Rural Tomaquag Museum goes global
Case Statement copy by Tom Ahern, design by Andrea Hopkins
Founded in 1958 by Princess Red Wing, a Wampanoag leader; with anthropologist Eva Butler’s front parlor as the original display site ... the Tomaquag Museum has since evolved ... a lot.
It won America’s most prestigious museum medal in 2016, presented by First Lady, Michele Obama. For a long time it’s attracted shoals of RI and CT school children learning about their own backyard ... as well as welcoming top university scholars sorting out the realities of Indigenous life.
Now there’s a new mission for the Tomaquag Museum: to become an international truth-teller. The museum’s built-from-scratch new campus will easily accommodate at least 10 times more visitors. It incorporates an inspiring artists-in-residence program and an Indigenous-influenced café, among other innovations. It will also be climate-conscious: it’s engineered to emit net-zero climate-worsening gases.
Yet there’s more: beginning soon, Tomaquag will offer a spectacular online curriculum, sharpened during the pandemic.
