Exhibits

Kent Historical Society	Exhibits PO Box 651 Kent, CT 06757 860-927-4587 KentHistoricalSociety@juno.com
Often the most popular exhibits are collaborative efforts between the Society and the townspeople. In the summer of 2002, we gathered wartime memorabilia from soldiers of many wars, and presented A Tribute to Our Veterans and Those Who Stayed Behind. With war in Iraq looming, poignant memories welled up in our town’s veterans, and we broke all attendance records. We were able to mount an incredible exhibit showcasing uniforms and other military equipment from all branches of the service through many wars. A WWI doughboy uniform was displayed next to a Nelson portrait of an unknown WWI soldier and a photograph of long time Kent resident James Humphreys, who fought in WWI and then organized Kent’s Civil Defense in WWII. The exhibit was rich with photographs, medals, diaries, scrapbooks and magazine articles from WWII, including the February, 1943, issue of LIFE with Kent’s plane spotters on the front cover. Interspersed among these donated treasures were copies of a remarkable collection of letters written by the Kent townspeople to their soldiers all over the world during WWII. Organized by F. Maurice Childs and the Kent Volunteer Fire Department, the letter writers threw a life line to Kent’s homesick servicemen in those days before the internet shrunk the globe. In many cases, our visitors returned two or three times in order to carefully read these clear glimpses into life in wartime Kent. We hope to have these letters published soon, so keep an eye on our bookstore page. While WWII dominated the exhibit, the offerings from the Korean and Viet Nam wars often stopped people in their tracks. On Veterans Day, the Kent Center School eighth grade spent a sobering hour examining the display and then listening to the Rev. Thomas Berberich describe the gravity and horror of war. Father Berberich admonished the spell-bound children of their duty to become responsible peace loving adults, and on that note we closed the doors on a timeless exhibit at Seven Hearths.	The Society has two venues for offering exhibits to the public. Small, frequently changed exhibits are on display at the Swift House year round. These may be seen whenever the Swift House is open for any function, including the regular hours of the Kent Historical Society. Exhibits in the past year have been old school photographs and composition books, dolls and other toys, and antique Christmas cards and ornaments. Currently on display is our recently acquired collection of old cookbooks and cooking utensils. Barn Again Summer of 2005 Stay tuned for the summer of 2006, when we plan to once again feature our extensive collection of old photographs – this time with a different twist… 2004 found us shifting our attention to the rich agricultural history of this town, dating back to the 1700s. Again we asked for help from the townspeople, and packed Seven Hearths to the rafters with farm tools, books, toys, photographs and other memorabilia. The Kent Center School children were once more invited to tour “A Focus on Farming”, and were awed by the wide variety of strange looking tools used by Kent’s farmers. Many of our elder farmers themselves stopped by, and enjoyed chatting with visitors about their passion and skills. It was a bittersweet summer for many in Kent, as we realized that this way of life, so long central to every waking moment, has all but vanished. We ended the summer vowing to continue our examination of the rural way of life. In the summer of 2003, the Kent Historical Society presented a very special exhibit entitled Picture Perfect: Images of Northwest Connecticut, which was part of a state-wide exhibit of the same name. Picture Perfect was based on an exciting new art history book entitled Artists of the Litchfield Hills by Kent Historical Society Trustee Robert Michael Austin. Featuring the best of Nelson’s family portraits, just recently returned to us after undergoing professional restoration, and displayed in our newly refurbished gallery at Seven Hearths, the exhibit was a great success. Copies of Mr. Austin’s book may be obtained through the Kent Historical Society bookstore. As if they had heard us, the Smithsonian Institute, in partnership with the Connecticut Humanities Council, offered us the chance to host their famous traveling exhibit called Barn Again! for the summer of 2005. We jumped on it, and were able to reprise some of the best features of the “Focus on Farming” exhibit to accompany the detailed panels that made up the core of Barn Again!. 2005 visitation to Seven Hearths almost tripled that of the summer of the veteran’s tribute, and has left us scratching our heads trying to figure out how to follow this incredible exhibit. For those of you who were not able to see Barn Again! while it was with us, the great news is that it is now permanently housed at the Silo Gallery in neighboring New Milford. For more information you may call the Silo at 860-355-0300. Because of Seven Hearths’ long association with the art world, art is often the subject of the summer exhibit. For most of the 20th century, Seven Hearths was the home of George Laurence Nelson, who painted, conducted art classes and held exhibits in the house. Upon his death, he bequeathed the house and its contents, including a large collection of his artwork, to the Kent Historical Society. We have frequently drawn from this collection for our summer exhibit, sometimes combining it with the works of other area artists such as Rex Brasher, Robert Nisbet or Spencer Nichols.

Kent

Historical

Society

Exhibits

PO Box 651
Kent, CT 06757

860-927-4587

Often the most popular exhibits are collaborative efforts between the Society and the townspeople. In the summer of 2002, we gathered wartime memorabilia from soldiers of many wars, and presented A Tribute to Our Veterans and Those Who Stayed Behind. With war in Iraq looming, poignant memories welled up in our town’s veterans, and we broke all attendance records. We were able to mount an incredible exhibit showcasing uniforms and other military equipment from all branches of the service through many wars. A WWI doughboy uniform was displayed next to a Nelson portrait of an unknown WWI soldier and a photograph of long time Kent resident James Humphreys, who fought in WWI and then organized Kent’s Civil Defense in WWII. The exhibit was rich with photographs, medals, diaries, scrapbooks and magazine articles from WWII, including the February, 1943, issue of LIFE with Kent’s plane spotters on the front cover.

Interspersed among these donated treasures were copies of a remarkable collection of letters written by the Kent townspeople to their soldiers all over the world during WWII. Organized by F. Maurice Childs and the Kent Volunteer Fire Department, the letter writers threw a life line to Kent’s homesick servicemen in those days before the internet shrunk the globe. In many cases, our visitors returned two or three times in order to carefully read these clear glimpses into life in wartime Kent. We hope to have these letters published soon, so keep an eye on our bookstore page.

While WWII dominated the exhibit, the offerings from the Korean and Viet Nam wars often stopped people in their tracks. On Veterans Day, the Kent Center School eighth grade spent a sobering hour examining the display and then listening to the Rev. Thomas Berberich describe the gravity and horror of war. Father Berberich admonished the spell-bound children of their duty to become responsible peace loving adults, and on that note we closed the doors on a timeless exhibit at Seven Hearths.

The Society has two venues for offering exhibits to the public. Small, frequently changed exhibits are on display at the Swift House year round. These may be seen whenever the Swift House is open for any function, including the regular hours of the Kent Historical Society. Exhibits in the past year have been old school photographs and composition books, dolls and other toys, and antique Christmas cards and ornaments. Currently on display is our recently acquired collection of old cookbooks and cooking utensils.

Barn Again Summer of 2005

Stay tuned for the summer of 2006, when we plan to once again feature our extensive collection of old photographs – this time with a different twist…

2004 found us shifting our attention to the rich agricultural history of this town, dating back to the 1700s. Again we asked for help from the townspeople, and packed Seven Hearths to the rafters with farm tools, books, toys, photographs and other memorabilia. The Kent Center School children were once more invited to tour “A Focus on Farming”, and were awed by the wide variety of strange looking tools used by Kent’s farmers. Many of our elder farmers themselves stopped by, and enjoyed chatting with visitors about their passion and skills. It was a bittersweet summer for many in Kent, as we realized that this way of life, so long central to every waking moment, has all but vanished. We ended the summer vowing to continue our examination of the rural way of life.

In the summer of 2003, the Kent Historical Society presented a very special exhibit entitled Picture Perfect: Images of Northwest Connecticut, which was part of a state-wide exhibit of the same name. Picture Perfect was based on an exciting new art history book entitled Artists of the Litchfield Hills by Kent Historical Society Trustee Robert Michael Austin. Featuring the best of Nelson’s family portraits, just recently returned to us after undergoing professional restoration, and displayed in our newly refurbished gallery at Seven Hearths, the exhibit was a great success. Copies of Mr. Austin’s book may be obtained through the Kent Historical Society bookstore.

As if they had heard us, the Smithsonian Institute, in partnership with the Connecticut Humanities Council, offered us the chance to host their famous traveling exhibit called Barn Again! for the summer of 2005. We jumped on it, and were able to reprise some of the best features of the “Focus on Farming” exhibit to accompany the detailed panels that made up the core of Barn Again!. 2005 visitation to Seven Hearths almost tripled that of the summer of the veteran’s tribute, and has left us scratching our heads trying to figure out how to follow this incredible exhibit.

For those of you who were not able to see Barn Again! while it was with us, the great news is that it is now permanently housed at the Silo Gallery in neighboring New Milford. For more information you may call the Silo at 860-355-0300.

Because of Seven Hearths’ long association with the art world, art is often the subject of the summer exhibit. For most of the 20th century, Seven Hearths was the home of George Laurence Nelson, who painted, conducted art classes and held exhibits in the house. Upon his death, he bequeathed the house and its contents, including a large collection of his artwork, to the Kent Historical Society. We have frequently drawn from this collection for our summer exhibit, sometimes combining it with the works of other area artists such as Rex Brasher, Robert Nisbet or Spencer Nichols.