Meeting with Edna Spencer, Jean Holmes, Shirley F.B. Carter, Worcester Public Library, Worcester, Mass., April 23, 2014

On a rainy spring morning in April, Frank, Janette, and Ranger Chuck Arning of the National Park Service, John H. Chafee Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor, met at the Worcester Public Library with Edna Spencer, Jean Holmes, and Shirley F.B. Carter, long-time residents of Worcester who grew up in the Beaver Brook area where most of the photos were taken. Braving a torrential downpour, these three women generously spent a good part of the morning perusing the photographs. As the photos were taken around 1900, those pictured as babies or children were adults when these three women were growing up. Yet many names and faces proved to be familiar to them. And even better, they provided as with some invaluable information and insights. First, they pointed out to us that a number of people in the photos were of both African American and Nipmuc heritage. Second, they brainstormed an extensive list of people of color in the Worcester area that we need to interview. But our hearts really skipped a beat when Shirley Carter came across a picture of William Dempsey Perkins, as a baby, in the lap of his mother, North Carolina-born Angeline, along with his two-year-old sister Nellie. Dr. Carter explained that “Bill” was her step-sister Lois’s father! We couldn’t wait to follow up on that one! We left the meeting deeply grateful to Edna Spencer, Jean Holmes, and Shirley Carter for the time they spent with us, the many insights and connections that they offered us, and for their enthusiastic response to the photos.

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