SHAKER MUSEUM AND LIBRARY

Programs: Preservation and conservation in 2014, the museum completed a 2-year project (2013-2014; total project budget approx. $2 million) to stabilize the great stone barn at mount lebanon. The barn, which was gutted by fire in 1972, was the largest stone barn in america when built in 1859, and a testament to the shakers, the financial and technological sophistication of their agricultural operations, and to their communal stewardship of the land and animals. Funding for the project was assembled over many years, and included federal grants from the depts. Of interior, hud, and transportation; a ny state office of parks, recreation, and historic preservation; a major grant from the world monuments fund; and contributions from over 100 private foundations and individuals. The project stabilized the stone walls of the building, with the goal of making the building available for interpretation as part of the museum's operation of the historic site. In december, 2014, a new grant of $500,000 was awarded to the museum from the ny state office of parks, recreation, and historic preservation to continue preservation of this building, which will fund the restoration of the floor of the open-air structure. In 2014, the museum completed the purchase of a 61-acre parcel of historic shaker lands adjacent to its mount lebanon site and continued to work with other community organizations, including the shaker swamp conservancy, columbia land conservancy, open space institute, ny state dec, federal forest service, and others, to ensure that historic shaker lands in and around mount lebanon are protected for the future.

education programs the museum expanded its tour season at mount lebanon in 2014 to 18 weeks, open 4 days a week. Three daily tours were offered to visitors, as well as a self-guided tour option of the grounds and a walk of the new north pastures trail. Two exhibitions were mounted. "utopian benches" displayed the work of sculptor francis cape. Cape recreated meetinghouse benches from utopian communal societies across the united states, and presented them together, encouraging visitors to sit and to discuss communalism. Each visitor was given a gallery guide created by the artist, "we all sit together. " the second exhibition was of the video work "rock my religion," by dan graham. This nearly hour-long work traces a line between shaker founder ann lee and the development of rock and roll music. Both exhibitions were enhanced by gallery talks by the artists and others. The museum offered throughout the year talks and programs on shaker history.

collaborative exhibitions & collections while the museum is in transition from its old chatham site to the historic site at mount lebanon, its comprehensive collections are largely in storage and not on view for the public. The museum has identified a strategic initiative to work with other organizations during this period in providing object loans and loan exhibitions to utilize its collection resources for the public benefit. In june 2014, "the shakers: from mount lebanon to the world," opened at the farnsworth art museum in rockland, maine. The museum was the primary lender to this exhibition, providing over 100 items from its collections. The exhibition will be seen by an estimated audience of 60,000 through its run until march 2015, and was covered by major national press, including the wall street journal. The museum also participated in the planning and provided content for the accompanying 250 page hard-cover published by skira rizzoli, which includes essays by museum staff and a museum trustee. In november 2014, "the shakers: america's quiet revolutionaries," a major shaker exhibition, opened at the new york state museum in albany. The museum collaborated on the creation of this exhibition with two other area shaker museums and state museum staff, and a shaker museum staff member served as the senior member of the curating team. Over 70 items from the museum were loaned for this exhibition, which will be on view until march 2016. Attendance is estimated to be nearly 1 million during the exhibition. Museum staff worked on a collaborative project to present a shaker booth at the 2015 european fine art fair in maastricht, the netherlands, along with an accompanying book, with content provided by museum staff, to be released by assouline publishing. This exhibition is designed to present shaker history to a new european audience. The museum continues to work in making its collections and information available through electronic media. A digitization project for historic photographs continued, with some 2450 photographs to be made available to the public in early 2015. Additionally, the museum moved towards the launch of a new website, with an enhanced presentation of the museum's collection holdings, including high resolution photographs and object descriptions. The museum continues to refine its collections, and to add to both its archival and object holdings.