Lecture: “Archaeology and Tribal Historic Preservation: An Uneasy History” with Jeffrey C Bendremer Ph.D., RPA

DORSET, VT – Join us at the Dorset Historical Society Bley House Museum for a lecture on
Wednesday, February 25th at 4pm featuring Jeffrey Bendremer, Ph.D, RPA on archaeology and
tribal historic preservation. Indigenous communities and archaeologists have often been at odds
regarding how best to preserve, protect, investigate and venerate tribal heritage. Between
amateur collectors, museums and academic archaeologists, Tribal Nations have often felt that
their reverence for their own histories had been subordinated to outsiders who had divergent
interests, priorities, ethics and goals. The establishment of Tribal Historic Preservation Offices, a
provision of Section 101(d)(2) of the National Historic Preservation Act, became open to
federally recognized Indian Tribes since 1996. As a result, tribal governments finally had
legally-based regulatory procedures for historic preservation and a statutory basis for asserting
culturally appropriate approaches to the treatment of their heritage.
Jeffrey Bendremer, Ph.D, RPA received his doctorate in Anthropology from the University of
Connecticut and is currently the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Stockbridge-Munsee
Community.
Dr. Bendremer was founder and director of Salish Kootenai College’s Tribal Historic
Preservation Program, the only 4-year degree in THP in America, and held professorships at
Mercy College, Indiana University, College of New Rochelle, Eastern Connecticut State
University and Connecticut College, teaching courses in Native American studies, anthropology,
sociology, and history.
Dr. Bendremer has also worked in cultural resource management and public archaeology,
including 10 years as Manager of the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut’s historic preservation
program and NAGPRA Coordinator for the Connecticut Museum of Natural History and the
New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. He has presented and
published numerous academic papers on Indigenous history and culture in the northeast. He
advocates for better ethics in archaeology, improved partnerships with Indian tribes and
cutting-edge methods in historic preservation.
Dorset is located on the ancestral homelands of the Mohican Nation and Stockbridge-Munsee
Community.

—–

Dorset Historical Society

Collecting, Preserving, and Sharing Our Local History

PO Box 52, Route 30 at Kent Hill Road, Dorset, VT 05251 | 802-867-0331 | info@dorsetvthistory.org

The Dorset Historical Society was incorporated as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in 1963.
The Society values, preserves, and shares local history with residents and visitors through our
collections, events, and community education. Toward these ends, we collect and maintain
artifacts, art, photographs, documents, books, manuscripts, and genealogical records pertinent to
Dorset and its environs from the time the town was chartered in 1761 to the present.