Lenape History & Research
Recovering and building knowledge from the past, present, and future caretakers of this land
Bartram’s Garden is located in Lenapehoking, the homeland of the Lenape people.
In 2024, we established the Lenape Research Fellowship and an associated Advisory Committee with support from the William Penn Foundation. As a public historic garden with a colonial legacy on Lenape land, and as a green space seeking to manage these ecosystems in ways that are sustainable, adaptable, holistic, and reparative, the creation of this fellowship answers a deep organizational need to support the process of recovering and building a body of knowledge relating to Lenape Traditional Ecological Knowledge about land care for this region.
Supporting this area of inquiry is further intended as a reparative action for the attempted genocide and displacement of the Lenape and the havoc wrought on this land and water by the project of colonialism, which is a part of the Bartrams’ legacy. There is no way to right the damage that occurred, yet we acknowledge these grave injustices and seek to learn from a way of life that was nearly destroyed. We recognize the Lenape as the rightful past, present, and future caretakers of this land, with millennia of presence in Lenapehoking, and we are also aware that much Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge in this area has been buried in the depths of colonization.
Our hope is that findings from this work will both inform improved care for these 50 acres as well as shape how the story of Bartram’s Garden is told and retold by staff, visitors, and neighbors.
About the Advisory Committee
The Fellowship is overseen by an Advisory Committee comprised of experts from throughout the country, including citizens and friends of Native communities, as well as members of the Garden’s staff. The Council meets quarterly to hear progress from the Fellow, inform their next steps, and make collective decisions about sharing information and resources.
Lenape Research Fellowship Advisory Committee
Updated Summer 2025
- Kesha Braunskill, Citizen of Lenape Indian Tribe of Delaware; Urban and Community Forestry Specialist, U.S. Forest Service; Founder and Executive Director, Delaware Bat Rehabilitation and Conservation
- Dagny Elise Carlsson, Cherokee Nation, Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma; Candidate (Class of 2027), Master of Landscape Architecture, University of Pennsylvania
- Denise Dunkley, Citizen of Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation (New Jersey); Council-at-Large, Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation
- Ty “Dancing Wolf” Ellis, Citizen of Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation (New Jersey); Teaching and Performing Artist; Founder, Lenapehoking Reestablishment Project
- Charlene Johnson, Citizen of Nanticoke Lenni-Lenape Tribal Nation (New Jersey)
- Mandy Katz, Director of Horticulture and Lead Gardener, Bartram’s Garden
- Ali Meders Knight, Mechoopda Tribal Member; Executive Director, California Open Lands; Master Practitioner of Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge
- Chief Vincent Mann, Ramapough Munsee Lunaape Nation Turtle Clan; Environmental Advocate; Co-Founder, Munsee Three Sisters Medicinal Garden
- Michaeline Mann, Ramapough Munsee Lunaape Nation Turtle Clan; Nurse; Tribal Historic Preservation Officer; Medicine Person, Munsee Three Sisters Farm
- Lady Danni Morinich, Friend of Nanticoke Nation in lower Delaware; Urban Herbalist, Forageer and Educator
- Maitreyi Roy, Executive Director, Bartram’s Garden
About the Lenape Research Fellow
Ciara Williams was selected in 2024 as the inaugural Lenape Research Fellow.
A researcher, facilitator, and organizer from Chester, Pennsylvania, Ciara is currently a PhD candidate at Harvard University studying 18th- and 19th-century environmental history. Prior to beginning her PhD, Ciara held environmental roles within the City of Philadelphia Office of Sustainability, Mural Arts Philadelphia, and PLAN: The Post-Landfill Action Network after first getting involved as an environmental justice organizer in Chester.
Bartram History Blog
July 7, 2025
Unearthing Horticultural History: The Story of Plant Records at Bartram’s Garden
The year is 1728; John Bartram stands in his garden beneath the dappled sunlight filtering through the tree canopy, carefully examining the leaf of a plant. He runs his fingers...
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