Past Programs 2023

Past Programs 2023

Growing Gardeners
A benefit fundraiser for the Bridge Street School Sprouts Gardens at Historic Northampton

Sunday, June 4, 2023 | 11 am to 2 pm

Come to Historic Northampton for hours of family fun, including great music, children’s activities, free plants, refreshments, and more!

This event will help raise funds to create all new garden spaces and a brand new, beautiful garden shed for the Bridge Street School’s Sprouts gardens, which are located on the grounds of Historic Northampton.

Free. Donations encouraged.

On the Grounds of Historic Northampton

Rain date: Sunday, June 11, 2023

In partnership with the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association
and the Meadow City Conservation Coalition.

Exploring Northampton Series
Less Travelled Areas in the Fitzgerald Lake Conservation Area
with Historic Northampton Co-director Laurie Sanders

Wednesday, May 24, 2023 | 9 to 11 am & 5 to 7 pm
Registration is full. Please email info@historicnorthampton.org to be placed on the waitlist.

Join co-director and naturalist Laurie Sanders on a natural history walk through one of her favorite sections of the nearly 1,000-acre Fitzgerald Lake Conservation Area. This part of the conservation area lies near the Hatfield line and includes a mix of upland woods, perched swamps, rocky outcrops, and a beautiful stretch of Broad Brook.

This outing will include walking on uneven ground, on and off trails, and may include muddy conditions.

In partnership with the Broad Brook Coalition.

Pre-registration is required.
Limited to 12 participants.
Sliding scale admission: $15 to $25 per person.

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Exploring Northampton
A Walking Tour of Main Street
with Historic Northampton Co-director Elizabeth Sharpe

Tuesday, May 16, 2023 | 9 am
Registration is full. Please email info@historicnorthampton.org to be placed on the waitlist.

Since the 1650s, Northampton’s Main Street has been a crossroads, marketplace, town center, and public square. The first store opened in 1769 where Thornes Marketplace is now. It was across the street from the meetinghouse and tavern. The Victorian Main Street we see today was mostly built between 1865 and 1900 with a self-consciousness about “how we look” as a town.

As we walk from Historic Northampton to the Academy of Music, we will discuss the history of architecture and underlying ideas about social order, civic pride, preservation, and the importance of public gathering spaces.

Pre-registration is required.
Limited to 18 participants.
Sliding scale admission: $10 to $25 per person.

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Kinney Shoes and Ann August Clothing Store,
Main Street, Northampton, MA, circa 1974.
Photographed by Harvey Finison.

Exploring Northampton Series
Exploring the Mineral Hills, with a Special Focus on Spring Wildflowers
with Historic Northampton Co-director Laurie Sanders

Friday, May 5, 2023| 9 to 11 am & 5 to 7 pm

Located along Northampton’s western border, the Mineral Hills are underlain by bedrock that contains some carbonate-rich minerals. As these minerals weather out, soils are formed that are more fertile than in many areas of Northampton, including the nearby Sawmill Hills. The soil’s chemistry has a profound influence on the species of plants that grow here. In early May, the slopes of the Mineral Hills include an impressive variety of spring wildflowers that depend on these slightly limey soils, including yellow violets, wild columbine, pale corydalis, early saxifrage, and many others.

On this two-hour ramble, co-director and naturalist Laurie Sanders will provide information about both the natural and human history of this part of the conservation area, with a special focus on the rocky, wooded hills.

Pre-registration is required.
Limited to 12 participants.
Sliding scale admission: $15 to $25 per person.

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The History of the Rail Trail in Florence
A Walking Tour with Craig Della Penna

Wednesday, May 10, 2023 | 6 to 7:30 pm

Northampton was one of the first cities in the nation to convert a portion of its abandoned railroad bed into a linear park. Now nearing its fortieth year, that three-mile section, which is located between King Street and Look Park, is named the Ryan Bikeway, but commonly referred to as “the bike path.”

Over the decades, this section has become a favorite route for walkers and bicyclists of all ages. On this walking tour, Craig Della Penna, a bike path expert and local historian, will share some of the remarkable railroad and industrial history that exists in the one-mile stretch between downtown Florence and Look Park.

Co-sponsored by the Friends of Northampton Trails and the Norwottuck Network.

Pre-registration is required.
Limited to 25 participants.
Sliding scale admission: $10 to $25 per person.

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Craig Della Penna, a bike path expert and local historian, will share some of the remarkable railroad and industrial history that exists in the one-mile stretch between downtown Florence and Look Park.

Life in Florence's Utopian Community, 1843-1846: The Stetson Family Letters

A Zoom Presentation by Dr. Christopher Clark
Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Connecticut

Thursday, April 27, 2023 | 7 pm

In 1842, radical abolitionists opposed to slavery founded a utopian community called The Northampton Association of Education and Industry in Florence. Their goal was to create a society in which “the rights of all are equal without distinction of sex, color or condition, sect or religion.”

The Stetson family from Brooklyn, Connecticut, joined the association in 1843. Their letters (now at Historic Northampton) contain rich details and personal thoughts of community life, work, education and reform. The letters offer glimpses of the life of Sojourner Truth, David Ruggles, and other leading figures of the Community. Dr. Clark’s presentation will include the live “voices” of Dolly Stetson (read by Mary Beth Brooker) and her teenage daughter Almira Stetson.

Register for the Zoom link.
Sliding scale admission: $5 to $25.
Students: Free of charge.

Learn More | Register

Exploring Northampton
A Walking Tour of Main Street
with Historic Northampton Co-director Elizabeth Sharpe

Saturday, April 15, 2023 | 9 am

Pre-registration is required.
Limited to 18 participants.
Sliding scale admission: $10 to $25 per person.

Learn More

Composite image, designed by Helen Riegle, of Main Street featuring a carte-de-visite card photograph circa 1865 by the Ingraham Brothers and a 2019 photograph depicting the same view by photographer Paul Shoul.

A History of Women’s Basketball and Northampton’s Early Role in the Sport
A Zoom Presentation by Dr. Rita Liberti

Wednesday, March 29, 2023 at 7 pm

When the nation’s top two women’s intercollegiate basketball teams compete for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) championship on April 2, 2023, it will mark 130 years since the first women’s college game was played. On March 22, 1893, Smith College Physical Education Director, Senda Berenson introduced her students to the new game of “basket-ball.” Immediately, student athletes and fans on the Northampton campus were drawn to the game that became a centerpiece of campus life.

Sport historian Rita Liberti will describe the early history of women’s basketball, from its beginning in Northampton to its spread across the nation. During the first few decades of the twentieth century, girls and women’s basketball teams were sponsored by schools, churches, playground associations, and factories. She will explore how the history of women’s basketball sheds light on larger social and cultural issues in the United States, including gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and class.

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Northampton High School Girls Basketball Team, 1939.

Identified on reverse by an unconventional numbering system: Arlene Staples, Anne Reed, Patsy Bachand, Sylvia Mangall, Alice Ryan, Lochardes Remas, Mildred Stowe, Mary Ames, May O'Brien, Winnie M. Stewart, Gloria Bisaillon, coach. Photography by Hoffman Studio, Northampton, MA.
1987.64.7: Gift of William C. Ames and Frederick Ames.

It's Time for a Barn Raising
On the Grounds of Historic Northampton

Sunday, March 26, 2023 | 1 - 5 pm

Stop by Historic Northampton to watch as timber framer Alicia Spence and her volunteer crew hand raise the second timber frame addition onto the 1805 Shepherd Barn.

The structural timbers for this one-story addition have
been sized, planed, and joinery cut.

It's time for pike poles and people power to raise the frame onto the rear of the barn.

The work will take place all afternoon.

Timber framers Alicia Spence and Miles Herter work with volunteers to raise the frame of the ell addition
to the 1805 Shepherd Barn.
February 19, 2023

Exploring Northampton: A Sunset Walk in the Meadows
A Walking Tour led by Co-director & Naturalist Laurie Sanders

Saturday, March 18, 2023 | 5:30 - 7:30 pm

Join co-director and naturalist Laurie Sanders for a walk down Hockanum Road to the site of the former Hockanum Ferry on the Connecticut River. The return leg will coincide with the sunset, which is one of the most beautiful times to be in the Meadows. We will view the Holyoke Range and appreciate the broad floodplain that shaped so much of Northampton's history.

To and from the river, we'll hope for flocks of migrating Canada geese and ducks ... and possibly an aerial performance by a woodcock (or two).

Pre-registration is required.
Limited to 25.
Sliding scale admission: $10-25.

The Northampton Meadows
Photograph by Laurie Sanders

Making History Manifest: Photography in the Archives
A Zoom Presentation by Photographer and Scholar Wendel White
(with response and Q&A from Ousmane Power-Greene)

Co-sponsored by the David Ruggles Center and A.P.E. Gallery

Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 3 pm

Throughout his career, photographer and scholar Wendel White has sought to “excavate Black history through material culture” by exploring the history and lived experience of African American communities through objects, images, and documents found in archives and historical collections.

During March 2023, White will be one of three artists featured in After Archives, a contemporary art exhibition curated by Amy Halliday at Northampton's A.P.E. Gallery. In this presentation, White will discuss the role of archives and museum collections in his own work (and particularly in the ongoing project, Manifest), his interest in examining the impulses and motivations to preserve history and record memory, and his belief that remnants of material culture are imbued with the power to help challenge our preconceived ideas. Clark University Associate Professor of History, Ousmane Power-Greene, will respond to Wendel White's presentation, and lead a brief Q&A.

Wendel White, Door Knob, Maye St Julien,
Eatonville Historic Preservation, Eatonville, FL,
pigment inkjet print, from the series Manifest

Co-sponsored by the David Ruggles Center and A.P.E. Gallery.

This presentation is part of the After Archives exhibition at A.P.E. Gallery, 126 Main Street, Northampton
(March 3-30, 2023), which was made possible in part through support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

From Nonotuck to Northampton: Recovering Indigenous Histories
A Zoom Presentation with Margaret M. Bruchac
Associate Professor of Anthropology, Associate Faculty in Cultural Heritage, and Coordinator of Native American
and Indigenous Studies at the University of Pennsylvania

Thursday, March 9, 2023 at 7 pm

Historic Northampton’s newly launched “Indigenous Histories” (access here on our website) features the scholarship of Dr. Margaret M. Bruchac. The centerpiece is a resource-rich and extended essay titled “From Nonotuck to Northampton: Recovering Indigenous Histories,” which re-examines colonial era encounters between Nonotuck and settlers, offers Indigenous perspectives, and gives readers the tools to better understand the historical record. The website also includes a visual history, maps, links to relevant historical publications and documents, and more.

Join Dr. Bruchac for a presentation about her research, followed by a question and answer period.

Please note: This Zoom presentation will not be recorded.

Margaret M. Bruchac, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, with Native steatite cooking pot from an unidentified site in Quaboag territory in Brookfield, MA. This pot, one of many collected by Amherst College, is now housed in the Historic Northampton collection.
Photo courtesy of Margaret M. Bruchac.

It's Time for a Barn Raising!

Sunday, February 19, 2023 | 12 noon to 4 pm
On the Grounds of Historic Northampton

Stop by Historic Northampton this Sunday, February 19th from 12 noon - 4 pm to watch and learn as timber framer Alicia Spence and her volunteer crew use traditional methods to hand raise a new timber frame addition onto the Shepherd Barn.

Free hot cocoa. So many nice people to meet and talk with. Wooden pegs for the barn available for sale.

Timber Framer Alicia Spence

Religion and Slavery in Colonial New England
A Zoom Presentation by Dr. Kenneth Minkema

Thursday, February 16, 2023 at 7 pm

From 1729 until 1750, Northampton’s minister was Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), an internationally known philosopher, theologian, and leader of the Great Awakening spiritual revival. While in Northampton, he enslaved three people—Venus, Leah, and Rose. After his move to Stockbridge in 1751, he enslaved three others—a married couple named Joseph and Sue, and a boy named Titus. In his writings and from the pulpit, Edwards defended the practice of slavery. How and why could a minister uphold the ownership of people and deny basic human rights?

In this presentation, Dr. Kenneth Minkema will examine some of the theological and religious justifications for, and critiques of, slavery and the slave trade, as they were expressed from the colonial incursion in the early seventeenth century to the eighteenth century when Jonathan Edwards and his followers were active.

Register for the Zoom link.
Sliding scale admission: $5-25.

Learn More

Jonathan Edwards by Joseph Badger
Courtesy of the Yale University Art Gallery

Crows & Connecticut Valley's Crow Roost: A Spectacular Winter Event
Sunday, February 5, 2023 with Naturalist Patti Steinman

Zoom Presentation | 2-3 pm

Field Trip to the Roost in Springfield | 4:45 pm

In colonial America, crows were considered pests and a serious nuisance to crops. Northampton’s first crow bounty was in 1735, and bounties continued in the nineteenth century. Through the World War II era, crows were poisoned and hunted, and their roosts were bombed.

Recent new research about their intelligence and complex social behavior has led to a new understanding and appreciation for crows and their impressive fall and winter roosts. For the last two decades, Patti Steinman, a naturalist at MassAudubon, has been studying crows and the City of Springfield’s Crow Roost, one of the largest in the state. At this time of year, it is the nightly gathering spot for about 10,000 crows—including all the crows that you see in Northampton during the day.

Steinman’s program will include two components, an informational zoom presentation about crows--from the complex ways that different cultures and traditions have treated them to their natural history—followed by a field trip (limited to 20) to the Springfield Roost to observe crows.

Pre-registration is required.

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Black Bears in Massachusetts
A Zoom presentation by Dave Wattles, Black Bear and Furbearer Biologist for Mass Wildlife

Thursday, February 2, 2023 at 7 pm

Dave Wattles will describe the history of the black bear population in Massachusetts and its remarkable recovery during the last fifty years. In addition to bear ecology, he will discuss the results of fifteen years of radio and GPS collaring research, some of it conducted in Northampton. The collar data has revealed information on reproduction, survival, causes of mortality, habitat use, and movement. Wattles will also talk about coexisting with bears.

In partnership with the Broad Brook Coalition and the Rowe Park Commission, Rowe, Massachusetts.

Register for the Zoom link.
Sliding scale admission: $5-25.

Learn More

Historic Northampton and the Northampton Center for the Arts present

Live Music in (and Around) Northampton: A Presentation & Panel Discussion

Sunday, January 29, 2023 at 2 pm
In Person in the Flex at 33 Hawley Street, Northampton
Please note: Masks are required for this in-person event.

Inspired by Steve Waksman’s recent book, Live Music in America, this panel discussion will focus on the past few decades of Northampton’s live music scene and the city’s musical life more broadly. A panel of local music insiders will reflect on the scene’s history since the 1970s, its present, and where it might go next. Preceding the panel discussion will be a brief presentation by Dylan Gaffney of Forbes Library, who will share archival photos and other materials to illustrate some of the venues and events that have defined Northampton music through the years.

The panel will be moderated by Steve Waksman, Smith College Professor of Music, and will feature:

Beth Caurant, founder and guitarist, Lilith
Joan Holliday, Program Director and afternoon drive host on WRSI, 93.9 The River
Neal Robinson, Iron Horse Music Hall|Race Street Live
Glenn Siegel, founder, Magic Triangle Jazz Series and co-founder, Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares

Tizzy playing at the Bay State Hotel in October 2000. Seth Kaye Photography.

Pre-registration is strongly recommended to reserve a seat.
Sliding scale admission: $5-20.
Students: free of charge

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Pull the Barn BACK: A Free Community Event

Saturday, January 21, 2023 at 1 pm

On the Grounds of Historic Northampton, 46 Bridge Street, Northampton, MA

Aerial View of the Barn Pull, November 2022
Photograph by Max Lauff

We need your muscle and cheers to move the historic Shepherd Barn back onto its original footprint now that a new foundation has been installed.

Once again, timber framer Alicia Spence will direct volunteers to slowly and carefully pull the barn back along the specially made track.

Register ahead to volunteer to pull the ropes or sign up at the event.

All are welcome to watch and cheer on the volunteers.

Historic Northampton and the Northampton Center for the Arts present

Live Music in America: A History from Jenny Lind to Beyoncé
A book talk by Steve Waksman, Smith College Professor of Music

Sunday, January 15, 2023 at 2 pm

Eli's Room (Lower Level Studio)
Northampton Center for the Arts,
33 Hawley Street, Northampton, MA

Smith College Professor of Music Steve Waksman will discuss his new book, Live Music in America: A History from Jenny Lind to Beyoncé. Starting with Jenny Lind's fabled U.S. tour (she performed to large crowds in Northampton in 1851 and 1852) and winding all the way into the twenty-first century, Live Music in America is the first book to consider the history of live music in the U.S. across genres and time periods. It draws upon previously unstudied archival materials to shed new light on the origins of jazz, the emergence of rock 'n' roll, and the rise of the modern music festival. Dr. Waksman's presentation will be illustrated with photos from his research along with music and video clips.

Slavery in Northampton, 1654 to 1783
A Zoom Presentation with Emma Winter Zeig and Shara Denson

Thursday, January 12, 2023 at 7 pm

In the 129 years from the English settlement of Northampton in 1654 to the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts in 1783, fifty or more men, women, and children were enslaved in Northampton. Their stories illuminate how enslavers in Northampton exerted power over the lives of the people they enslaved, but also the ways that enslaved people took back control over their lives, gaining their freedom, starting families, managing careers, and amassing property.

For three years (2019-2021), the Slavery Research Project consisted of a team of staff, interns, and scholars who combed through every available record to identify those who were enslaved and to learn as much as possible about their lives and the lives of their children. Shara Denson will introduce the Project, and Emma Winter Zeig will highlight stories of people who this project shed new light on, describe the challenges of researching slavery, and introduce the web portal where the results of the study are available. You can access it here. Historic Northampton Slavery Research Project

Register for the Zoom link.
Sliding scale admission: $5-25.
Students: Free