Old Deerfield, Massachusetts

Museums of Deerfield

Memorial Hall Museum / Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association / Deerfield Children's Museum
 

Organization Summary

The Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association:
A Multifaceted Approach to Interpreting American History in Deerfield

Arts and Crafts Festivals

Cultural Programs

Education Programs

Teacher Professional Development
at the Deerfield Teachers’ Center

Exhibits at Memorial Hall Museum

Memorial Hall Museum  A Local "Window" onto American History

 

Postcard of Memorial Hall Museum, c. 1900.
Built in 1799. Opened as a museum in 1880.

 

Over 30,000 objects
reflect the richness of Deerfield’s history.

 

 

 

 

Silhouette by Ruth Henshaw Bascom, c. 1840.

Click here to see Memorial Hall Museum on line

Award-winning
Native American Exhibit

“Corn Sister”
by Steve McComber, 2004.

 

Belt buckle by Madeline Yale Wynne, c. 1900

 Library holdings are the basis of many scholarly publications.

 

 


c. 1917 poster by J. E. Sheridan.

 

The PVMA Library
Used by 5,000 Scholars, Students, and Community Members each Year

 
Over 2,000 documents from PVMA’s 900 Linear feet of manuscripts and 25,000 printed books can be accessed online with accompanying transcriptions.
History Education

 

 

 

Education programs at the museums

Children’s Museum
and Youth
Programs

 

 

Traveling History Kits

A high school in-class History Lab
The Deerfield Teachers’ Center
Recipient of six United States Department of Education
Teaching American History Grants

A 1925 school now dedicated to teacher
training featuring many nationally recognized
scholars

American Centuries Web site is designed specifically to meet the needs of k-12 educators and their students.

The Deerfield Teachers Center on line

 
Community Outreach
The African-American Project is the latest example of PVMA’s collaborations with local citizens and scholars to encompass the entire scope of our local history

 

Public unveiling of the memorial prototype

The carved mahogany memorial to enslaved Africans in Deerfield, by
African-American artist Shamek Weddle.

 

A memorial in Memorial Hall Museum to enslaved Africans, and an online map of African-American sites in Deerfield are the first steps towards giving greater visibility to the African-American experience in rural New England. 

Publishing
Among our fourteen titles in print…

 
                         


Awards:

* Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities
Ninth Annual Book Prize, 2002

* New England Museum Association Publications Design
Award, First Place: Books over $10

* American Association for State and Local History (AASLH)
Certificate of Commendation

To order click here

 
Online Programs:
Our nationally-recognized online museum American Centuries and the award-winning multicultural online exhibit Raid on Deerfield, the work of twenty-six international historians and scholars
                               

 

 

                           

  * 2005 AASLH Award of Merit * 2005 Museums and the Web Award * 2007 Merlot History Classics Award 
Cultural Programs
Enlivening the Past with Music, Theater, and Living History

 

“Banned and Burned in Boston:” The Big Read of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 at PVMA with 13 libraries, 3 museums, 24 schools, and the local fire department.
Funded by the NEA.

Historic Theatre

 

 

Summer Concert Series

Fourteenth annual Eastern European Festival

Historic Preservation

“The Acropolis Project”
The Renovation of Deerfield’s 1840 Old Town Hall