News Release

Algonkian Living History with Drew Shuptar-Rayvis

Drew Shuptar-Rayv presenting his program Algonkian Living History

News Release Date: October 2, 2023

Contact: Jude Pfister, Chief of Cultural Resources, 973-539-2019  x204

Release Date:  Immediately
Contact:    Jude Pfister, Chief of Cultural Resources
[e-mail]      973-539-2016 x204

Morristown National Historical Park

Algonkian Living History with Drew Shuptar-Rayvis
1:00 p.m., Saturday, October 7, 2023, Morristown National Historical Park Museum Auditorium

Free Admission

MORRISTOWN, NJ – Morristown National Historical Park (NHP) continues to celebrate its 90th anniversary as the nation’s first National Historical Park with programing for Saturday, October 7.

Mark your calendars for:

1:00 p.m., Saturday, October 7 – Algonkian Living History with Drew Shuptar-Rayvis

Drew Shuptar-Rayvis will present an interactive program on the ways of life of the Algonkian Native Americans. The Algonkian live in what is today southwest Connecticut and had historical trade routes that extended to modern day southern New York and northern New Jersey.

Mr. Shuptar-Rayvis will guide you in comparing and examining traditional items such as pelts and daily objects made of stone, bone, wood, and shell with those items acquired through trade: a set of trade axes, a flintlock musket, metal knives, blankets, jewelry (such as glass beads and earrings), clay pipes and entirely different pelts.

The program will explore the time from approximately 1700 to the 1763, the period which includes the French and Indian War (Seven Years’ War) that ultimately lead to the American War for Independence. It was a period of intense rivalry between England and France for dominance on the North American continent and for the crucial collaboration of Native American tribes.

Seismic changes occurred in Algonkian life as the consequences of contact with new European neighbors rippled outward. The rising fur trade, persistent conversion efforts from Christian missionaries, epidemic disease, and forced removal from tribal lands changed the balance of Algonkian life forever.

Drew Shuptar-Rayvis (Pekatawas MakataWai’U “Black Corn”) holds a cum laude Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Sociology from Western Connecticut State University and a Certificate Degree in Archaeology from Norwalk Community College. A true American of the mid-Atlantic region, his family includes indigenous Pocomoke heritage, Pennsylvania Dutch, Welsh, Swiss, English, Scots Irish, Boyko Ukrainian and Ashkenazi / Sephardic Jewish, he honors all of his ancestors as a practicing living historian and regularly participates in colonial era reenactments, interpretations and public educational events. He works diligently in the research and preservation of the Eastern Woodland languages, particularly Renape , Nanticoke and Southern Unami Dialect. He is also educated in the many European languages at use in the Colonial Period. He was the first garden manager of Western Connecticut State University’s Permaculture Garden, and practices Native horticulture. In July 2021, Drew was elected by his Paramount Chief Norris Howard Senior and council member Norris Howard Junior as Cultural Ambassador of the Pocomoke Indian Nation of Maryland. Drew currently works as an Algonkian historical consultant with NAHC (New Amsterdam History Center) and for the Maryland State Archives as a contractual research and preservation specialist, working with tribal oral histories and lifeways. Lastly, he has been featured in various historical films and has modeled for historical artists Don Troiani, Michael Keropian and David Hasseler.

*Location: Morristown National Historical Park, Museum Auditorium, 30 Washington Place, Morristown, NJ 07960. 

For a complete list of Morristown NHP’s 90th Anniversary events, see: https://www.nps.gov/morr/planyourvisit/90th-anniversary-calendar-of-events.htm

For more information about Morristown National Historical Park, please visit our website at https://www.nps.gov/morr/index.htm

 .-NPS-