Lunch & Learn: Gossip within the Spring Place Moravian Mission to the Cherokee Country

Description

What can historical records reveal about the everyday lives of the people who lived and worked at the Spring Place Moravian Mission? Find out during Lunch & Learn: Gossip within the Spring Place Moravian Mission to the Cherokee Country on October 21 from noon to 1 p.m. The program will explore the lesser-known stories preserved in the Records of the Moravians Among the Cherokee, a collection of firsthand accounts documenting life at the Spring Place Moravian Mission during the early 19th century. Researchers often turn to these records for insight into the Indian Removal Act and the Cherokee Trail of Tears, but the diaries offer much more. Their pages also capture the personalities, relationships and everyday interactions of the people who made up the Spring Place community. The presentation will examine relationships among Moravian missionaries, their Cherokee congregation, enslaved Africans and Black community members, as well as James Vann, the mission’s prominent sponsor. Together, these often-overlooked accounts provide a more personal glimpse into life at Spring Place and the people whose stories shaped its history. About the Speaker Irina Garner serves as Assistant Manager of the Chief Vann House State Historic Site in Chatsworth, Georgia, where she coordinates events, develops educational programs and tours, writes historical interpretation, and helps create programming for field trips and park visitors. Garner also works to strengthen the site’s relationships with the Eastern and Western Bands of the Cherokee Nation. Her work supports the preservation and interpretation of the site through house and grounds restoration projects, trail expansions, native gardens and endangered plant restoration initiatives. A central part of Garner’s work involves bringing greater attention to lesser-known aspects of the site’s history, including the history of enslavement and the causes and long-term impacts of the 19th-century Indian Removal Act.