Vermont Humanities is partnering with New Hampshire Humanities and the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street program to bring a traveling exhibit, Spark! Places of Innovation, to small towns in Vermont and New Hampshire from Spring 2026-Winter 2027. Each state will support three host sites, and each location will host the exhibit for six weeks.
The next stop for the exhibit is at the Barnet Public Library in Barnet, VT. Join us in celebrating Barnet’s innovative past and future through an interactive Smithsonian exhibit. Peggy Pearl of the St. Johnsbury History and Heritage center will discuss the many ways in which NEK innovators have contributed, highlighting Ben’s Mill
Barnet Public Library Hours:
More about Spark!
Spark! Places of Innovation explores the unique combination of places, people, and circumstances that sparks innovation and invention in rural communities. Inspired by an exhibition by the Smithsonian’s Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation, the exhibition features stories gathered from diverse communities across the nation. Photographs, engaging interactives, objects, videos, and digital stories bring a multilayered experience to reveal the leaders, challenges, successes, and future of innovation in each town. Technical, social, cultural, or artistic– every sort of innovation story is as unique as each community and will be represented in Spark! Places of Innovation.
The story of human history is written in inventions and innovations. People are problem solvers. Sometimes we invent. More often, we innovate, introducing a fresh idea or an invention into use in some way that creates a new way of doing or thinking. Rural Americans are creating new products, processes and experiences that change local life and sometimes reach far beyond. Yet, invention and innovation truly flourishes in some places and not others. Why?
Spark! Places of Innovation will be the springboard for diverse local programming in the humanities, sciences, and arts. Visitors will be inspired to learn about innovation has shaped their own communities and how they may be innovators themselves. This exhibition will be an opportunity for community members to come together in conversation around their community’s history, present, and future with innovation.
Organizing Themes
The exhibit is organized into six sections (including an introduction) that explores creativity and innovations in rural communities: social, art, technology, and heritage.
Exhibit Guiding Questions
- What is the role of creative thinkers and inventors in a town?
- What resources do towns have for innovation and invention?
- How important is the role of self-expression and openness to change?
- How does a place encourage risk-taking?
- How can diversity spark innovation?
Smithsonian Resources
Spark! Places of Innovation has been made possible in Vermont and New Hampshire by Vermont Humanities and New Hampshire Humanities.
Crossroads is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and state humanities councils nationwide. Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress.
