In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, America’s demand for paper grew at a fever pitch, and Manchester answered the call. Join us for a fascinating look at our town’s industrial and logging heyday, driven by the Mohican Pulp Company and the Rich Lumber Company. Discover how timber crews cleared mountain forests and ran even a 16-mile logging railroad up Lye Brook to feed the raw materials for wood pulp, connecting our mountain valleys directly to the nation’s appetite for paper. Alongside the lecture, get hands-on with the papermaking process as we use cut fabric scraps prepared during October 3rd’s Taconic Music event to make paper pulp.
John Vincent is a retired police officer, poet, letterpress printer, and director of A Revolutionary Press, a 501c3 nonprofit and volunteer-run collective of artists in service to the Common Good in New Haven, Vermont.
John is also the co-curator of “Finding Hope Within: Healing and Transformation Through the Making of Art Within the Carceral System”, a travelling art exhibition in Vermont for 2023-2026. He presents on the historical and contemporary significance of hand-setting type on the printing press, in context with the past and future Revolutions in this country. Learn more on his website.
About the Fall Festival 2026
Each year, our Fall Festival celebrates National Arts and Humanities Month in October and reminds Vermonters of the impact and breadth of the humanities. This year’s Fall Festival 2026: Our Woven History recognizes the stories contained in our Vermont Reads 2026 book, Charity & Sylvia by Tillie Walden, while also commemorating the 250th anniversary of our nation’s founding.
Please contact us at info@vermonthumanities.org for information on disability services. To request a specific accommodation, contact us at least three weeks prior to the event. Vermont Humanities strives to provide accommodations whenever possible. All event locations are ADA accessible.
