A Message From Our President

Dear Friends,

On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Truro Historical Society, I want to welcome you to our 50^th season! We will be celebrating this important landmark all summer with two special exhibitions at the Highland House Museum.
The season will begin on June 1^st with our extremely well received “Living Legacy” exhibition. This collection of large format black and white portraits of Truro elders shot by photographer and artist, Mason Morfit, is accompanied by personal stories and memories of Truro from live interviews conducted by Ellen Anthony. The project, which is in its third year, is funded by a grant from Truro Treasures and continues the important work and project begun by Helena Snow in the 1980’s.

Beginning on July 1^st, we will present “As They Saw It: Artists of Truro”, a comprehensive exhibition of historic works by 20 noted “Truro” artists who were inspired to create paintings over the last 100 years. These paintings, gathered from the collection of the Truro Historical Society and borrowed from Napi VanDereck, Diana Worthington, and other local collectors, pay tribute to the many men and women who found inspiration in Truro. Through this exhibition, we hope that you will join us in celebrating, through art, the colorful history of Truro.

Along with these special exhibitions, we hope you will be impressed with the updates and improvements we’ve been making at the Highland House Museum as well. New lighting and ceiling fans, an updated Shipwreck Room, including a new exhibit entitled “Lost at Sea: 20^th Century Shipwrecks”, sponsored by Seamen’s Bank, and the opening of our Hopper Room are a few of the highlights.

I hope that you will join us for our 50^th Anniversary Celebration at the Truro Vineyards on July 22^nd from 6-9 PM. For more information about this and all of our programs and events, please visit our website at www.trurohistoricalsociety.org.
Best regards,
Susan Howe, President 2017

A joint project of the Truro Historical Commission and the Truro Historical Society, this guidebook was created to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower in Cape Cod Bay in 1620 and is an update of the 1984 guide that celebrated the 275th anniversary of the founding of Truro.

Click here to download the guidebook: Historic Truro Tours

This program was supported in part by a grant from the Truro Cultural Council, a local agency that is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency. Funding for printing was also provided by the Truro Chamber of Commerce, Truro Part-Time Resident Taxpayers’ Association, and Truro Vineyards of Cape Cod. Chuck Steinman, Editor and Graphic Design, Truro Historical Commission.

Our Support for Racial Justice

The Truro Historical Society (THS) supports the peaceful Black Lives Matter movement for racial justice that is taking place in the United States and around the world. “Liberty and justice for all” means justice for Black and Indigenous populations, and for all people of color.

Museums and archives are not neutral spaces. Because we interpret history, we have the responsibility of presenting the past as fully and accurately as possible, including painful and uncomfortable aspects. The past feeds into the present, and when a community actively engages with its past, it can use its understanding to make a better society.

Truro was founded on land that had been inhabited by Native People for thousands of years, but these people were displaced by English settlers. There were enslaved people and indentured laborers enduring near-slavery conditions in Truro. In 1754, the town’s first minister, Reverend John Avery, bequeathed to his children three African-American enslaved men and “my Indian Girl Sarah.”

After reflecting on the “settler privilege” that most of us enjoy, the THS decided in late 2019 to mark the 400^thanniversary of the Pilgrims’ arrival with a decolonial exhibition celebrating Truro’s first inhabitants, the Wampanoag Nation, from its origins to today. During the postponement caused by the coronavirus, the THS will continue to consult with Indigenous scholars and community members. We will increase our commitment to diversity and inclusion. As a token of our commitment, the THS wishes to share the Land Acknowledgment we have prepared in consultation with members of the Wampanoag Nation. This statement will stand at the entrance to the Highland House Museum’s permanent exhibition about the Paomet and the Wampanoag peoples.

Land Acknowledgment

The Highland House Museum stands on the traditional homeland of the Paomet Tribe, members of the Wampanoag Nation, who have inhabited Cape Cod for more than 12,000 years and who knew this part of Truro as Tashmuit. The Truro Historical Society acknowledges the displacement, suffering, and forced assimilation of the Wampanoag and other Native Peoples caused by European contact and colonization. We honor the struggles of the Wampanoag, People of the First Light, and support their resilience, and we ask museum visitors to reflect on our shared responsibility to maintain social justice.

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