Focus On Cooking
Blog Posts
- Call for Papers — “The Local and the Global in New England”
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. - Call for Papers — 2026 Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife
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. - Restoring the Sheldon Shed, 2024–2025
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.
Cooking Events
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Dressing the Revolution: Fashion and Politics 1760–1789
By posing new questions about fashion’s relationship with class, race, and gender, Dressing the Revolution: Fashion and Politics 1760–1789 places clothing at the center of the political debates, shedding light on dress as a powerful tool that communicated not just status and identity, but political affinities during this volatile period.
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A Town Divided: Deerfield in the Age of Revolution
While many associate the Revolution with Boston or battlefield sites, A Town Divided brings the promises—and contradictions—of the Revolution to life through the lens of a deeply divided rural town in western Massachusetts.
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Dublin Seminar 2026 – Futurecasting, Futurekeeping: New Englanders Imagine Worlds to Come
2026 Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife – Futurecasting, Futurekeeping: New Englanders Imagine Worlds to Come In June 2026, the Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife will mark its 50th […]
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Open Hearth Cooking Workshop: Spring Cooking, Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel
In the past, the end of winter meant using up what was left of stored food like pumpkins, potatoes, apples, and salted meat and fish. A Deerfield diarist called them “savers.” The menu includes dried apple pie, fish chowder, pickled beets, and crookneck squash pudding.
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3-Day Wood Identification Workshop with Randy Wilkinson
We are pleased to share this exciting, intensive educational program designed to appeal to participants with an interest in American decorative arts—including collectors, appraisers, curators, furniture enthusiasts, or anyone seeking […]
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Free Winter Lecture Series: “Expansive Histories of the American Revolution”
In observance of the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, we invite you to tune in to our free, virtual Winter Lecture Series, featuring three distinguished scholars. This series will […]
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Candlelight Tavern Night
This event is sold out.
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Fun in February: School Vacation Week at Historic Deerfield
Play historical tavern and schoolyard games. Pretend to cook a meal on a hearth in our play kitchen. Dress up, read a book, or weave on a loom. There will be lots of activities to explore!
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Picturing the Revolution
Drawing from Historic Deerfield’s rich collection of Revolutionary-era materials, this exhibition explores the diverse ways that 18th-century individuals “pictured” or understood the Revolution as it unfolded.
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Open Hearth Cooking Workshop: Baking in the Beehive Oven
Learn how to fire and heat the oven for baking. Pie is on the menu! Prepare sweet and savory pies to bake when the oven is ready.