May 2023

Bennington Museum Monthly

We are back in full swing here at the Bennington Museum and our May calendar is chock full of events to prove it. From music to hiking to this year's Spring Party we have got something fun and exciting for everyone! So pay us a visit in May and enjoy all that Bennington Museum has to offer.

Also, if you like what you see, we invite you to consider making a gift to Bennington Museum's spring appeal. Our Annual Fund goal this fiscal year, which ends on July 1, is $260,000 or about 28% of our annual operating budget. We are nearly three-quarters of the way there! A gift from you can help close this gap and ensure that the Museum is able to continue to present stellar exhibitions and related programs for our community.

Upcoming Events

Saturday, 5/13

11am - 1pm

A Bennington Garden Club Celebration

Bennington Garden Club invites you to discover Bennington Museum’s Botanical Garden at the George Aiken Wildflower Trail. Learn why native plants are important to the environment. Experience Nature with the whole family.

Free plant to each mother for Mother’s Day while supplies last.

Refreshments will be served in the Pavilion at Bennington Museum.

Sunday, 5/14

2pm - 3:30pm

Music at the Museum:

A Mother's Day Concert

The program will include works by Beethoven, Kreisler, Chopin, Telemann, Beach, Esmail, Boulanger, Grant Still, Joplin, and Piazzolla.

Presented to you at no charge thanks to the generous support of Alison Nowak and Robert Cane.

Wednesday, 5/17

7pm - 9pm

Southern Vermont Sinfonia

The Southern Vermont Sinfonia is a local community orchestra embracing musicians of all ages. These musicians converge each Wednesday evening to bring to life great orchestral works of the past and present.

This event is FREE. Donations are welcome.

Thursday, 5/18

1:30pm - 2:30pm

Museum ABCs Trail Tale:

We Are Water Protectors

Visit Nebizun: Water is Life, the exhibition brought to us by the Abenaki Arts & Education Center. Then take a walk on the George Aiken Wildflower Trail while enjoying the story We Are Water Protectors by Carole Lindstrom and beautifully illustrated by Michaela Goade. We’ll finish with a little water play in Jennings Brook, so bring your rubber boots!

Brought to you free of charge thanks to sponsorship from The Bank of Bennington and additional support from Stewarts Shops and the Nora Robert Foundation.

Friday, 5/19

3pm - 4pm

Fenton Family Pottery Ventures:

New Discoveries

To begin this two-part presentation, Lorraine German will introduce attendees to a newly discovered pottery operated by Jonathan Fenton Jr.. Warren Broderick will then present newly discovered information on the Fenton redware and stoneware pottery which operated there until 1860. Early photographs and remarkable documents concerning the Richard/Leander Fenton family, in the collection of the Bennington Museum, as well as examples of their production, will be on display.

$7/Bennington Museum Member or $10/Not-Yet-Member

Saturday, 5/20

9:30am - 11am

Edible Invasive Plants Workshop

Join VLT and the Batten Kill Cooperative Invasive Species Management Association (CISMA) as we learn how to identify, treat, and eat (!) five edible invasives: Autumn Olive, Multiflora Rose, Japanese Barberry, Garlic Mustard, and Japanese Knotweed.

This event is FREE. Donations are welcome.

Sunday, 5/21

2pm - 3pm

Our Highway Deficiencies:

How Route 7 Explains 20th Century Vermont

In this presentation, NVU history professor Paul Searls will discuss how the debate over what to do with southwestern Vermont’s major roads between the 1950s and the 1990s is, in many ways, a metaphor for the transition Vermont as a whole underwent in those decades. A discussion will follow in which audience members are encouraged to share their memories and feelings about the history of the area’s major roads, and the evolution of southwestern Vermont as a whole.

The BHS offers its programs at no charge with support from Williams Financial.

Thursday, 5/25

12pm - 8pm

A Monument Society Event

Join the Museum's Executive Director to visit the Jack Shainman Gallery and the Martin Van Buren House. Afterwards, enjoy drinks and dinner at Blue Plate.

You must be a Monument Society member to attend this FREE event.

The Spring Party

Join us to celebrate the new spring season and to honor Bob Tegart with the Arnold Ricks service award for his dedicated work in the Regional History Room.

Summer School!

Summer 2023 Teachers’ Institute Course: Museums as Resources

August 4 through August 11

Curriculum Standards, including the Common Core Learning Standards and C3 Framework, emphasize the importance of inquiry and the use of primary source documents for developing skills such as critical thinking, citing evidence, considering multiple perspectives, and engaging in discussion. Museums have been using these techniques for many years and are excellent resources for important primary and secondary documents, images, and the art and objects that help us engage students in every kind of learning. Through this course, educators will gain a deeper understanding of the resources available at museums, how to access them, and how to use them in their lessons.

The 6-day course is open to all Early Childhood and K-12 educators. Earn Professional Development Credit (45 hours) or 3 Castleton University graduate level credits with Final Project.

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Vermont Humanities.

Concerts in the Courtyard

Bennington Museum is pleased to announce the summer 2023 Concerts in the Courtyard line-up with styles ranging from jazz to folk to bluegrass to rock.

With support from an anonymous grant, fifteen regional performing groups have been selected from over fifty applicants to play the popular outdoor summer music series at Bennington Museum.

Performances will begin June 2nd and run through September 8th, 2023, and will be free of charge. The Museum will also provide free children’s activities, and food and beverages will be provided by the Avocado Pit.

All events take place from 5-7pm.

Check out the event page for more information on the performers and mark your calendars now!

A Conservation Effort

Bennington Museum has received significant funding from two grants to restore an 1811 two-sided cream silk and painted flag of the Washington Benevolent Society, of Bennington, Vermont.

The Washington Benevolent Society was a grass-roots political group active from 1808-1816 and run by the Federalist Party to electioneer for votes. The Bennington chapter was organized in July 1811 by Gov. Isaac Tichenor. The seventeen gold seven-pointed stars encircling image on the banner symbolize the seventeen states in the Union at that time. For many years after the Society was disbanded, their processional banner hung in the Tichenor house. It was given to the Museum by descendants in 1927 and restored according to the practice of the day. It hung in the Museum's Church Gallery for many years, but is too fragile to display today.

The goal of the proposed restoration is to reverse the previous treatment from 1928 which added many un-original stitched embellishments, and to stabilize and mount the obverse side. The reverse side will be cleaned, humidified, and rehoused so that it can be safely displayed to the public once more in 2024. The restoration for this artifact may cost upwards of $30,000 and will be completed by Spicer Art Conservation in Delmar, NY, the areas' preeminent textile conservator.

We are so grateful that this project was made possible in part through the generous sponsorship of the Brattleboro Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation.