The Fitchburg Historical Society will welcome Fitchburg State University Associate Professor Kisha Tracy on Thursday, February 8 at 5:30 p.m. for a talk on cultural heritage called Cultural Heritage: Finding the Ancient and Medieval in Fitchburg. The talk is structured around photographs taken in central Massachusetts that illustrate aspects of our historical memory and cultural heritage. Our experience of Fitchburg’s local history can be more fully understood in the context of ancient and medieval history, which will also be illustrated through photographs taken by Professor Tracy in the course of her medieval researches in Europe.

Cultural Heritage: Finding the Ancient and Medieval in Fitchburg is free and open to the public; Professor Tracy will speak on Thursday, February 8 at 5:30 p.m. at the Fitchburg Historical Society, Phoenix Building, 781 Main Street, Fitchburg. The talk is one part of a larger project created by Professor Tracy and her students, who are curating photographs of local history and ancient culture in an online gallery, as they also research their historic subject matter.

“The focus of this project is photography of ancient and medieval cultural heritage stories from other countries, and local cultural heritage stories in New England and Fitchburg,” says Kisha Tracy.  “Cultural heritage is the manifestation of common human experiences, and, by drawing these parallels, we can emphasize the connection between the distant past and more recent, local history.  We end up learning more about our shared need for preservation and historical study.”

Kisha Tracy is an Associate Professor of English Studies, and Co-Coordinator of the Center for Teaching and Learning, at Fitchburg State University. She received a Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from the University of Connecticut in 2010. She has written the book Memory and Confession in Middle English Literature, and is developing a new book entitled Students Are People Too. She is the Book Review Editor for Currents in Teaching and Learning and on the board of the New England Faculty Development Consortium and the International Society for Exploring Teaching and Learning.

“This is a very exciting project,” according to Susan Navarre, Executive Director of the Fitchburg Historical Society. “It encourages today’s college students to think about the meaning of their local history in the context of world history. And at this talk, the audience will have an opportunity to see how Professor Tracy and her students interpret Fitchburg artifacts and history. After the talk, attendees can also see online and real world exhibitions that the students curate under Professor Tracy’s tutelage.”

Exhibitions of photographs from the Cultural Heritage Through Image Project will take place at the Fitchburg Art Museum and the Amelia V. Gallucci-Cirio Library at Fitchburg State University. More information on the Cultural Heritage Through Image project may be found at http://culturalheritagethroughimage.omeka.net/.

The Fitchburg Historical Society is fully ADA accessible, with a parking lot and plenty of on-street parking. For directions, visit https://www.google.com/maps/place/781+Main+Street,+Fitchburg,+MA+01420/@42.5850813,-71.8062273,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89e3e656ca72ce63:0xcb20840fa007311a!8m2!3d42.5850813!4d-71.8040386?hl=en.

For more information, call 978-345-1157 or visit www.fitchburghistoricalsociety.com.