PRESS RELEASE
June 19, 2006The Trustees of Reservations to Transfer Historic Communion Set
to Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohican Nation
Ceremony to be held Friday, September 22, 2006 at 2:00 PM at
The Mission House in Stockbridge, Massachusetts
Sharon, Mass. – September 20, 2006 - The Trustees of Reservations, one of Massachusetts' foremost conservation organizations, announced today it will transfer a 19th century pewter communion set of cultural significance to representatives of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of the Mohican Nation during a ceremony at The Mission House in Stockbridge, Massachusetts on September 22, 2006 at 2:00 PM.
The Stockbridge-Munsee Community, also referred to as the Mohicans, requested repatriation of the communion set under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990.** The Trustees' transfer of this symbolic Christian artifact represents one of only a handful of Christian objects ever to be repatriated to a Native American tribe.
The communion set was purchased from a church on the Mohican reservation by Stockbridge resident Mabel Choate in 1930. Long interested in Colonial-era history, Miss Choate was the driving force behind restoration of the Mission House, 18th century home to Reverend John Sergeant, which she moved to its current location, restored, and gave to The Trustees with its contents in 1948.
John Sergeant was the first missionary to the Mohican Tribe. Under Sergeant's leadership, the Mohicans established their first church in Stockbridge in 1734. Although they eventually left Stockbridge in the 1780s, the Stockbridge-Munsee continued to maintain their Christian faith. Now 1,500 members strong, the Stockbridge-Munsee Community live in northeast Wisconsin. To preserve their past, they write histories, maintain a museum and often visit their ancestral homelands in and around Stockbridge, Massachusetts. (For more information on the Stockbridge-Munsee, visit their website at www.mohican.com.)
"Mabel Choate purchased the communion set to preserve it in perpetuity. It might well have been sold to a collector and lost forever. However, due to Mabel Choate’s foresight and the subsequent stewardship of The Trustees, the tribe’s history has been kept alive in Stockbridge and we are able to return the set to the Mohicans today," says Susan Edwards, Director of Historic Resources at The Trustees of Reservations.
"We hold all of our collections and properties in public trust, says Andy Kendall, president of The Trustees. The Trustees have been able to preserve and maintain the rich cultural heritage of the Mohican tribe at the place where Christianity became such an integral part of their cultural patrimony. Thanks to this stewardship, a deep connection still exists between the Mohicans and present day Stockbridge almost 300 years since the tribe first settled there."
The four-piece communion set, currently on display in the Trustees' Mission House, consists of four pieces of pewter: A flagon (1825-1854) made by Thomas Danforth Boardman of Hartford, Connecticut; a goblet (1825-1854) made by Sherman Boardman and Thomas Danforth Boardman; a second goblet (1820-1850; by an unknown maker) and a charger (1758-1788) made possibly by Joseph Danforth, Middletown, Connecticut.
About The Trustees of Reservations
Founded in 1891, The Trustees of Reservations is the nation's oldest regional nonprofit conservation organization. Supported by more than 45,000 members, The Trustees protect Massachusetts' natural and historic resources for everyone to enjoy. From working farms to historic homesteads, barrier beaches to mountain vistas, The Trustees own, manage, and interpret nearly 25,000 acres on 96 reservations in 70 communities across Massachusetts, including four National Historic Landmarks, a National Natural Landmark, and seven properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In addition, The Trustees hold perpetual conservation restrictions on nearly 14,000 acres—more than any other conservation organization in Massachusetts—permanently protecting scenic and natural areas from development, while landowners retain ownership and management responsibilities under certain restrictions. For properties more suitable for protection by partner organizations, The Trustees have assisted in the protection of nearly 12,000 additional acres.
With the support of more than 13,500 donors, The Trustees have just completed a landmark capital campaign, raising $63 million in cash and receiving more than $35 million in land in just five years—the largest campaign by an environmental organization in Massachusetts’ history. Funds raised have been used to establish ten new reservations on 1,685 acres—all of which are open to the public.
The Trustees employ 130 full-time and 400 seasonal staff with expertise in many areas, including ecology, education, historic resources, land protection, conservation, land management, and planning. To find out how you can interview Trustees’ experts on important topics and issues, volunteer or become a member, please call The Trustees of Reservations at 781.784.0567, visit our website at www.thetrustees.org, or email us at membership@ttor.org.
**The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) is a Federal law passed in 1990. NAGPRA provides a systematic process for determining the rights of lineal descendants, Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations to certain Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects and objects of cultural patrimony with which they are affiliated, and for the disposition of discoveries on Federal and tribal land. The Stockbridge-Munsee Community requested repatriation of the communion set on the basis of cultural patrimony, which is defined as items having ongoing historical, traditional, or cultural importance central to the tribe, rather than property owned by an individual tribal or organization member. These objects are of such central importance that they may not be alienated, appropriated, or conveyed by any individual tribal or organization member.