Browse this complete list of our upcoming digital and in-person events. Visit the Attend page to find links to events that are sorted by program.
June 28
Drop-in style event to express your creativity through letter making. Has “We Contain Multitudes” rekindled an appreciation for letter writing? Join us! Bring any craft materials you wish to use.
July 6
This series starts with the 1893 Columbian Exposition and continues on through the Gilded Age. Portrayals of inventors, entrepreneurs, artists and lawyers include Henry James, Stanford White, Clarence Darrow, George Westinghouse, Thomas Edison, D.W. Griffiths and detective William Burns. Three novels and a narrative history illustrate that spectacular time period in ways that in turn illuminate our own era.
July 9
Toussaint St. Negritude describes himself as “Black, queer, artist, mountaineer, devout congregant of the wilderness.” He frequently intersperses his words with compositions on his bass clarinet. His work has been published in journals such as The Michigan Quarterly Review, The Savannah Literary Journal, and The San Francisco Bay Guardian.
July 13
The stories of Vermont naval history and commercial shipping have been well documented by generations of historians. However, the traditions of small boat building from throughout our state have remained untold. In this slide presentation, Douglas Brooks shares his research on these traditions, and his work in recreating some of these historic vessels.
July 13
1816 has long been known as the year without summer. Vermonters still call it “1800 and Froze to Death,” a year of frosts every month, dark skies, and mysterious lights that caused a widespread belief that a higher power was displeased. In this talk, historian Howard Coffin includes scores of anecdotes on the dark year of failed crops, scarce food, and religious revival.
July 14
Join three people central to the creation of The Most Costly Journey for a discussion about migration, farming, mental health, cartooning, and the Latinx farmworker experience in Vermont.
July 16
Historian Jill Mudgett tells the story of an Indigenous man from southern New England who came to central Vermont during the late 19th century and was the victim of a murder. Recreating community connections in a rural Vermont hill town, this story is about poverty, racism, disability, and gendered violence against women, but is also an account of Indigenous movement and choice despite great obstacles.
July 16
Common garden vegetables have long and fascinating histories. Science and history writer Rebecca Rupp will discuss the stories behind many of our favorites, among them the much-maligned tomato and potato, the (mostly) popular pumpkin, and Vermont’s dynamic duo of kale and Gilfeather turnip.
July 19
Join Cobleigh Public Library to share your thoughts on 2021’s Vermont Reads pick We Contain Multitudes by Sarah Henstra. The novel tells the paired stories of two very different teenage boys who are initially reluctant to participate in a pen-pal assignment from their high school English teacher, but ultimately grow well beyond the boundaries of the school project to reveal earth-shattering revelations about themselves and their families.
July 20
This series starts with the 1893 Columbian Exposition and continues on through the Gilded Age. Portrayals of inventors, entrepreneurs, artists and lawyers include Henry James, Stanford White, Clarence Darrow, George Westinghouse, Thomas Edison, D.W. Griffiths and detective William Burns. Three novels and a narrative history illustrate that spectacular time period in ways that in turn illuminate our own era.
July 21
Vermont’s remarkable Civil War battlefield record is well documented, but little is known of how Vermont women sustained the home front. Historian Howard Coffin explains how women took on farming, worked in factories, served as nurses in the state’s military hospitals, and more.
July 26
Bill Mares began making his own beer 45 years ago, when home brewing was illegal and there were no microbreweries in America. In this presentation, he offers a short history of beer itself and discusses Vermont’s small but significant contribution to the American beer revolution.
July 27
This series starts with the 1893 Columbian Exposition and continues on through the Gilded Age. Portrayals of inventors, entrepreneurs, artists and lawyers include Henry James, Stanford White, Clarence Darrow, George Westinghouse, Thomas Edison, D.W. Griffiths and detective William Burns. Three novels and a narrative history illustrate that spectacular time period in ways that in turn illuminate our own era.
July 27
New England’s longest river, the Connecticut, is rich in history. Michael Tougias, author of fourteen books about New England, offers a narrated slide presentation that takes the viewer down the entire 410 miles of the river, discussing history from the days of loggers, Indian Wars, steamships, and canals.
July 28
In this series, participants explore 19th and 20th century visions – utopian to apocalyptic – of the future. Themes include repression, community, socialism, capitalism, feminism, creativity, ethics, and evolution.
August 3
Bill Mares, writer, and a beekeeper for 45 years, will tell of the origins and evolution of beekeeping, sometimes referred to as “farming for intellectuals,” with a particular emphasis on his new book, with Ross Conrad, and others, “The Land of Milk and Honey, a History of Beekeeping in Vermont.”
August 4
Vermont has been a featured location in Hollywood movies for nearly a century. It has represented many different ideals during that time, and its portrayal reflects both Vermont’s own history as well as American history. Examining those films provides interesting and fun insights into the hold Vermont has had on imagination in the media age.
August 13
1816 has long been known as the year without summer. Vermonters still call it “1800 and Froze to Death,” a year of frosts every month, dark skies, and mysterious lights that caused a widespread belief that a higher power was displeased. In this talk, historian Howard Coffin includes scores of anecdotes on the dark year of failed crops, scarce food, and religious revival.
August 17
Vermont sent far more sharpshooters to the Union armies than any other state, on a per capita basis. Sharpshooters from this state played a little-known but major role at Gettysburg. Historian Howard Coffin will discuss his recent research into this little-recognized group and consider the reasons why Vermont may have been so well-represented in this elite group of marksmen.
August 17
The First Amendment prevents Congress from passing any laws that abridge the freedom of speech. But what does that actually mean? In this presentation, professor Meg Mott considers the history of speech laws in the United States, how states and municipalities have tried to curb offensive speech, and how the Supreme Court has ruled on those efforts.
Poet Sarah Audsley joined us at the Taconic Mountains Ramble State Park for Words in the Woods.
Humanities Camps are filled with reading and writing projects, field trips, and outdoor activities.
We won a 2020 Schwartz Prize for best public humanities programming in the U.S. for Vermont Reads 2019: “March: Book One.”
We supported Historic New England’s “More than a Market” project that explored the experiences of new Americans through food markets.
Our free public events help bring the power of the humanities to communities across Vermont.
