Calendar of Events: Readings
“D.M. Bennett: The Truth Seeker” (video and book signing)
7pm
$5 (books available for purchase)
Author Roderick Bradford will be on hand to screen his new one-hour video and discuss his book about D.M. Bennett and his wife Mary Wicks—both former Mount Lebanon Shakers—who founded the “blasphemous” New York City freethought periodical The Truth Seeker. Bennett’s courageous fight for freedom of speech, supported by the Shakers, went all the way to the White House.
The North Family Granary, Mount Lebanon Shaker Village, 202 Shaker Rd, New Lebanon
518-794-9100
Material Manifestations: The Legacy of the Shakers
10am
Free (books available for purchase)
Students and faculty of the architecture program at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy will present the results of their semester long look at Shaker design, including imagining an archive and exhibition center for the Museum at Mount Lebanon. The presentation will celebrate the Museum’s publication of a book on their work.
At the Tannery, Darrow School, Mount Lebanon, Shaker Road, New Lebanon
518-794-9100
Seats of Shaker Innovation: The Design, Manufacturing, and Marketing of Mount Lebanon Shaker Chairs
6pm
$5 Dinner is an additional cost
During the nineteenth century, Shakers evolved their chair manufacturing from craftsman who made few chairs at a time into mass production with innovations such as the tilter button, cloth webbing, rockers, and special purpose chairs for medical treatments, dining, and working. The Museum’s Director of Research Jerry Grant will talk about how the business evolved and served to connect the Shakers with the world outside the village. Noted Shaker furniture scholar Tim Rieman will bring along examples of chairs from the Museum’s collection to discuss.
Presented at and in collaboration with the Abode of the Message, South Family, Mount Lebanon Shaker Village, Shaker Rd, New Lebanon
518-794-9100