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The Blog of Historic Deerfield
To bring this lost aspect of print culture into our new exhibition, Picturing the Revolution, we created a reproduction of one such spectacle: the theatrical obelisk created in 1766 by the Sons of Liberty to celebrate the repeal of the deeply unpopular Stamp Act.
Created to celebrate the Marquis de Lafayette’s 1826 visit during the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, this painted sign—originally from South Hadley and measuring 36 × 56 inches—is a remarkable expression of early American patriotism.
Two stockings sit side by side in a case. One is simple and hand-knitted, the other is one of a pair made with fine silk. In production and quality, they tell us two very different stories of knitting—and style—in the 18th century.
A conversation with Claire Carlson, Historic Deerfield’s Director of Museum Education/Director of Archaeology, Patrick Gabridge, Producing Artistic Director, and Talya Kingston, Producer and Playwright, of Plays in Place about A Stake in the Ground: 1774, commissioned by Historic Deerfield.
Having access to resources and photographs from the archives of Historic Deerfield allowed me to delve into the relationship between the Academy’s legendary former headmaster, Frank Learoyd Boyden, and the philanthropically-minded Henry Needham and Helen Geier Flynt.
The accounts of John Russell, a Deerfield tailor during the 1760s and 1770s, show both similarities, as well as departures, from metropolitan tailors’ practice.
My time in Deerfield kicked off in September 2025 with my attendance at Historic Deerfield’s fabulous Fall Forum… Connecting students and readers of Survey of Historic Costume to the homespun movement prior to the American Revolution became a germ of an idea from the Fall Forum. This symbolic form of economic protest in the hands, needles, and looms of women offered a story told by connecting the collections at Deerfield.
This one-day symposium aims to gather scholars and researchers who explore the nature of local, regional, and global networks in New England from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries.
In June 2026, the Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife will mark its 50th anniversary by looking both backwards and ahead. As this year’s seminar looks forward to its own future, we will contemplate ways residents of the region have envisioned, foretold, and worked to shape various futures over the region’s long history.
Last year, a major restoration project at Historic Deerfield ensured the continued preservation of an important agricultural building on our campus. The Sheldon Shed is the sole surviving structure from a larger barn complex that was built over the course of a century behind the Sheldon House.
Despite predictions of a muted foliage season, we have seen some striking colors here in the village this fall! Take in the rich shades of gold, crimson, and amber—juxtaposed against bright blue skies—in this photo gallery.
Historic Deerfield is hosting a one-day conference next year to commemorate the 350th anniversary of King Philip’s War/Metacom’s Rebellion, with the goals of helping a broad audience learn more about the causes, course, and effects of the conflict, as well as fostering additional discussions and further research.
One history, which I have been researching for my masters thesis, pertains to the story of Northfield’s nineteenth-century Methodist Crag Mountain Community and its most prominent resident, a free Black carpenter named Calvin Swan.
Our third annual “Wooly Wonders” heritage breed sheep weekend took place May 3-4, 2025. Visitors learned about rare heritage breed sheep, watched sheepdog herding, and got to see demonstrations of hand-shearing, dyeing, spinning, and more!
I was the lucky recipient of a Memorial Libraries Research Fellowship to study the musical activities of Deerfield resident Justin Hitchcock (1752–1822). Over seven three-day weeks in the halcyon Fall of 2024, I immersed myself in Hitchcockiana.
Depicting a book’s author has a long history; the first printed book to include a portrait appeared in Milan, Italy in 1479.
In conjunction with a new exhibition, Body by Design: Fashionable Silhouettes from the Ideal to the Real, opening May 3, 2025, Historic Deerfield will organize a Fall Forum, “Fashioning the Body: Dress in New England 1600–1900,” that aims to examine men’s and women’s fashion through a specific New England lens by convening a group of experts in the field to explore the rich history of dressing the body in this region. Paper submissions are due May 3, 2025.
Known today as one of Deerfield’s most important resident 19th-century artists, Champney split his time between the New England town and New York City. In 1879, he opened a studio in New York, first at 337 Fourth Avenue and then later moving to 96 Fifth Avenue (near Union Square). While Deerfield served as a space to engage with 18th-century material culture and the colonial past, New York offered Champney greater exhibition opportunities. When working in the city, he immersed himself in numerous art clubs, societies, and associations.
As was the case with many cities and towns throughout the North American colonies, political, economic, and ideological differences divided Deerfield during the American Revolution. It is estimated that one-fifth of the colonial population in British North America supported England during the war, though several colonists relaxed their loyalist leanings as military conflict progressed.
The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife is pleased to announce the subject of its 2025 gathering, Recalling the Revolution in New England, to be held June 27–28 at Historic Deerfield. The conference keynote will be provided by Dr. Zara Anishanslin of the University of Delaware, author of the forthcoming book The Painter’s Fire: A Forgotten History of the Artists who Championed the American Revolution.