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1171 Main Street
St. Johnsbury, VT, 05819
United States

8027488291

Athenaeum News

The Friends of the Athenaeum Afternoon Tea Party, Sunday, August 24, 1 PM * Reservations required

Linell Moss

Come enjoy delectable tea and treats in the historic Art Gallery.
Browse treasures in our silent auction.

$30.00 per Person/Limited Seating Available. RSVP by August 16.

3 ways to reserve your seat:

1) Mail your name, contact information and the number in your party, along with payment to the Athenaeum (1171 Main Street, St. Johnsbury, VT 05819)

2) Stop by the first floor circulation desk and fill out a RSVP card

3) Sign up online HERE.

Proceeds from this event will support youth & adult programming for the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum.

Poetry Reading: Scudder Parker and Angela Patten, Sunday, August 3, 3 PM

Linell Moss

Two Vermont poets will read from their recent works in the Art Gallery of the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum.

Scudder Parker grew up on a family farm in North Danville, VT. He's been a Protestant minister, state senator, utility regulator, candidate for Governor, consultant on energy efficiency and renewable energy, and is now a full-time poet and writer. Parker has published in Sun Magazine, Vermont Life, Northern Woodlands, Passager, Eclectica, Twyckenham, Crosswinds, Aquifer, Sky Island Journal, and Lascaux Review. The Poem of the World: Poems and Prose was published by Kelsay Books in 2025. His website is https://www.scudderparker.net/

Angela Patten’s publications include five poetry collections, most recently Feeding the Wild Rabbit (2024), and a prose memoir, High Tea at a Low Table: Stories From An Irish Childhood. Her award-winning work has appeared in many literary journals and anthologies. Born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, she maintains dual citizenship in Ireland and the United States where she has lived since 1977. She is a Senior Lecturer Emerita in English at the University of Vermont.  Her website is https://www.carraigbinn.com/

A wine and cheese reception will follow the reading.

This event is free, ADA accessible, and open to the public.

Paint & Sip for Teens and Adults with Ed Kadunc, Thursday, August 14, 6 pm * Preregistration required

Linell Moss

·          Pre-register HERE by August 12. Space is limited. 

Paint & Sip is a fun and exciting follow-along painting experience for teens and adults.  Even if you have never picked up a paintbrush or experimented with tubes of paint, you will be pleasantly surprised as we guide you step-by-step to unleash your creative spirit. You will enjoy refreshments, team spirit, camaraderie, good conversation, and a few laughs as you create, paint, then share your own masterpiece.

Ed Kadunc studied, participated in, and practiced commercial and fine arts for over fifty years. Ed has provided instruction and educational programs and classes at Littleton Studio School, Court Street Arts, Lancaster NH, St. Johnsbury Paint Night events, East Burke School, Atelier Artists Workshops St. J, and the Tuesday Artists Group of Danville.

Materials for each painter are provided by Mr. Kadunc and the Athenaeum. Support for this event provided in part by Secondhand Prose. Please wear appropriate clothing.

The event is free, ADA accessible and open to teens and adults who have pre-registered.  The event is supported by The Friends of the Athenaeum.

Faces: Black and White Photographs by David Asgard Gilbert (1964-1973)

Linell Moss

An exhibition of black and white photographs by David (Asgard) Gilbert is on display in the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum Hall Gallery through July 5. Gilbert’s second wife, St. Johnsbury native and resident Joan Weston, is the curator of the photographs and now offers them for public view. “David had immense self-confidence; he could teach himself anything,” said Weston. “As the keeper of his photographic legacy, I pledged to myself to show an aspect of his complex story.”

David (Asgard) Gilbert (1938-2021) was born in Waterville, Maine.  He joined the Marines and specialized in aerial photography and military intelligence. He attended Colby College, majoring in English. 

David earned a reputation for his human-interest photographs as a freelance photographer for the UPI and AP wire services. He covered the war in Vietnam, and also photographed presidents, senators, and other public figures. In contrast to his political and wartime photographs, he enjoyed capturing images of ordinary people on the streets or at work.

In 1968 Gilbert and Weston lived in England, then traveled throughout Europe and the Middle East. During a stop in Israel, David worked for the Jerusalem Post. Their subsequent journey back to the United States included travels by train to countries behind the Iron Curtain, which provided opportunities for more photos.   

A map of the couple’s travels is included in the exhibition.

The exhibition is free, ADA accessible, and open to the public through July 7.

Anne Sexton Poetry Celebration, Sunday, June 29, 4 PM

Linell Moss

Anne Sexton, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1967, is credited as an inventor of a new kind of “confessional” poetry, which represented the breadth of human experience from family trauma to love to mental illness to bodily pleasures. She died by suicide in 1974, after a long battle with mental illness and addiction. Even when written from darkness, Sexton’s poetry has fueled inspiration and fostered joy. After an introduction to Sexton’s life and work by scholar Dawn Skorczewski, we will invite members of the audience to read her work. Please bring an Anne Sexton poem to share.  

Hosts:  Dawn Skorczewski, PhD, Professor Emerita of English, Brandeis University, Senior Lecturer, University of Amsterdam, Author of An Accident of Hope: the Therapy Tapes of Anne Sexton, and many articles about Anne Sexton. 

NEK resident Rachel Hadas is a poet, teacher, essayist, and translator. Her most recent essay collection is Piece by Piece: Selected Prose (Paul Dry Books, 2021), and her most recent poetry collection is Ghost Guest (Ragged Sky Press, 2023). Hadas is a frequent presenter at the Athenaeum.

Wine and cheese reception will follow the event.

This event is free, ADA accessible, and open to the public.

Plant Swap, Saturday, June 14, 10-11 AM

Linell Moss

Looking for a few new things for your garden? Do you have a few plants looking for a home? 
Then let's do some swapping!

On the side lawn at the Athenaeum. Rain or Shine!
Set-up at 10 am
Swap at 10:30 am

Please label your plants. RSVP is appreciated but not required.

Contact Adele West-Fisher at 802-748-8291
or awestfisher@stjathenaeum.org for questions and to RSVP.

This event is free, ADA accessible, and open to the public.

Athenaeum Film Fan Club, Tuesday, May 20, 6:30 PM - What's Up, Doc?

Linell Moss

Join the Athenaeum Film Fan Club for our monthly movie with free popcorn and soft drinks.  

With an introduction by Damian Ryan. 

This event is free, ADA accessible, and open to the public.

What’s Up, Doc? (1972) was directed by Peter Bogdanovich and stars Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal. Two researchers have come to San Francisco to compete for a research grant in music. The man seems a bit distracted, and that was before he met a strange woman who has devoted her life to confusing and embarrassing him. At the same time a woman has her jewels stolen and a government whistle blower arrives with his stolen top secret papers.

Meet the Staff: Karen Haskins

Linell Moss

Meet the Athenaeum Staff: Karen Haskins

Karen Haskins is the Youth Services Outreach Coordinator at the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum.  “My husband and I moved to St. Johnsbury from western New York in 1989. I worked at Vermont State University in the English department until 2023, and I also worked as an elementary school teacher and librarian for several years and co-owned a shop in St. Johnsbury.  When I am not at the library, I am spending time with my family, gardening, reading, and crafting!”

What do you do at the Athenaeum?

In the mornings, I visit local preschools and daycares and do storytimes with read-alouds, singing, and movement activities. At each center, I drop off a bag of books for them to enjoy until the next time I visit. When I return to the Athenaeum, I usually work at the front circulation desk helping patrons and assisting with the interlibrary loan program. One afternoon a week and during summer camp, I read and do craft projects with the CatCH afterschool program at the St. Johnsbury School.  Saturday Storytime each week at 10:30 am is a new event in the Children’s Library that I am excited about.

What in your life prepared you for working in the Athenaeum?

I have always loved to read, and I looked forward to visiting the library every week.  I have also been an English teacher for most of my life, and it is a pleasure to work surrounded by great books and people who love to read.

What is one book in the Athenaeum collection that you would recommend?

Gather by Kenneth Cadow.  It is beautifully written, and it celebrates many of the things that make Vermont a wonderful place.  This book also reminds us of the work that still needs to be done to make it a wonderful place for everyone.

How is the Athenaeum an asset to the town?

As a public library, the Athenaeum embodies the belief that we have the power to create change and make the world a better place. The library provides us access to the knowledge and the tools to start making our dreams a reality. As a historic building, the Athenaeum is a place where everyone is welcome to come and be surrounded by art and beauty.

Gallery Series Presents Continua Hospice Choir - Music for Comfort and Support. Wednesday, May 14, 1:30 PM

Linell Moss

In the historic Athenaeum Art Gallery, Continua will share some of their music and members will talk about their experiences providing comfort and support to those facing the end of life.

Continua is a group of volunteer singers who offer bedside sings for patients and their families in private homes, nursing homes, hospitals, and rehabilitation center settings. Continua music includes a large repertoire of songs from many traditions sung by 4-6 singers in unaccompanied three or four-part harmony. Music is selected to speak to a client’s beliefs, musical preferences, and personal needs. 

For more information about Continua, please contact Janet Heartson, Continua Administrator at 802-633-3810. Continua welcomes referrals for clients and inquiries about singing with their choir.  

This event is free, ADA accessible, and open to the public.

Menopause Café, Tuesday, May 13, 6 PM

Linell Moss

Pssst! Feel like your hormones are on a roller coaster? Haven't had a good night's sleep in a while? Has your personal thermostat gone haywire? If you're dealing with peri-menopause or menopause or just curious, come join us for a café-style discussion about the physical and emotional ups and downs of this transitional time. Talk with others who are going through it, will go through it, have gone through it! Refreshments, including chocolate, will be served.

For more information, contact Adele West-Fisher at 802-748-8291 or email awestfisher@stjathenaeum.org.

Sponsored by NVRH and the Athenaeum, this event is free, ADA accessible, and open to the public.

Off-Grid Roundtable Saturday, May 3, 1 PM

Linell Moss

Do you live off the grid? Do you have experience setting up your own off-grid systems? Do you need advice from someone who does? Come check out the Off-Grid Roundtable! It is held the first Saturday of every month in the upstairs gallery at the St Johnsbury Athenaeum at 1pm. Current off-gridders, people who are thinking about off-grid living or homesteading, or people who are just interested in learning more are welcome.

In May the topic will be solar electricity, with special guest Richard Nicol from Solartech in Sutton, VT.

This event is free, ADA accessible, and open to the public.

Source

Poet April Ossmann Reads from "WE" - Wednesday, April 30, 7 PM

Linell Moss

WE seeks what unites us, how to change our perceptions to heal families, friendships, and country of incivility and villainization by practicing greater compassion, by seeing past egos to souls. April will read from WE and share stories of being a bridge.  She will invite the audience to share personal stories of positive interactions with people you know or have met, whose politics may differ from yours, but with whom you shared a moment of mutual humanity. 

April Ossmann is the author of WE (Red Hen Press), Event Boundaries (a Vermont Book Award finalist), and Anxious Music (both Four Way Books), and recipient of a Vermont Arts Council Creation Grant. She has published her poems widely, and is an independent editor at www.aprilossmann.com.  She has taught at the low-residency MFA in Creative Writing Program at Sierra Nevada College, was executive director of Alice James Books from 2000 – 2008, and lives in White River Junction, VT.

 This event is free, ADA accessible, and open to the public.

Friends of the Athenaeum Meeting, Thursday, April 24, 9:30 AM

Linell Moss

You are invited to join The Friends of the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum monthly meetings!  We generally meet on the last Thursday of each month at 9:30 am. 

We are a volunteer group involved in promoting the resources and services of the Athenaeum, providing hospitality at programs and events, and fundraising for the benefit of the Athenaeum. Friends strive to improve, advocate for and make resources and services of the Athenaeum more widely known in the community.

Friends may volunteer at the Secondhand Prose Bookstore, organize pie sales, or assist with various Friends-sponsored programs and events.

If you have questions about the Friends of the St. Johnsbury Athenaeum, contact Adele West-Fisher at awestfisher@stjathenaeum.org or 802-745-1391.

The meetings are free, ADA accessible, and open to the public.

Vermont Reads Book Discussion at The Hub, Thursday, April 17, 6 PM

Linell Moss

Come join Dr. Alan Berolzheimer, Vermont Humanities scholar, as he leads us in a community book discussion of the Vermont Reads book Gather by Kenneth M. Cadow. Cadow tells a story about a boy and his dog and finding value in what and who might be easily overlooked.  This event is at The St. Johnsbury Community Hub, 438 Railroad St, Suite 2. St. Johnsbury. Pizza at 6:00 pm, discussion at 6:30 pm.

Copies of the book are available at the HUB and the Athenaeum circulation desks to read before the discussion. Finishing the book is not required.

Contact Adele West-Fisher at awestfiser@stjathenaeum.org or
802-745-1392 for more information.

This event is free and open to the public.

Athenaeum Film Fan Club, Wednesday, April 16, 6:30 PM: Woman of the Year

Linell Moss

Join the Athenaeum Film Fan Club for our monthly movie with free popcorn and soft drinks.

“Woman of the Year” is a 1942 American romantic comedy drama film directed by George Stevens and starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. The film is about the relationship between journalist Tess Harding and her husband, sports writer Sam Craig, who encounter problems as a result of her unflinching commitment to her work.

With an introduction by Damian Ryan.

This event is free, ADA accessible, and open to the public.