undo the ongoing legacy of settler colonialism.”

Map from the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag website.

Enter your address in this interactive map of Traditional Native Lands to see who once lived where you are now.

My thanks to Jason Hiller, Archives Technician, from the National Archives at Boston, who researched the information for this land acknowledgement. 

For further information:

Native Land Massachusett
Native Land Pawtucket
Massachusetts Center for Native American
Massachusett Tribal Website