An Introduction to Connecticut’s Indigenous Communities with Dr. Lucianne Lavin
The history and cultures of Connecticut’s first peoples will be the subject of Dr. Lucianne Lavin’s illustrated PowerPoint presentation. Connecticut’s Indigenous Communities have long, rich histories that extend back to when they shared Mother Earth with mastodons and other extinct animals. Ignored or themselves falsely labeled extinct by local 19th century town histories, the story of their evolution into complex tribal societies with sophisticated social and political traditions has remained largely untold. Though ravaged by European diseases, war, land losses, poverty, and discrimination, Native Peoples adapted to their constantly changing social landscapes through a series of survival strategies. Their communities remain a vibrant part of Connecticut life today.
About the Presenter
Lucianne Lavin is Director of Research and Collections at the Institute for American Indian Studies, a museum and research and educational center in Washington, CT. Dr. Lavin is an anthropologist & archaeologist who has over 40 years of research and field experience in Northeastern archaeology and anthropology, including teaching, museum exhibits and curatorial work, cultural resource management, editorial work, and public relations. She is a member of the state’s Native American Heritage Advisory Council, and the recently retired, 30-year editor of the journal of the Archaeological Society of Connecticut.
She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in anthropology from New York University and her B.A. from Indiana University. She has taught archaeology and anthropology at a number of Connecticut and New York colleges, including Connecticut College, Naugatuck Valley Community College, and Adelphi University. During her term as a Research Associate at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University, she co-directed their present Connecticut Prehistory exhibit and wrote the accompanying teacher’s manual. She has owned and operated an archaeological firm for over 25 years.
Dr. Lavin has written over 200 professional publications and technical reports on the archaeology and ethnohistory of the Northeast. She was twice awarded the Russell Award by the Archaeological Society of Connecticut and elected Fellow of the New York State Archaeological Association for exemplary archaeology work in their respective states.
Her award-winning book, Connecticut’s Indigenous Peoples: What Archaeology, History and Oral Traditions Teach Us about their Communities and Cultures, was published by Yale University Press (2013). The book was selected as a Choice Magazine Outstanding Academic Title for 2013 in the North America Category by the American Library Association. Her latest book, Dutch and Indigenous Communities in Seventeenth-Century Northeastern North America (SUNY Press, 2021), is an edited volume rated by BookAuthority as one of “16 Best New Archaeology eBooks to Read in 2021.”
Dr. Lavin recently received a Certificate of Award for Women in American History from the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. A Connecticut native, She is a Connecticut native and has lived much of her life in the lower Housatonic River Valley.