Recording Our Histories Workshop Series #2: Bookbinding

This workshop is inspired by the Freedom Center’s recent acquisition of the personal memoir of Elleanor Eldridge, pictured below. Elleanor Eldridge was a free Black woman and nineteenth-century businesswoman and landowner. Her memoir inspired this community-centered workshop to invite participants to reflect on the power of individuals to document their own lives. Trudy Gaba, Social Justice Curator at the Freedom Center, will provide historical context on Elleanor Eldridge’s life and legacy, grounding the workshop in the importance of personal narratives during times of erasure and revisionism.

Participants will be guided through the fundamentals of bookbinding, focusing on accordion and saddle stitch techniques while working collaboratively in a studio setting. By the end of the workshop, participants will leave with their own handmade books, ready to be used for journaling, artmaking, or future creative projects.