Join Heather Bollinger as she presents the life story of Anastacia "Stacia" Hepburn (1801-1895), a woman enslaved at Tudor Place for nearly fifty years, who lived through enslavement, emancipation, and Reconstruction in the District of Columbia. Using archival records, Heather will share details of Anastacia's family, her labor as an enslaved nurse for the Peter family, and her life as an enslaved, then freed, Catholic in Georgetown. 

Heather Bollinger is an independent historian based in Northern Virginia. She served as the lead archivist at the Fairfax Circuit Court Historic Records Center in Virginia for nine years, and most recently, assists historic house museums in Georgetown, such as Tudor Place and Evermay, with researching the lives of the enslaved who labored at these sites. Heather has an MLIS from the University of Texas at Austin, and a master’s degree in history from the University of Central Florida. Heather serves as an advisory board member for the Virginia State Historical Records Advisory Board and Enslaved.org. Her current career path focuses on centering enslaved people in the historical narrative through archival research. In October 2024, Heather joined Newport Historical Society in Rhode Island as a research assistant for the “Voices from the NHS Archives” project, which centers the Black and Indigenous voices of Newport using the archival record.