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First Church & Williamstown: 250 Years Together ~ on exhibit through Autumn, 2016

It is no coincidence that First Congregational Church, Williamstown, and the town itself share a birthdate. In 1750 Massachusetts General Assembly passed legislation requiring a “settled and learned pastor” in order to incorporate a town. So, no matter what the religious fervor of the town in those early days, forming a Congregational Church (this is Massachusetts) was necessary for them to claim their land. So the story of the Church is the story of the town. Come hear about the significant events in the Church’s history, which show what was happening in town along the way.

MoiraInBlueMoira Jones has been Moderator of the First Congregational Church since February 2013. In this last fall of her term as Moderator, she has been researching the Church History, and really looks forward to sharing it with you.

Tour of exhibit May 18th 6 pm

Moira Jones would like to encourage you to see this exhibit on Wednesday, May 18th, and is offering to conduct a tour of the exhibit for you on that day at 6 pm. Please mark this on your calendars, and get this personal tour from the person who put together the exhibit, before she leaves town at the end of this month. Moira looks forward to seeing you on the 18th!

If you missed this talk in November, you can see it online here:

Before & After; The Story of a Small Town’s Artifacts & Their Conservation

We hope you will join us!
Saturday, October 3rd, 11 am
at the Williamstown Historical Museum
for the opening of our exhibit:
Before and After; The Story of a Small Town’s Artifacts
and Their Conservation

This exhibit was created by you and for you. Williamstown residents and friends donated the artifacts in this exhibit, voted at the 2014 Annual Town Meeting to have these artifacts conserved, and your interaction with these objects makes them meaningful. Materials donated over the years helped us build a narrative for the objects that allowed us to tell some of the stories of the people and places of our little town. You are an important part of that story. We hope you’ll come admire some of your work. The exhibit focuses on the objects that were conserved at the Williamstown Art Conservation Center using CPC funds. The Pine Cobble Seventh Graders (now eighth graders) contributed descriptive paragraphs detailing some of the objects. This exhibit couldn’t have been done without you. Thank you!

We will have delicious treats for you upon your arrival. We look forward to seeing you next Saturday!

For questions please email sarah@williamstownhistoricalmuseum.org or call 413.458.2160.

Conservation in Williamstown: Its Historic Roots with Phillip McKnight

On Saturday, September 25th, 2015, Phil McKnight presented a lecture on the historic roots of conservation.  Phil’s lecture included images of 19th century American Romantic paintings and traced the development of the practice of land conservation here in Williamstown by first briefly tracing the historical development of an American consciousness towards the environment.  What were the driving forces which brought northern Europeans to the New World and how did those forces begin to change as we as a people began our westward journey across this vast continent?  In what manner did we confront the enormous challenges of the frontier and in doing so, how did we change the natural environment?  This story was applied to Williamstown, using both the Williamstown Conservation Commission and the Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation as examples of promoting orderly change within the concept of land conservation.

 

If you missed his lecture, you can view it online here at the WilliNet website:  Conservation in Williamstown:  Its Historic Roots

PRMcK Photo #2Phil teaches a course on environmental law and environmental history during the fall semester at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams and during the winter term at Williams College.