Brown Bag Lunch History Talks
Talks take place at noon on the second Tuesday of every month (unless otherwise noted), September – June. Bring a brown bag lunch; the Museum will provide beverages and dessert.
Fee: $2. No reservation necessary. Special Events: Vermont Reads Day at the Vermont Story Festival
Saturday, September 6
10 am - 5 pm
Downtown Middlebury - FOR COMPLETE SCHEDULE CLICK HERE There will be fun for all ages at the annual Vermont Story Festival in Middlebury The Festival, presented by the Henry Sheldon Museum, Ilsley Public Library and Vermont Folklife Center, is joined this year by Vermont Reads Day, organized by the Vermont Humanities Council. Programs and activities will take place at the Town Hall Theatre, the Sheldon Museum, Ilsley Public Library, Vermont Folklife Center, and outside in Cannon Park. Enjoy a book talk with Natalie Bober, author of A Restless Spirit: The Story of Robert Frost, the 2008 Vermont Reads Book, and special guest Robin Hudnut, Robert Frost's granddaughter; a performance of Frostiana by the Middlebury Community Chorus; a painting activity; storytelling; children's puppet show; craft demonstration and craft activity; a birthday cake to celebrate Henry Sheldon's birthday; and a poetry writing workshop.
See the exhibit Piecemakers: Vermont Country Quilts 1830-Present at the Sheldon and the exhibit The Golden Cage: Mexican Migrant Workers and Vermont Dairy Farmers at the Vermont Folklife Center. Taste of Middlebury, food by area restaurants, will be offered in Cannon Park.
There is no charge to attend. Sheldon Museum admission will be discounted 10% that day. Annual Dinner and Lecture
Wed, September 17, 6 pm
“Parades, Pagentry and Patriotism: Celebrating Champlain in 1909 and 1959” by Kevin Dann, Professor of History at Plattsburgh State University. The talk will illustrate the range of activities and ideas from the 1909 & 1959 events, and generate a discussion about the commemorative celebration in 2009.
Kirk Alumni Center, Middlebury College
$30.00 per person. Reservations must be made by Wednesday, September 10th. Friday, September 19, 7:30 p.m.
"Faith and Fortune, Robbins Battell: A Social Vision for Collecting Art.”
Starr Axinn Center, Reading Room 229
Free
A talk by William Hosley Executive Director, New Haven Museum entitled as "Faith and Fortune, Robbins Battell: A Social Vision for Collecting Art.” The Battell Family of Middlebury, New York City, and Connecticut were a model of civic leadership whose faith and vision expressed itself in prolific philanthropies, particularly in Norfolk, Middlebury and New Haven - communities they influenced profoundly. Hosley will explore the meaning of art, philanthropy and civic leadership in Victorian Connecticut by developing two suggestive case studies in collecting art - Elizabeth Hart Colt of Hartford and Robbins Battell of Norfolk and New York. Remarkably, both collectors' collections remain largely in tact and provide a touchstone to the social values and aspirations that informed their collecting, aspirations that went above and beyond materialism, luxury and display. Monday, September 22 and Tuesday, September 23
THE BATTELLS IN CONNECTICUT
Overnight trip to Norfolk and Hartford, CT
The Henry Sheldon Museum and the Middlebury College Friends of the Art Museum are traveling this fall to discover the Battells in Connecticut. A luxury motor coach will take us for an overnight trip to Norfolk and Hartford, CT. We will visit the original Battell estate, childhood home of Middlebury's Philip Battell,explore the Battell family legacy as patrons of the arts, and discover the area's rich history.
On Monday, tour the Whitehouse, the centerpiece of the Battell estate, home to one of 19th-century America's greatest private picture galleries still hung in its original setting in Norfolk, CT. In Norfolk we will also have a private tour of the Norfolk Historical Society with curator Ann Havemeyer and visit the Norfolk Library. Tuesday we will have a group tour of the permanent collection at the Wadsworth Athenaeum and a guided tour of the Mark Twain House and Museum before returning to Middlebury.
Members: $250 per person; Non-members: $280 per person
For more details or to make a reservation, please call the Sheldon
Museum at 388-2117.
First Friday Quilt Talks
First Friday of each month at 4 p.m.
While the exhibit Piecemakers is on view, the Sheldon will also exhibit a contemporary quilt-of-the-month. First Friday Quilt Talks is a special series of talks given on the first Friday of each month at 4 p.m. by that month’s guest quilter. The schedule is as follows:
May 2– Suzanne Douglas
June 6– Sadie Meakin
July 11- Mary Alice Rath (2nd Friday to avoid holiday)
August 1– Christine Fries
September 5– Pam Druhen
October 3– Alexandra Nickerson
November 7– Susan Balch
December 6– Karen Kamenetzky
January 2– Phyllis Bowdish Friday, September 5, 4pm
A talk by quilter Pam Druhen. This talk is offered in conjunction with the Sheldon’s exhibit Piecemakers: Vermont Country Quilts 1830 to the Present which features quilts from the Museum’s permanent collection and a contemporary quilt of the month. September’s contemporary quilt created by Druhen, is entitled" Sentinels" and depicts a golden October day. The fee for the talk is $2. To tour the entire Museum including the quilt exhibit, the fee is $5 for adults; $4.50 for seniors.
Lectures TBA Thursday, October 23, 7:30pm
"The 2008 Presidential election in Historical Perspective: Comparisions with 1932, 1960 and 1980" by Eric Davis, Professor of Political Science, Middlebury College
Middlebury Inn
Members $18; Non-members $20
Reservations required by calling the Museum at 802-388-2117.
Sunday, November 9, 2pm
A talk on Robert Frost by Jay Parini, D.E.Axinn Professor of English and Creative Writing, Middlebury College
Waybury Inn
Members $18; Non-members $20
Reservations required by calling the Museum at 802-388-2117.
at went above and beyond materialism, luxury and display. *Piecemakers is generously sponsored by: - Connor Homes
- Nancy Foster, real estate broker, RE-MAX/Champlain Valley Properties
- Loewer & Associates
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One of Vermont’s premier collections of furniture, paintings, documents
The Henry Sheldon Museum of Vermont History