On Friday, November 6th, 2009, the Vermont Historical Society hosted the 56th Annual League of Local Historical Societies Meeting in St. Albans, Vermont, in the Bliss Auditorium of the St. Albans Historical Museum.  Over 120 participants enjoyed a day filled with speakers, workshops, tours, awards and networking opportunities.

     The day began with a keynote, enthusiastically presented by William Hosley titled: "Housing History, A Search for Place, Past & Community". Mr. Hosley is an expert in cultural heritage tourism and has studied hundreds of museums and heritage destinations around the country. He shared a slide presentation that vividly displayed many magnificent examples of the "house museum" and the treasured artifacts they hold. He stressed the importance of the house and community museum and described the work that they do in teaching, collecting and preserving our past as indispensable.

     Throughout the day, workshop sessions were held covering a variety of topics including:  Strategic Planning for Local Historical Societies, Collection Policies & Procedures:  Preventing Pitfalls, Controlling Collections, Commemorating Vermont's Role in the Civil War, Bringing Vermont's History into the Future, Update on the Vermont Connecting to Collections and Vermont Alliance for Response Projects, Out of the Shadows:  African Americans in the Green Mountains, 1790-1890, Oral History in the 21st Century-Why it Matters & How We Can keep the Tradition Alive and The St. Albans Raid, Downtown Tour. 

The day concluded with the League of Local Historical Society Awards Ceremony.  Each year the Vermont Historical Society recognizes the achievements of local societies and their members through the Local Societies Achievement Awards Program.  These awards recognize and encourage the efforts of local societies  and their members in collecting, preserving and disseminating the history of their communities.   This year the following were honored:

 Exhibits/Museum Techniques

Black River Academy Museum and Historical Society & Ludlow Elementary for "Barns:  A Vanishing Landscape"

Randolph Historical Society & Harriet Chase for "What to Wear"

Landgrove Historical Society for "Swedes of Landgrove"

Dorset Historical Society and Susan Rappaport and Kathie Wall Evans for "The Artistry and Collection of Jessica H. Bond"

Educational Outreach

Black River Academy Museum and  Historical Society & Black River Middle School for "Voices from the Past"

Poultney Historical Society for "Driving and Walking Tours of Poultney"

Rutland Historical Society for the digitization of the 1884 Beers Map

The Historical Societies of the White River Valley:  Barnard, Bethel, Hartford, Pittsfield, Rochester, Royalton, Sharon, Stockbridge and Tunbridge for the "White River Valley History Fair"

Chittenden County Historical Society, Town of Bolton, Buel's Gore, Charlotte Historical Society, Colchester Historical Society, Essex Historical Society, Hinesburg Historical Society, Huntington Historical Society, Jericho Historical Society, Milton Historical Society, Richmond Historical Society, St. George Historical Society, Town of Shelburne, Underhill Historical Society, Westford Historical Society, Williston Historical Society, Winooski Historical Society for the "Chittenden County History Mystery"

Publications/Oral History

Newton Rose and Noah Schmidt from the Black River Academy Museum and Historical Society for the documentary "Calvin Cooldige, Vermont Born and Raised"

Tara Liloia from the Isle La Motte Historical Society for her work on the Images of America publication, "Lake Champlain Islands"

Society Operations

Fair Haven Historical Society

Kevin Hanson from the Starksboro Historical Society for his work on the Starksboro Historical Society website

Individuals

Martha Howard from the Thetford Historical Society

Gretchen Sharp from the Mendon Historical Society

Erwin Clark from the Addison Historical Society

Linda Kaiser from the Waterbury Historical Society

Gordon Tuthill from the Woodstock Historical Society

 Many thanks to the St. Albans Historical Museum, St. Paul's United Methodist, St. Luke's Episcopal, Jeff's Seafood, William Hosley, Margo Caulfield, Eileen Corcoran, Margaret Tamulonis, Ann Lawless, John Dumville, Elise Guyette, Amanda Kuhnert, and James Fouts.

Special thanks to our sponsors:  Cabot of Vermont, Maplefields, Main Street Landing Company and The Vermont Humanities Council for their generous support.