Events
Members' Reception
HSM members and not-yet-members are invited to join Museum staff to celebrate the opening of the 2024 season and the new exhibits. Light refreshments served.
Grandma’s Trunk - Vintage Fashion Festival
Beat the Summer doldrums and join experts in a variety of Victorian clothing and fashion accessories in the Sheldon gardens. Bring your vintage hats, dresses, shoes, and other items to learn about. Fashion historians, accessory makers, mending artists, and more will be available to answer your questions. The event will also include fun activities for children. Invite your friends and family and don’t forget to dive into your Grandma’s trunk.
The Festival is part of the Sheldon Museum’s Summer exhibit From Homespun to Couture: Fashion in Historic Middlebury, on view till August 24, 2024.
Midd Night Stroll
Looking for that perfect holiday gift? Visit the Henry Sheldon Museum during Midd Night Stroll sponsored by Better Middlebury Partnership.
2023 VIRTUAL Annual Meeting
The Henry Sheldon Museum invites you to our
2023 Annual Virtual Meeting
Please join staff and current and incoming members of the Board of Trustees to conduct the annual business of the Henry Sheldon Museum.
Annual Meeting materials are below:
POSTPONED: Cookies & Cocoa: 2023 Annual Meeting
Due to staff illness, the in-person Annual Meeting event has been canceled. The business portion of the meeting will be held virtually. Please be on the look out for an invite to a community in-person gathering in the New Year.
Midd Night Stroll
Looking for that perfect holiday gift? Visit the Henry Sheldon Museum during Midd Night Stroll sponsored by Better Middlebury Partnership.
Henry Sheldon Museum's Holiday Open House
The Henry Sheldon Museum will host its annual Holiday Open House on Saturday, December 3 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Don’t miss it!
30 Years of Rolling Down the Tracks: Holiday Trains Exhibit
The elaborate Lionel train layout at the Henry Sheldon Museum in Middlebury, Vermont is an annual tradition, delighting all ages.
2023 Christmas Tree & Wreath Raffle
The Sheldon’s online Miniature Christmas Tree Raffle has begun!
This year, the Sheldon’s annual Miniature Christmas Tree Raffle features nine one-of-a-kind miniature trees decorated by generous local artists.
Middlebury and the Marble Border of Western New England
Join historians Glenn Andres and William Hosley in a richly illustrated lecture on Middlebury and the entire Marble Corridor dedicated to exploring this nationally significant industry. The presentation will be followed by a visit led by the speakers to Middlebury’s West Cemetery to examine one of the best marble artistry in Vermont.
The event will take place in the Public Room at the Ilsley Library, 75 Main Street, Middlebury.
Tickets are: $35 for general public; $25 for Sheldon Museum members. Tickets include: presentations, a tour of West Cemetery, same day free admission to the Sheldon Museum, and refreshments.
To purchase the tickets and for further information, please, CLICK ON EVENT TITLE. Proceeds from ticket sales support the Sheldon Stewart-Swift Research Center archival collections. Thank you!
Image: Middlebury Marble Works, ca. 1900. Collection of Henry Sheldon Museum.
Needlepoint Workshop
Make your own needlepoint key fob! Learn the basics of needlepoint during this two hour workshop with Pearl Riney. The simple design is based on the border of a sampler from the Sheldon Museum’s collection. The $20 kit includes all supplies needed, blocking and finishing not included. Bring your own small scissors for this workshop.
Admission to the Museum is not included in the kit purchase and can be purchased the day of the event.
Sampler ID Day
Do you own an antique sampler or other school girl embroidery made before 1900?
If so, you have an historical record of the education of girls. Please bring it to Sampler ID Day at the Ilsley Public Library so it can be registered for their online database. In return, you will learn more about your sampler and receive a professionally made photograph of the sampler. Walk-ins are welcome. If you have 3 or more samplers in your collection, please make an appointment. The Vermont Sampler Initiative (VSI) aims to document all American made samplers and related embroideries in Vermont. Their work is supported in part by a grant from the Vermont Humanities Council and donations from supporters.
To make an appointment or learn more contact: samplersvt@gmail.com.
This event is presented by the Henry Sheldon Museum and Rokeby Museum.
Sheldon Museum Armchair Auction 2023
Support the Henry Sheldon Museum from the comfort of your favorite armchair! Your bids are essential to support Sheldon exhibits, programming, and community outreach.
The Auction begins on Saturday September 23 at 8:00 am and ends on Monday October 2 at midnight!
Follow this link to view all the items that are up for bid. https://www.32auctions.com/SheldonMuseum2023
Or use this QR code to go to the site.
Bobbin Lace Demonstration
Nancy Pecca will demonstrate bobbin lace making and speak about the history of the craft, using examples and antique items. Nancy first encountered this craft form at age 12; however, she did not learn it until 40 years later. Since then, she has spent her time working on bobbin lace, and thus preserving this almost forgotten art. She also loves sharing her passion with others, and teaching.
This public program is in connection with our current exhibition, Variety Sew: A Sampling of Textile Tools and Devices. Included with Museum Admission, free for members and students.
Stories in Stitches: How to Read a Sampler
Ellen Thompson, the Team Leader for the Vermont Sampler Initiative, will be using examples of samplers from our collection and others around Vermont. She will focus on what can be learned through studying these examples and how the Initiative works to fill in the gaps in the historical record of this industry. Ellen first became involved in sampler identification about 10 years ago and worked to bring the National Sampler Archive to Vermont.
This public program is in connection with the current exhibition Stellar Stitching: 19th Century Vermont Samplers. Included with Museum Admission, free for members and students, seating is limited.
’SUCH TREATISES MAY BE FOUND ELSEWHERE’: UNCOVERING MIDDLEBURY’S LEGACY FOR THE RECOGNITION OF NATIVE AMERICAN VOICES AND LANDS
This talk is part of the Artists in the Archives: Unseen Neighbors exhibit.
In her talk, Professor Marybeth Eleonor Nevins connects Frederick T. Hall’s 1821 “Statistical Account of the Town of Middlebury in the State of Vermont” to a sample of Samuel Swift’s 1859 “Statistical account of Addison County,” that appears in Todd Bartel’s “Landscape Vernacular 19” collage.
This event is free for Henry Sheldon Museum members; Museum admission will be required for non-members.
CLICK ON TITLE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
:Image: “A Group of Nations Claiming Unity of Purpose or Common Interests” by Todd Bartel
Fiber Arts Demonstration
Fiber Arts Demonstration (Carding, Spinning, and Natural Wool Dying)
Bruce Yelton will be demonstrating hand carding, spinning, and the natural dying process with wool. Bruce comes from a long line of textile workers. His first job was in a textile mill and after college Bruce worked in the craft industry, winning several awards. However, a devastating house fire destroyed his business and for the next twenty-five years Bruce worked as an academic and researcher in education. After his retirement in 2015, he returned to his passion for the fiber arts.
This public program is in connection with our current exhibition, Variety Sew: A Sampling of Textile Tools and Devices. Included with Museum Admission, free for members and students.
BRIDGING THE PACIFIC: EARLY CHINESE IMMIGRATION TO THE UNITED STATES
This talk is part of the Artists in the Archives: Unseen Neighbors exhibit.
Professor Joyce Mao will offer an overview of Chinese migration to the United States, as well as community-building by the Chinese in America, from the Gold Rush through the early 20th century.
This event is free for Henry Sheldon Museum members; Museum admission will be required for non-members.
CLICK ON TITLE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Image: “Untitled (China Hall) by Young Shin
Rug Hooking Demonstration
Suzanne Douglas, an accomplished local fiber artist, will be demonstrating traditional rug hooking as well as punch needle rug making on Thursday July 27 from 1 – 3 pm. The craft of making hooked rugs dates to the early 19th century when strips of wool were saved and used to create floor coverings in New England homes. Contemporary fiber artists have transformed this traditional craft into an art form. Free with Museum admission and always free for members.
Image: Waldoboro Parrot by Suzanne Douglas
FORECASTS FOR A POST-ROE AMERICA
This talk is part of the Artists in the Archives: Unseen Neighbors exhibit.
Professor Caitlin Myers will offer a forecast for a post-Roe America covering changes in abortions and births and downstream effects on the economic lives of women and their families.
This event is free for Henry Sheldon Museum members; Museum admission will be required for non-members.
CLICK ON TITLE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Image: “A Baby in Every Bottle” by Elaine Luther
Needlework Demonstration
On Thursday July 20 from 1 – 3 pm, three members of the Green Mountain Chapter, Embroiderers' Guild of America will demonstrate the embroidery techniques used by the young girls who made the samplers in the Henry Sheldon Museum collection as well as examples of more experienced stitching. Lorraine Pierce, Kris Andrews, and MaryAnn Kittinger are members of the Green Mountain Chapter, Embroiderers' Guild of America; as chapter members they are dedicated to the promotion, preservation, and study of needle arts. Free with Museum admission and always free for members.
Image: Kris Andrews
MAKING SENSE OF REPRESENTATION: RURAL QUEER LIFE IN AND BEYOND THE ARCHIVE
This talk is part of the Artists in the Archives: Unseen Neighbors exhibit.
Drawing on her book, Visibility Interrupted: Rural Queer Life and the Politics of Unbecoming, Professor Carly Thomsen will discuss rural queerness past and present, as well as the relationships among cultural representation, activists' calls for "visibility," and the archive.
This event is free for Henry Sheldon Museum members; Museum admission will be required for non-members.
CLICK ON TITLE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Image: Prof. Carly Thomsen
Home Sewing Machines 1900 to Present, A Technician's Perspective
David E. Atkinson will present "Home Sewing Machines 1900 to Present, A Technician's Perspective," focusing on the evolution of sewing machines, their common components and operation, construction, repair, and DIY tips for maintenance. After a 35-year career as a software engineer at IBM, Mr. Atkinson spent eight years as proprietor of Dr. Dave's Sewing Machine Hospital in Jericho, Vermont, a repair service for home sewing machines.
The presentation is free with Museum admission and free for Museum members.
MAY THEIR MEMORY BE A BLESSING: THE LAZARUS FAMILY AND JEWISH LIFE IN ADDISON COUNTY
This talk is part of the Artists in the Archives: Unseen Neighbors exhibit.
Professor Emeritus David Rosenberg will highlight the lives of Harry and Stella Lazarus, who migrated to Middlebury in 1911 and were among the first Jewish settlers in the town. For most of the twentieth century, their Lazarus Department Store prospered, and the family became involved in community and civic activities.
This event is free for Henry Sheldon Museum members; Museum admission will be required for non-members.
CLICK ON TITLE FOR FURTHER INFORMAITON
Image: “May their Memory Be For a Blessing” by Ginger Sedlarova
Circular Weaving Demonstration by Carol Johnson Collins
Accomplished fiber artist and teacher, Carol Johnson Collins will be demonstrating circular weaving at the Sheldon Museum. Carol is owner of Singing Spindle Spinnery and has been teaching wool/fiber washing, carding, blending and spinning, knitting, crocheting, dyeing, circular weaving and felting in her shop/studio and around New England for 41 years.
The demonstration is free with Museum admission and free for Museum members.
A FLY IN THE BUTTERMILK: AFRICAN AMERICAN PRESENCE IN HISTORIC MIDDLEBURY
This talk is part of the Artists in the Archives: Unseen Neighbors exhibit.
“A Fly in the Buttermilk” is the first in a series of gallery talks that draw on the current exhibition, Artists in the Archives: Unseen Neighbors. Eva Garcelon-Hart and William Hart will speak on African Americans who both lived in and visited Middlebury during the 19th and 20th centuries.
This event is free for Henry Sheldon Museum members; Museum admission will be required for non-members.
CLICK ON TITLE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Image: “A Fly in the Buttermilk” by Jeanna Penn
Exhibit Reception
Join us for a reception for four new summer exhibits: Artists in the Archives: Unseen Neighbors: Community, History & Collage; Variety Sew: A Sampling of Textile Tools and Devices; Stellar Stitching: 19th Century Vermont Samplers; and Recent Acquisitions. Curators Eva Garcelon-Hart and Allison LaCroix Hayes will be present. With live music by Back Porch Jazz.
Free, open to all
The Sheldon Museum thanks the following sponsors of the current exhibits Variety Sew: A Sampling of Textile Tools and Devices and Stellar Stitching: 19th Century Vermont Samplers:
Traditional Fiber Spinning Demonstration
Ellen Kavanagh, an accomplished Vermont fiber artist and a member of the Twist O' Wool Guild will be demonstrating traditional fiber spinning on a classic style wheel at the Henry Sheldon Museum. The program is in connection with the exhibit Variety Sew on view at the Sheldon, and is the first in a series of craft demonstrations offered this year.
Visitors may stop by any time between 1 and 3 to enjoy the demonstration.
Free with Museum admission.
2023 Picnic Basket Raffle
Our 6th annual Picnic Basket Raffle fundraiser features five hand-painted designs and one traditional rug hooking by local artists.
Artists in the Archives: European Collagists' Perspectives on American Archives
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Stewart-Swift Research Center, the Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History invited an international network of collage artists to engage with historic material in the archive and to create a folio of collage prints that reflect on the idea of community in a 21st century world. Five artists who participated in the project did so from Europe. Presented in partnership with KOLAJ LIVE ONLINE.
Free webinar
Artists in the Archives: Beyond Humans
A community is made of more than humans. As part of their investigation into the archives of the Henry Sheldon Museum's Stewart-Swift Research Center, collage artists considered what non-human elements shape our communities. Presented in partnership with KOLAJ LIVE ONLINE.
Free webinar
Artists in the Archives: Collage & Place As Archive
In November 2022, a group of collage artists met in New Orleans to explore the Collage Artist Lab: City as Archive took as its premise that the urban landscape can be viewed as a sort of archive with which artists can draw from, not unlike a material archive maintained by an institution. Presented in partnership with KOLAJ LIVE ONLINE.
Free webinar