Linda Coombs

Coombs began a museum career in 1974, interning at the Boston Children's Museum as part of its Native American Program.{{cite book|last=Stevert|first=Patricia|title=Opening the Museum: History and Strategies toward a More Inclusive Institution|year=1993|publisher=Children's Museums|location=Boston|page=48}} She and her peers, including Narragansett elder Paulla Dove Jennings, wrote children's books for the museum, illustrating Native American culture from a Native American perspective. Coombs later worked for nearly three decades with the Wampanoag Indigenous Program at Plimoth Plantation, including 15 years as the program's associate director.{{cite book|last=Dresser|first=Thomas|title=The Wampanoag Tribe of Martha's Vineyard: Colonization to Recognition|year=2011|publisher=The History Press|isbn=978-1609491864|pages=165–75|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zc3Gd1zJke8C}} In that capacity, she wrote a number of essays documenting colonial history from a Native American perspective, and often spoke publicly about the need for more accurate representations of colonial events including the first Thanksgiving{{cite news|last=Massey|first=Joanna|title=Bringing History's "Messy" Nature to Life for Educators: Program Uses Plimoth Plantation to Boost Awareness|newspaper=Boston Globe|date=12 Aug 2004|page=7}}{{cite news|last=Knox|first=Robert|title=Plimoth Plantation Book Challenges Thanksgiving Myth|newspaper=Boston Globe|date=22 Nov 2001|page=10}}{{cite web|last=Plimoth Plantation|title=Who are the Wampanoag?|url=http://www.plimoth.org/what-see-do/wampanoag-homesite|work=Wampanoag Homesite|accessdate=15 April 2013}}{{cite web|last=Fifis|first=Fran|title=Native Americans still fighting ignorance at Plimoth|url=http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/11/28/plimoth.native.americans/|publisher=CNN|accessdate=18 April 2013}}{{cite book|last=Cooper|first=Karen Coody|title=Spirited Encounters: American Indians Protest Museum Policies and Practices|year=2008|publisher=AltaMira Press|location=Lanham, MD|isbn=978-0-7591-1088-5|page=129}} and Columbus Day.{{cite news|last=Butterfield|first=Fox|title=Columbus Runs into Storm in Boston|newspaper=New York Times|date=11 Oct 1992|page=A18}}

Coombs serves as program director of the Aquinnah Cultural Center, continuing to educate the public about Wampanoag history, culture, and other contributions.{{cite web|last=Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head|title=Aquinnah Cultural Center|url=http://www.wampanoagtribe.net/Pages/Wampanoag_ACC/index|work=Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head|accessdate=15 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130201165307/http://www.wampanoagtribe.net/Pages/Wampanoag_ACC/index|archive-date=1 February 2013|url-status=dead}} Valued for her expertise in regional Native American history, Coombs is a frequent consultant on scholarly and educational projects.{{cite book|last=Kavasch|first=E. Barrie|title=The Mound Builders of Ancient North America|year=2004|publisher=iUniverse|location=Lincoln, NE}}{{cite book|last=McGuire|first=Margit|title=The Wampanoags and the First Thanksgiving|year=1997|publisher=Everyday Learning Corp.}}{{cite book|last=Kerber|first=Jordan|title=Cross-Cultural Collaboration: Native Peoples and Archaeology in the Northeastern United States|year=2006|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|location=Lincoln}}

Born and raised in Martha's Vineyard, Coombs lives with her family in the Wampanoag Community in Mashpee on Cape Cod.{{cite web|last=Center for New England Culture |title="We're Still Here" Online Exhibit |url=http://www.neculture.org/exhibit1/coombs.html |work=Center for New England Culture |accessdate=15 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120184734/http://www.neculture.org/exhibit1/coombs.html |archivedate=20 November 2008 }}

• "Colonization and the Wampanoag Story."Race to the Truth Series Crown Books for Young Readers, New York, 2023
• "A Wampanoag Perspective on Colonial House."Plimoth Life, v.3 no. 1, 2004: 24-28.
• "Hobbamock’s Homesite." Thanks, But No Thanks: Mirroring the Myth: Native Perspectives on Thanksgiving. Plymouth, MA: Wampanoag Indian Program. September 9, 2000: 2-3.
• "Holistic History." Plimoth Life 1(2) 2002:12-15.
• "Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War by Nathaniel Philbrick [review]." [http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/united-states/mayflower-story-courage-community-and-war-nat]" Cultural Survival Quarterly, Spring 2007.
• "New Woodland Path Makes Inroads at Wampanoag Homesite." Plimoth Life, v. 5 no. 1, 2006: 20.
• Powwow. Modern Curriculum Press, 1992.
• "Wampanoag Foodways in the 17th Century." Plimoth Life 2005: 13-19

{{Reflist}}

• Art by Linda Coombs on exhibit at the [https://web.archive.org/web/20081120184734/http://www.neculture.org/exhibit1/coombs.html University of New Hampshire]
• Linda Coombs speaking about Thanksgiving in 2010 at [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCTnaQU9X2g Boston City Hall]
• 2010 [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxVvD-0Jwjs Documentary] about King Philip's War, in which Linda Coombs appears

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Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:21st-century American historians

Category:21st-century Native American writers