2023 Local Advocacy Award

Peggy M. Baker and James W. Baker 

The 2023 Local Advocacy Award goes to Peggy M. Baker and James W. Baker. These two individuals have had distinct, yet complementary careers directly related to the appreciation, interpretation, and preservation of place-based history in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Their extensive study of 17^th century material life in Plymouth has undergirded public history projects that have had an enduring impact on the Town of Plymouth and Plymouth County, including nuanced yet accessible publications, transformative work at local museums, and tireless service on preservation organizations. Most recently, their research has been integral to the 2023 VAF Field Guide for the annual meeting in Plymouth, Massachusetts. 

Peggy M. Baker

Peg Baker joined the staff of Pilgrim Hall Museum in 1991 as Curator of Manuscripts & Books. In 1995, she became the Executive Director, retiring with emerita status in 2010. Her most significant project was a $4 million capital campaign that expanded and upgraded the Hall by improving accessibility, introducing climate control, and reinstalling the permanent exhibition. Peg served several terms on Plymouth’s Historic District Commission. She is an elected member of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Since 2010, Peg has been a member of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants “Silver Books” genealogical research team, documenting the descendants of Pilgrim Thomas Rogers through the 6^th generation. Two books on the Rogers family have been published, with a third currently in editing. Peg has also written more than forty-five articles on Pilgrim and Plymouth-related topics, many published in the Mayflower Quarterly. She was recognized in 2008 with the Pennsylvania Society of Mayflower Descendant’s Katharine F. Little Distinguished Mayflower Scholarship Award and in 2011 with an Honorary Life Membership in the Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants.

James W. Baker

Jim Baker began his Plymouth-based career as the librarian for Plimoth Plantation, now the Plimoth Patuxet Museums, in 1975. He served as the Director of Research from 1978-1989, aiding in the development of the Plantation’s first-person interpretative programs and the Wampanoag Homesite. In 1989 he was named Director of Museum Operations, before becoming Webmaster/Senior Historian for the Plantation from 1994-2001. Between 2003 and 2009, he was the Curator of the Alden House Historic Site in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Jim served on Plymouth’s Historic District Commission from 2006-2022. He is an elected member of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts.

Many of Jim’s published contributions have focused on the Pilgrims and New England History in the 17^th century, most recently Made in America: The Pilgrim Story and How it Grew (2022) and Mayflower Meetinghouse: A History and Guide (2023). His scholarly books are written with a general audience in mind, and much of his work has found its way to broader audiences by being shared online.