The Newport Historical Society’s groundbreaking research on Black and Indigenous history has gained a dramatically wider audience through a new partnership with American Ancestors, the digital platform of the New England Historic Genealogical Society.
The collaboration publishes the Newport Historical Society’s “Voices from the NHS Archives” database as part of American Ancestors’ 10 Million Names initiative, bringing stories of enslaved, manumitted and free people of color from 17th- to 19th-century Newport to more than 400,000 members and millions of online genealogy researchers.
The announcement comes less than a year before the planned opening of Newport’s first Center for Black History, set to launch on Juneteenth 2026 in conjunction with America’s 250th anniversary celebrations.
“Today marks an exciting milestone in this effort,” said Rebecca Bertrand, Newport Historical Society executive director. “We are so grateful to American Ancestors for their support and partnership in bringing our research to more people than ever.”
The Voices database, launched in February 2024, represents more than four years of research involving dozens of experts and advisors. The project has digitized more than 5,600 pages and compiled data on more than 1,800 named people of African and Indigenous descent.
The partnership connects Newport’s local research to American Ancestors’ broader mission to recover names and information for an estimated 10 million people of African descent enslaved in America before emancipation.
“The Newport Historical Society has done a remarkable job not only in identifying Black and Indigenous people referenced in their archive, but in finding connections between records,” said Zobeida Chaffee-Valdes, 10 Million Names data analyst.
The research will anchor exhibitions and programming at the Edward W. Kane & Martha J. Wallace Center for Black History, housed in the 328-year-old Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House, a National Historic Landmark and Newport’s oldest surviving home.
Dr. Akeia de Barros Gomes, the center’s director and Newport native, said the partnership transforms how the historical society’s archives can reach researchers.
“Up until now, Voices has lived on paper in our vast archives and online in our free database,” she said. “Today, it has the potential to reach millions more people.”
Work on the Voices project continues indefinitely, with documents regularly digitized and posted for public access. The database remains available through the Newport Historical Society’s website and the American Ancestors platform.
