Our Mission

The David Ruggles Center for History and Education honors the contributions made to the abolition of slavery by courageous individuals in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts. Our location in the village of Florence within Northampton commemorates those who came here to challenge slavery, live in freedom, and establish a community based on principles of race, gender, class, and religious equality. We seek to educate and inspire our visitors to possibilities in the present by sharing these powerful voices from the past.

Our Work

We offer guided walking tours on the second Saturday of the month May–October  at 10:30 AM, and by special arrangement.

Visitors may view permanent and rotating exhibits at the museum on Sundays, 12:00–4:00 PM, June–October, and by appointment.

We sponsor a range of regularly scheduled events for diverse audiences.

We share our history with school groups and educational organizations.

Researchers may contact us to access our archives and library.

Donate

We are an all-volunteer organization. We rely on donations to help meet our operating expenses. Please consider supporting the work we do with your tax-deductible contribution.

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Donation Total: $25

Volunteer

As a volunteer-run organization, the DRC welcomes volunteers to help with a variety of activities. Some possible areas of help include cataloguing projects in the Reading Room and Archive, gardening and building maintenance, assistance with mailings, helping with events, staffing museum during open hours, working as a docent, and much more! If you are interested in volunteering, please contact us at info@davidrugglescenter.org.

Our Building

225 Nonotuck Street

Our Team

The DRC is run by volunteers who serve on the General Committee, which meets monthly. Inspired by the Northampton Association, we operate on a consensus model. All General Committee members serve on one or more smaller committees that oversees different aspects of the DRC work.

The DRC General Committee

  • Lisa Baskin
  • Tara Brewster
  • Faith Deering
  • Kim Gerould
  • Tom Goldscheider
  • Hugh Guilderson
  • Sara Lennox
  • Suzanne Love
  • Kevin McQuillan
  • Tristram Metcalfe III
  • Marie Panik
  • Stephanie Pasternak
  • Ousmane Power-Greene
  • David Rosenberger
  • Steve Strimer
  • Emikan Sudan
  • Kris Thomson

Our Partners

Our Supporters

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In the Media

Travel 2022: ‘A very welcoming, open place’ for all in Northampton, Mass.  Published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette (5/26/2022). David Ruggles Center included as a tourist destination in Northampton travel guide, highlighting Florence’s 1840s abolitionist utopian community.

‘Soul of the Underground Railroad’: David Ruggles, the man who rescued Frederick Douglas. Published by USA Today (9/6/2021). David Ruggles Center historians contribute to article about life and significance of David Ruggles.

We have a Senate budget! (See what’s included.)  Published in Updates from Jo  (6/1/2021). Senator Jo Comerford’s website update mentions $25,000 in state funding for David Ruggles Center building expenses.

Northampton restoring graves of former slaves, abolitionists. Published by WCVB-5- abc affiliate  (8-24-20). David Ruggles Center donates $3000 to restore historic graves of 19th century black and white abolitionists and formerly enslaved at Park St. Cemetery in Florence, MA.

Past informs the present: David Ruggles Center designs curriculum on landmark anti-slavery community.  Published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette (7/31/2020).  Article about DRC’s new online curriculum for teachers of  grades 7-12.

Tour highlights Florence’s abolitionist history. Published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette (1/16/2018). Steve Strimer leads a tour on the African American Heritage Trail on Martin Luther King Day.

Underground Railroad Stops Mark Abolitionist Milestones. Published in the Boston Globe (2/7/10).

The Story of David Ruggles. Published in Hampshire Life (2/20-26/2009).  This article discusses Ruggles and the local effort to create the David Ruggles Center.  Story courtesy of the Daily Hampshire Gazette.

Founding of the DRC

The David Ruggles Center was founded on April 8, 2008. A natural outgrowth of the Sojourner Truth Memorial Statue and the Florence History Project, it was an immediate response to the imminent destruction of an 1848 factory dwelling house. This modest home at 225 Nonotuck Street in Florence, Massachusetts is situated directly across from the site of the former silk mill of the Northampton Association of Education and Industry. Spearheaded by Florence historian Steve Strimer, early members of the Save 225 Nonotuck Committee formed the DRC to promote a new purpose for the building: a museum and education center that would honor and interpret the lives of the abolitionists who founded Florence.  Their appeal to the Northampton Historical Commission to delay the demolition was approved and a joint sub-committee of the NHC was appointed to work with the owner to arrive at a positive outcome.

Tris Metcalfe, one of the early members of the DRC and a well-known local architect, worked up plans that would allow the house to stay on its original foundation and provide a build-out on the property for three live/work condominiums. The owner, Jim Harrity, approved the plan. The DRC then prepared an application to the Northampton Community Preservation Commission for a grant of $150,000 to purchase the property which was approved unanimously by the CPC and the City Council. This grant, along with a low-interest loan and contributions from the Florence Savings Bank, allowed the Committee for Northampton, Inc. (the non-profit umbrella for both the Sojourner Truth Memorial Statue and the DRC) to close on the property on June 26, 2009. Architect Tris Metcalfe, lawyer Mark Nejame and realtor Craig Della Penna waived their fees as a show of support for the project.

On August 26, 2009 the David Ruggles Center was accepted as a facility of the National Park Service’s Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, joining the Dorsey/Jones House and the Hill/Ross Farm as Florence elements in the Network.

DRC member Kris Thomson, a restoration carpenter and contractor, worked from Metcalfe’s plans to restore the structure and fit it out as a museum. Thomson has donated much of his time and labor to the cause. He constructed our accessible ramp, funded by the Network to Freedom and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History. In 2015, on the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth, the David Ruggles Center for History and Education, all permits in hand, was opened to the public.

“Florence has emerged as one of the most important Northeast locations for the interpretation of African Americans’ cause for freedom. Establishing an historical education center on Nonotuck Street will serve to deepen the experience of students, teachers and the general public.”

— Neil Larson, President, Larson Fisher Associates, Inc., Historic Preservation and Planning Associates