Implementing Smithsonian’s Creating Portraits of Community Framework with New England Educators

Using place-based learning, portrait analysis, and oral histories, Smithsonian teams up with Historic New England to inspire meaningful classroom experiences

The Smithsonian Regional Collaboratives (SRC) team serves as a catalyst for deepened and sustained engagement between the Smithsonian and communities throughout the nation. Situated within the Office of the Under Secretary for Education, the SRC meets communities where they are to co-develop programs and projects that respond to community needs and priorities.  

The team, which consists of Jennifer Brundage, formerly of Smithsonian SITES | Affiliations and Sherrell Williams, formerly of Smithsonian Science Education Center, has been charged with strengthening regional relationships and networks within six regions (Northeast, Southeast, Southwest, Midwest, West, and U.S. territories) in a sustainable way.

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Leveraging Smithsonian Teaching Approaches for Civic Learning

It is commonly said that pictures are worth a thousand words. As our nation’s Semiquincentennial approaches, educators in New England are letting young people do the talking.

On Saturday, March 21, 2026 a group of formal and informal educators participated in a collaborative project between Smithsonian and Historic New England using Smithsonian American Art Museum’s educational framework, Creating Portraits of Community, to support educators in developing their students’ civic identities through portraiture and oral history. The program is organized into four digitally accessible lesson sets that explore topics including defining community, understanding elements of portraiture, and collecting oral histories.

To begin the day, educators learned about art examination using portraits from Smithsonian and Historic New England collections. Then they learned about the technical elements and critical thinking skills photographers use to capture compelling photography from Neil Dixon, a local professional photographer. The day was rounded out with a curator-led tour of Historic New England’s expansive collections and training on how to capture community oral histories.

Following the workshop, educators will have the opportunity to implement the lesson materials with their students in the fall. Students who participate in Creating Portraits of Community will have their work featured in a public exhibition in December at Historic New England’s Welcome and Exhibition Center in Haverhill, MA.

Why Young People?

As Smithsonian’s Our Shared Future: 250 initiative celebrates the nation’s successes, contemplates the consequences of our history, commemorates the sacrifices of those who have worked to uphold the nation’s ideals, and asks Americans to commit to advancing  our shared future, it becomes critical that youth have a seat at the table.

Fortunately, Historic New England also understood the importance of providing young people with a platform and opportunity to use their voices to participate in this momentous occasion.

Beyond participation in the Creating Portraits of Community project, the goal is for youth to appreciate that learning also happens outside of traditional learning environments, and that their perspectives are needed to shape the future.

Ultimately, this collaborative project between Smithsonian and Historic New England is a promising model of what is possible when collaboration emphasizes deep listening and leverages Smithsonian resources and expertise as a complementary agent to enhance existing community assets.

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Editor's Note: This project is made possible with funding from the Smithsonian’s "Our Shared Future: 250," a Smithsonian-wide initiative supported by private philanthropy and created to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary and advance the Smithsonian vision for the next 250 years. For questions about this project and the Regional Collaboratives, please contact: [email protected]

Join the author of this article for the Smithsonian National Education Summit between July 14-16, 2026. Sherrell Williams will co-present an online session,"We the Teachers: New Resources for Civic Education" with Jennifer Brundage on Tuesday, July 14 at 3:00 p.m., Eastern. Additionally, Smithsonian American Art Museum educators Allie Knight and Abbie Hitzemann will co-present an online session, "Photos in Conversation: Then, Now, and Us" on Tuesday, July 14 at 12:00 p.m., Eastern. More information about the session line-up and free registration is available here: https://s.si.edu/EducationSummit2026. 

Sherrell Williams | Read More

Sherrell Williams is a Lead Project Specialist for Partnerships and Public Engagement within the Office of the Under Secretary for Education (OUSE) where she is responsible for fostering regional collaborations between the Smithsonian and communities throughout the US. Prior to transitioning to OUSE, Sherrell spent four years as a Program Manager at the Smithsonian Science Education Center where she managed programs that supported education systems in ensuring students, and teachers, feel included and recognize themselves in K-12 STEM educational environments. Before arriving at the Smithsonian, she managed family engagement and community programming at Turning the Page, a small Washington, DC nonprofit, where she helped strengthen relationships between public schools and the families they serve. Throughout her entire educational career, Sherrell has been committed to connecting people to resources that inspire curiosity, spark meaningful conversation, and bring joy.