February–“A Tale of Two Streetcars”–George Lerrigo
March–“Bennington Storehouse”–Bob Hoar
Bob Hoar has done extensive research on the Bennington store house. He noted that there is a lot of information about what was
stored in the building but little information about its exact location. The British wanted to raid the storehouse for badly needed food supplies and horses.
April — “Tim Wagner’s Colorized Photographs of Bennington — Callie Raspuzzi
Callie Raspuzzi, collections manager at the Bennington Museum, reveals how Tim Wager colorizes photos from the 19th and 20th century of Bennington at the April meeting of the Bennington Historical
Society. The photos have been organized into 3 volumes that are for sale at the Bennington Museum store. The presentation included examples of contemporary hand colored images and compared
them to Wager’s digital work.
May — “William Lloyd Garrison” — Tyler Resch
Tyler Resch, research librarian at the Bennington Museum, presented a program on William Lloyd Harrison at the May 2019 meeting of the Bennington Historical Society. Harrison was the author of the
the “Liberator” and an early agitator for freeing slaves. The research for this program was done by
J.F.M. Kennedy.
June — “The Myths and Legends of Bennington, Vermont” — Bob Tegart
At the Summer Series of Lectures at the Old First Church Bob Tegart talked about the
Myths and Legends of Bennington, Vermont. The lecture started with how the town was founded and
ended with for whom Mount Anthony was named.
December — “Shays’ Settlement” — Stephen Butz
“Shays’Settlement: A Story of Revolt and Archaeology” was presented by Stephen Butz , teacher of Archaeology, Earth and Environmental Science. Since 2013 Stephen and his students have be unearthing Shays’ settlement in Sandgate, Vt.The settlement was started by farmers, many who had fought in the Revolutionary war. They protested the collection of what they felt were unfair and rising taxes on their land in Massachusetts . In 1797 they attempted to take over the Federal Armory in Springfield Mass. They were defeated and a group led by Shays escaped to Vt.