Research and Exhibition Gallery Opening

The Vermont Historical Society announces the grand opening of its Research and Exhibition Gallery at the Vermont History Center in Barre. The public is invited to join in celebrating the opening of this important exhibition space on Tuesday, October 1, 2024 at 4:00PM.

The grand opening event will include performances from the Barre’s Spaulding High School and Barre City Middle School choruses, tours of the gallery space, and an opportunity for guests to view a selection of highlighted objects and engage with staff and historians to learn more about the gallery’s exhibits and the stories behind them.

The Vermont Historical Society (VHS) holds 30,000 items in its object collection, only a small fraction of which are on display. This gallery enables the VHS to showcase hundreds of additional artifacts, documents, and paintings from this extensive collection in an accessible manner so visitors and scholars can explore our state’s rich past.

“For almost 200 years, visitors have been able to view and access the rich library and archive collections of the Vermont Historical Society,” says Steve Perkins, the Executive Director of the Vermont Historical Society. “This new research gallery will allow scholars, students, and visitors to explore the rich object and artifact collection in new and exciting ways.”

The gallery’s first installation will focus on themes developed by the American Association of State and Local History for the 250th commemoration of the Declaration of Independence, including such diverse items as patent models, globes, and social movement signs. VHS will work with scholars and educators to develop educational and research programming to utilize this gallery space to inspire new research in the study of Vermont’s history. In addition, local community members, groups, and businesses can engage with VHS collections in a new and deeper manner.

Funding for the gallery came from the FY23 omnibus spending bill that passed the Senate on December 22nd, 2022, part of a $42 million package secured by Senator Bernie Sanders through the Congressionally Directed Spending. Senator Sanders has been invited to attend the event.