About the Project

Unboxing the Archive is a digital storytelling video project that explores the rich and complex history of African Americans in New England. Using archival collections at historical societies and libraries, it features ten-minute videos covering fascinating, often overlooked stories on a range of topics, from slavery in New England to successful Black entrepreneurs. This project is committed to centering African Americans and their contributions to the economic, cultural, and intellectual life of New England.

Unboxing the Archive Podcast

Research Assistant and Northeastern Sociology PhD Candidate Shavaun Sutton interviews Unboxing the Archive’s Project Director, Kabria Baumgartner, exploring the story of Unboxing the Archive and the first phase of development work now underway.

Listen to the first episode of our new podcast here:

Episode 1: 10/5/2022

Our Project Team

Profile

Kabria Baumgartner

Project Director

Dean's Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies

Kabria Baumgartner is a historian of the nineteenth-century United States, specializing in the history of education, African American women’s and gender history, and the New England region.

Profile

Hunter Moskowitz

Research Assistant

Ph.D. Student in History

Hunter is a doctoral student in World History at Northeastern with a B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University. His research interests include examining how workers have resisted, shaped, and mediated colonialism.

Profile

Shavaun Sutton

Research Assistant

Ph.D. Student in Sociology

Shavaun Sutton is a second-year doctoral student. She holds a master’s in public health in Community Health Sciences from SUNY Downstate School of Public Health. She strives to promote equity via the analysis of nuanced narratives and lived experience.