Joy W. Huntington

Historic Germantown (HG) is a partnership organization of 18 independent historic, green, and cultural sites in Northwest Philadelphia that works collaboratively to preserve these assets, increase public access and equity, and raise their visibility. Historic Germantown supports its member sites by facilitating tours, lectures, exhibits, festivals and other public programming. The Leading Edge Fellow will help to develop a conceptual framework that will expand existing initiatives to decolonize Historic Germantown. The development of a decolonial framework must confront the living legacy and slow violence of Colonial Revivalism--predicated on an “elite,” white version of the past--at the foundation of the local heritage movement in Northwest Philadelphia (and in the US), including the predecessor of the Germantown Historical Society, the Site and Relic Society of Germantown. The fellow will work with HG staff to conduct research that proposes a decolonial framework for HG and takes on the legacy of Colonial Revivalism, both in general and in its particular influence on the development and operations of many HG sites. This research will draw deeply on the archives of the Germantown Historical Society and on several special collections of member sites and peer organizations.