The Eastwick Press Newspaper

Eastern Rensselaer County's Community Newspaper

Shaker Museum And Library Is Now Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon

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The Shaker Museum and Library is pleased to announce its name change to the Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon.  The new name and identity emphasizes the Museum’s strategic relocation and commitment to Mount Lebanon, NY, uniting the most comprehensive collection of Shaker objects and archives with America’s most important Shaker historic site.
Mount Lebanon
For 160 years, from 1787 to 1947, the Shakers at Mount Lebanon led the largest and most successful utopian communal society in America. From this central community developed the Shakers’ ideals of equality of labor, gender and race, as well as communal property, freedom and pacifism. From Mount Lebanon also grew the now famous Shaker aesthetic of simplicity, expressed in their objects, furniture, buildings and village planning.
In 2004 and 2006, the World Monuments Watch named Mount Lebanon as one of the 100 most significant endangered historic sites in the world.  In 2004, the Museum acquired Mount Lebanon Shaker Village’s historic North Family – 10 buildings on 30 acres – with the goal of creating a new museum and cultural center focused on the Shaker legacy.  By 2014, the Museum will complete over $3 million in funded preservation projects, rehabilitating four significant buildings.
The Museum
Founded in 1950 by John S. Williams, Sr., the Shaker Museum | Mount Lebanon is the oldest public institution devoted to preserving and interpreting the history and legacy of the Shakers. The collection of Shaker objects is currently housed at its site in Old Chatham, NY.  The Library is one of the country’s leading resources for Shaker materials, including manuscripts, photographs and printed books and pamphlets chronicling over 200 years of Shaker life.
Upcoming Events
Guided tours of the Mount Lebanon site will take place from July 7 – September 3, on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays, at 11:30am and 2pm. The tours are free and open to the public.
The Museum’s Summer Benefit Party, A Country Dance and Dinner, will be held on Saturday, July 21, 2012.
To learn more about the Museum, its activities and opportunities for support, please visit www.shakerml.org or contact Becky Codner at 518.794.9100 or codner@shakerml.org.