Material Witnesses: Objects and Their Spaces in Historical Storytelling

The HiFi (Historical Fiction) Collaborative, hosts a conversation about the spaces and places of history, and the ways in which material witnesses– and our stories about them–shape our understanding of ourselves. Moderated by historical fiction novelist Taylor Polites (The Rebel Wife), the panel will include, Carrie Taylor, Director of the Lippitt House; Kate Irvin, Curator Costume and Textiles at the RISD Museum; Kate Wells, Rhode Island Collection librarian at the Providence Public Library; and and Pieter Roos from the Newport Restoration Foundation. Panelists and audience members will explore the ways in which cultural memory is created, collected, preserved, shared, and re-created.