Ellery Foutch is an Associate Professor in the American Studies Program at Middlebury College, where she teaches classes on the art and material culture of the United States, as well as critical museum studies. Her new book, A Perfectionist Impulse: The Art of Stopping Time in the Nineteenth Century (University of Minnesota Press, July 2026) explores period fascinations with perfection and its preservation across art, natural history, popular culture, and museum exhibition practices.
The publication of Tillie Walden’s recent graphic novel Charity & Sylvia–and its selection as the 2026 “Vermont Reads”–was a wonderful impetus for the Henry Sheldon Museum to rethink how we might feature the story of Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake in the museum galleries.
In response to concerns about election tampering in the 1850s, New Yorker Samuel Jollie proposed a novel solution: a ballot box made of glass. Emphasizing glass’s transparency and purity, Jollie suggested that his box would ensure fair and just elections.
Nineteenth-century Americans often saved or exchanged locks of hair, constructing jewelry or keepsake wreaths of their kinship networks. Delicate braids of hair also interlace to frame the famous silhouette of Charity Bryant and Sylvia Drake. In more recent decades, hair has become a powerful political medium.
Our seasonal “Words in the Woods” program allows Vermonters and visitors to enjoy our state’s natural beauty while listening to and reading literature in the outdoors.
Humanities Camps are filled with reading and writing projects, field trips, and outdoor activities.
We won a 2020 Schwartz Prize for best public humanities programming in the U.S. for Vermont Reads 2019: “March: Book One.”
We supported the Chandler Center for the Arts’ Global Connections Youth Outreach program, which highlights artists from around the world.
Our free public events help bring the power of the humanities to communities across Vermont.
