Credits & Acknowledgements

About the Author

Gail Coughlin is the Research and Volunteer Manager at the Natick Historical Society. She holds an M.A. in history from UMass Amherst where she specialized in 17th-century Indigenous histories. Her Master's thesis "Our Souls Are Already Cared For: Indigenous Reactions to Religious Colonialism in Seventeenth-Century New England, New France, and New Mexico" analyzes the experiences of Indigenous residents of Christian mission communities throughout North America, including Natick. As an independent scholar, Coughlin has contributed to the Omohundro Institute's "Ben Franklin's World" podcast and projects at the Dedham Historical Society and Museum. 

Special thanks to Schuyler Selden and Jenn Belcher of the Morse Institute Library for their support and their aid in finding sources in the Morse Institute Library Archives.