{"id":29595,"date":"2026-09-17T17:13:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T21:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/?post_type=story&p=29595"},"modified":"2026-09-17T17:56:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T21:56:36","slug":"clark-students-work-to-revive-the-forgotten-past","status":"publish","type":"story","link":"https:\/\/www.clarku.edu\/news\/2026\/09\/17\/clark-students-work-to-revive-the-forgotten-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Clark students work to revive the forgotten past"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

During a summer internship at Preservation Worcester, Connor Dunham \u201927 and Jenny Marks \u201927 pored through archives to unravel forgotten history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preservation Worcester<\/a> is a nonprofit organization that protects neighborhoods and sites that are significant to the city\u2019s diverse culture.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dunham\u2019s research project, \u201cBlack Migration to Worcester, 1860-1900: 4 Profiles,\u201d centered on four unique stories. Marks\u2019 project, \u201cThe Oread Institute: The Castle That Once Was,\u201d <\/em>was inspired by a 2014 presentation that stayed with her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Connor Dunham\u2019s project<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dunham (shown at top presenting his research), a\u00a0history<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0political science<\/a>\u00a0major, says the internship made him appreciate sites he had previously driven past without a second thought. \u201cOn the first day, we did a walking tour of Worcester Common, and I realized there are all these historic buildings that have interesting histories that I hadn\u2019t actually looked at before,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his project, Dunham researched William Bryant, D.W. Bell, Rose Perkins, and Arries Ann Ward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bryant came to Worcester in 1862 and was a boat pilot for the Union Army. Dunham chose to focus on Bryant after reading about him in \u201cFirst Fruits of Freedom: The Migration of Former Slaves and Their Search for Equality in Worcester, Massachusetts, 1862-1900\u201d <\/em>by Janette Greenwood<\/a>, Clark professor emerita of history. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em>She identified William Bryant as the first Black migrant who kicked off this large wave of Civil War-era migration,\u201d Dunham says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ward is \u201ca big name in Worcester Black history,\u201d Dunham says. She was born into slavery and at the turn of the 19th<\/sup>century she moved to Worcester, where she had 18 children. She was heavily involved in the community and lived in Worcester until she died. She still has descendants living in the city today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having access to the Worcester Telegram & Gazette<\/em> archives through Clark was a very useful source for Dunham. \u201cI could search online for these people\u2019s names and find articles about them, which formed the bulk of my presentation,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A common thread throughout Dunham\u2019s research was the history of black communities being destroyed in the name of development. Marginalized neighborhoods were targeted because those communities lacked the financial and political resources needed to fight back. When the corporations came in to demolish the residents\u2019 homes, they often had no choice but to leave, she says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interning at Preservation Worcester provided Dunham with an opportunity to conduct his own research, gain experience in going through archives, and appreciate the stories that Worcester holds. Gaining work experience in a nonprofit setting was very rewarding for Dunham, who was supported by opportunity funding<\/a> from the Career Connections Center<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dunham plans to pursue the 4+1 Accelerated Master\u2019s in Business Administration<\/a><\/a> and work in the public history field, ideally as a museum administrator in Massachuseetts. \u201cThe state holds so much history about the American Revolution \u2014 which is the bulk of research I do,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"student
Jenny Marks \u201927 presents research findings after a summer internship at Preservation Worcester.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Marks\u2019 research<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A double major in history<\/a> and women and gender studies<\/a>, Marks was encouraged to seek her internship by her advisor, History Professor Melinda Marchand.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love getting to share what I have researched with an audience. It\u2019s one of the best parts about history,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oread Institute was founded in 1849 by Eli Thayer and was the first all-women\u2019s collegiate institute in the United States (Oberlin College was accepting women at the time, but it wasn\u2019t an all-women school). Marks got the chance to speak to Thayer\u2019s great-granddaughter over Zoom. \u201cIt was sweet getting to talk to her, and I also sent her my research,\u201d says Marks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oread Institute was a huge castle. \u201cThayer modeled it after Brown University because that\u2019s where he went,\u201d Marks explains. The institute closed in 1890,<\/a> but Thayer lived there until his death in 1899, when Henry D. Perkins bought it and turned it into the School of Domestic Science. Eventually, the facility fell into disrepair, and it was demolished around 1930. Today, that space is a playground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research presentation was a dive into \u201cwhat the curriculum looked like, the day-to-day life of the women who attended, how rigorous it was,\u201d says Marks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marks then chose to research three women who stayed in the city after graduating from Oread and made an impact on Worcester. Marks chose her subjects from a list published in 1901 by the Oread Alumni Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading through the book, Marks noticed that \u201cmany women would go to the Oread for one to two years but never actually graduate. This was because at that time, not all women were lucky enough to even gain access to higher education, so a year was enough before they would go on to do what society expected them to do.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marks focused on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n