Sussex Chapter MTG/Lecture

Lecture by Dr. Cara Blume  

We Thought Our Creator Had Abandoned Us: The Social Consequences of Smallpox in the Delaware Valley

Dr. Cara Lee Blume is an archaeologist and historian with more than 50 years of experience working in Delaware. She received her MA and PhD degrees in anthropology/archaeology from the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC. Over the last 40 years, she has developed strong ongoing relationships with the interrelated Lenape and Nanticoke tribal communities of Delaware and southern New Jersey. She has given papers on working with tribal communities at professional conferences ranging from the Middle Atlantic Archaeological Conference to the World Archaeological Conference. Since retiring from her position as Cultural Heritage Program Manager with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control in 2009, she has served as consulting ethno-historian to a confederation of Nanticoke and Lenape tribes, working on state and federal recognition issues. She is currently researching the post-contact history of these communities.