Events Calendar

Memorial Hall Museum is now closed for the winter season. Please check back next spring to confirm 2024 open hours, typically 11 am to 4:30 pm on weekends in May and Tuesday through Sunday (closed Mondays) from June through October.

We look forward to welcoming you again next Spring. Learn more about the museum here.

INDIAN HOUSE MEMORIAL CHILDREN’S MUSEUM is currently closed. We hope repairs to the Indian House will be completed by Spring 2024.

For other school group activities, please contact 413-774-7476, ext. 280 or email teacherscenter@deerfieldmuseum.org.

For directions to our Old Deerfield locations click here. See PAST EVENTS here. (See RECENT PAST EVENTS below)



Recent Past Events – 2023


FREE Lecture & Book Signing, James L. Swanson / Memorial Hall Museum Exhibit Preview

Lecture: “The Deerfield Massacre in Myth and Memory”
Hess Auditorium, Deerfield Academy, 2 pm (doors open at 1 pm)

1704 Exhibit Preview: Memorial Hall Museum,
11 am-1:30 pm and 3:30-4:30 pm

 

On Sunday, March 3, 2024, at 2 pm—close to the anniversary of the 1704 Raid on Deerfield in the early morning hours of February 29—PVMA is hosting a free lecture and book signing by renowned author and scholar, James L. Swanson, in Deerfield Academy’s Hess Auditorium. Doors open and books are available for sale at 1 pm. Get a sneak preview of new elements in Memorial Hall Museum’s 1704 exhibit from 11 am-1:30 pm before the lecture, or from 3:30-4:30 pm that same day. The redesigned sections of the 1704 Memorial Gallery include new interpretation of the Sheldon House Door, feature diverse perspectives on the meaning of the door, and highlight rarely seen objects from the PVMA collection.

“A wonderful read! James Swanson’s eloquent and gripping account of Deerfield’s bloody past transports readers across space and time, while critically assessing the town’s multiple efforts to grapple with its history. He explores the persistence of colonial memories, and welcomes the inclusion of often-ignored Native American voices and perspectives. From a midnight vigil in a haunting colonial graveyard, a visit to the tomahawk-splintered Indian House door, or a stroll along an icy moonlit river on a cold February night, Swanson evokes disparate and unexpectedly poetic connections. He invites readers to walk with him into, through, and beyond this complicated past.” —Margaret M. Bruchac, Professor Emerita of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania and author of Savage Kin: Indigenous Informants and American Anthropologists


Free Teacher Workshop
Tuesday, February 27, 2024

Eastern European Immigration to the Connecticut River Valley

Ellis Isand Family group
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
1-3:30 pm (snow date 2/29/24)

The Polish Center of Discovery and Learning
33 South St., Chicopee, MA

 

Click here for more information and registration

 


PVMA Members: FREE Admission to New “Garden of Hearts” Exhibit at Historic Deerfield

April 14, 2023 – February 4, 2024
PVMA collaborated with Historic Deerfield Inc., loaning several objects for their exhibition that celebrates the 20th century Arts and Crafts Movement in Deerfield. PVMA members will receive FREE admission to the Garden of Hearts exhibit at Historic Deerfield’s Flynt Center from Saturday, April 15, 2023- Sunday, February 4, 2024. Open 9:30am-4:30pm. Learn more here.


October 14 & 15, 2023
Eastern European Heritage Festival

Polish Folk Art LogoPVMA, the Friends of Deerfield, and the Deerfield 350th Steering Committee are hosting an Eastern European Heritage Festival which will be free and open to all ages on Saturday & Sunday, October 14 and 15. Polka music by the Eddie Forman Orchestra, Polish items for sale, family art activities, Polish and Ukrainian dancers, special programs and displays will fill both days. On Saturday, enjoy a catered Polish plate lunch from Bernat’s Polish Deli. Pre-payment of $16 for the lunch is required by October 8. Click here to order online now by credit card or check. See all the Festival details here.


July 9 – September 3, 2023
OLD DEERFIELD SUNDAY AFTERNOON CONCERT SERIES

Beautiful chamber music performed in the lovely Victorian setting of Memorial Hall Museum’s Music Room at 3 p.m. on Sundays July 9th through September 3rd, 2022.

Tickets: $15  for adults; $8 for seniors and students. Tickets available at the door.  

See schedule below or download the .pdf flier here.

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July 9, 2023
Ken Forfia & Amy Gates, Piano

 

 


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July 16, 2023
Bella Voce
Lisa Woods
, Mezzo-Soprano
Teri LaFleur, Soprano
Jerry Noble, Piano

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July 23, 2023
David Kopp
, Piano

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July 30, 2023
Jane Fiske & Cynthia Schilling, Piano
Mary Hubbell, Soprano

 

 


August 6, 2023
Carol Hutter and Friends
Carol Hutter, Viola
Gary Fieldman, Percussion
Larry Picard, piano

 

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August 13, 2023
Liana Paniyeva, Piano

 

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August 20, 2023

Michael Nix, Banjar
Chris Devine, Violin
Greg Snedeker, Cello         

 

 

 


August 27, 2023
The Valtchev-Tchekoratova Duo
Georgy Valtchev,
Violin
Lora Tchekoratova, Piano

 

 

September 3, 2023
The Deerfield Trio
Mark Fraser,
Cello
Anthony Berner
, Violin
Yu-Mei Wei
, Piano

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Please check the website for last minute changes (phone: 413-774-7476 ext. 100; email: pvmaoffice@deerfieldmuseum.org). The entire 2023 season is underwritten by: Martha & Thomas Terry, Tim Neumann & Tom Mershon, and Arrivability Car Service, South Hadley. General sponsors for individual concerts appear on each concert program.
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Annual 4th of July Concert

 

July 4, 2023
3 pm

Blue & White Room
Westmoreland Town Band FREE Concert

 


 

PVMA and Piti Theatre present:
“NIGHT AT THE DEERFIELD MUSEUM!”

April 2023: World Premiere of “Night at the Museum,” followed by panel discussion:

What was life like for African Americans in and around Franklin County in the 1800’s? Of course, there is no simple answer. This documentary, produced with local youth, looks at the moment  in the mid-1800’s in Greenfield when early dino track discoverer Dexter Marsh lived near John Putnam, an African American entrepreneur and bandleader who is now considered the “father of contradance.” Learn more about the event and find links to view the movie and follow-up panel discussion here.


The Smithsonian has come to Franklin County!

Crossroads—Change in Rural America
Great Falls Discovery Center, Turners Falls, MA
February 5 – March 18, 2023

The Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA)/Memorial Hall Museum is pleased to join the Friends of the Great Falls Discovery Center (GFDC) and partners in bringing the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street exhibit to the center’s Great Hall in nearby Turners Falls. Sponsored by Mass Humanities, we are among six rural communities in the state chosen to host the exhibit and to provide accompanying programming with a local focus. Along with being a programming partner, PVMA has installed a companion exhibit in the GFDC Hallway Gallery: “Whose Viewpoint?” exploring the image-makers’ perspectives in reproductions of historic maps, illustrations, photographs, and paintings.

EVENTS
During the six weeks that Crossroads is on view, the partners are offering an exceptional array of programs touching on some of the themes explored in the exhibit. Learn more here and find the full event schedule here. All events are free (some require registration). Please join us!

Partners include the MA Department of Conservation and Recreation, RiverCulture, Montague Public Libraries, and New England Public Media, with programming assistance from the Nolumbeka Project, Museum of Our Industrial Heritage, and Tilton Library.


Old Deerfield Craft Fairs

The Craft Fairs have returned! Thanks to all who joined us at the Holiday Sampler and for supporting the work of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association.

Learn about the 2023 fairs here.

 


Recent Past Events – 2022

Traveling Exhibit in Holyoke

Extended through December 18, 2022 at the
Holyoke Heritage State Park Visitor Center
December hours: Open Wednesday – Sunday, 12-4, closed Monday & Tuesday

Fertile Ground: Corn, Cranberries, Tobacco, and Artists
The Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association’s traveling exhibit explores connections between the Connecticut River Valley’s agricultural landscape and generations of artists in the Fuller family of Deerfield.

Imaginary art studios represent three generations—George Fuller’s painting studio, Arthur Negus Fuller’s printmaking studio, and Elizabeth Brooks Fuller’s en plein air (outdoor) studio. Enjoy reproductions of oil paintings, prints, and watercolors from Memorial Hall Museum’s Fuller Collection and learn how farming influenced these artists’ work.

 


The Great Greenfield DinoFest

6th Annual Festival: Saturday & Sunday, December 10 & 11, 2022!
Local Arts ~Local History ~Local Lizards (er . . . actually dinos are ancestors of birds)

DinoFest, presented by Piti Theatre and PVMA, is a celebratory in-person and online series of performances, films, interactive exhibits and activities for children and more celebrating our local dinosaur footprints in the Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts and related history. Why? Because this is where the first scientific study in the world of dinosaur footprints took place! You can learn more on PVMA’s award winning website “Impressions from a Lost World” . . . This year DinoFest will be a combo of in-person and streaming events.


October 2022

The Living Landscape
Robert Strong Woodward
September 10 – October 30
Tuesday – Sunday
11 am – 4:30

Featuring 20 original works by acclaimed Western Mass landscape artist Robert Strong Woodward, including recently discovered and never-before-exhibited works.

Free! Donations appreciated


Presentation and Book Signing
Sunday, October 2, 2022 at 2pm
Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association
10 Memorial Street, Deerfield, MA

Photographer Sandra Matthews and Indigenous activist David Brule will speak about the newly published photobook Occupying Massachusetts: Layers of History on Indigenous Land. Matthews’ photographs of Massachusetts structures and historical markers (many from the Connecticut River Valley) raise questions such as: How do people occupy land and make it their “home”? How are these stories of occupation told? How can we now engage with difficult histories? Brule’s essay, published in the book, offers a model for moving forward.

Books will be available for sale and signing. Find more information here.

 

2022 SUMMER CONCERTS

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July 4, 2022
3 pm, Blue & White Room
Westmoreland Town Band FREE Concert

 

July 10 – August 28, 2022
OLD DEERFIELD SUNDAY AFTERNOON CONCERT SERIES

Beautiful chamber music performed in the lovely Victorian setting of Memorial Hall Museum’s Music Room—newly renovated and air-conditioned—at 3 p.m. on Sundays July 10th through August 28th, 2022Tickets: $10 for adults; $5 for seniors and students. Tickets available at the door.  See schedule below.

NOTE: All musicians and MHM staff are fully vaccinated. Attendees are encouraged to wear a mask. Masks are available. Some performers may request all attendees to wear a mask.

 

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July 10, 2022
Ken Forfia, Piano

 

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July 17, 2022
Bella Voce
Lisa Woods
, Mezzo-Soprano
Teri LaFleur, Soprano
Jerry Noble, Piano

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July 24, 2022

Michael Nix, Banjar
Chris Devine, Violin

 

 

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July 31, 2022

Jane Fiske, Piano
Amy McGlothlin, saxophone

 

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August 7, 2022
David Kopp
, Piano

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August 14, 2022

Carol Hutter and Friends
Carol Hutter, Viola

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August 21, 2022
The Deerfield Trio
Mark Fraser,
Cello
Anthony Berner
, Violin
Yu-Mei Wei
, Piano
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August 28, 2022
The Valtchev-Tchekoratova Duo
Gregory Valtchev,
Violin
Lora Tchekoratova, Piano

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Juneteenth Concert
Sunday, June 19, 2022 at 3 pm

Join us in Memorial Hall Museum’s Music Room on June 19, 2022 at 3pm! A concert of song in celebration of Juneteenth! Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States.

Featuring: Tenor Irwin Reese and Julia Bady, pianist

Tickets: $10 for adults; $5 for seniors and students. Tickets available at the door.  

Julia Bady and Irwin Reese have enjoyed collaborating since 2010 and have performed throughout the New York/New England region. For more information, please visit Julia Bady’s website: www.juliabadypianist.com.

 


PVMA presents Piti Theatre’s
“Dexter and the Dinosaurs” 2022

Dexter and the DinosaursPVMA presented Piti Theatre’s “Dexter and the Dinosaurs” on Sunday, June 12,  followed by a post-show Q & A with Writer & Director Jonathan Mirin, PVMA’s Tim Neumann, Jurassic Roadshow’s Sarah Doyle and youth cast members.

Dexter is a dramedy for all ages with most roles played by Piti Theatre’s Youth Troupe and music by Northampton singer/songwriter Carrie Ferguson. The movie The cast of Dexter and the Dinosaurstells the life story of Dexter Marsh, a day laborer turned citizen scientist who discovered dinosaur tracks in front of Greenfield’s Town Hall in 1835 – before the word dinosaur had been invented. The preview version of the film was seen to much acclaim at the Great Greenfield Dinofest in December. Watch the new recorded event here. Run time: 30 minutes, plus 30 minutes of discussion.

New England Foundation for the ArtsFunded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies. Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association is the fiscal sponsor.


Great Greenfield DinoFest 2021

December 11& 12, 2021
PVMA presents Piti Theatre’s “Dexter and the Dinosaurs” – a new movie for all ages about Greenfield’s Dexter Marsh and the birth of paleontology in our region. Dexter will premiere as part of The Great Greenfield DinoFest on Dec. 11 & 12. Learn more

Funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.

 

 


NEA Big Read – March through November 2021

Emily St. John Mandel's "Station Eleven" book cover. Large tents under a starry sky.The Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association launched its 7th National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Big Read in the Spring of 2021, in partnership with Tilton Library and more than 40 other organizations and businesses in Franklin, Hampshire, and Hampden counties. PVMA is one of 84 communities nationwide awarded an NEA Big Read grant for 2020-21. With a full calendar of events from late March through November, our community has been exploring Emily St. John Mandel’s novel, Station Eleven. We are extremely grateful to all our partners for their creative participation!

Learn more about the novel and why PVMA chose this title here. View a complete list of partners here.

View a complete list of programs presented for this Big Read here. Programming is now complete, but some online programs may still be available as recordings.

National Endowment for the Arts and Arts Midwest Big Read logo

NEA Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.

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JULY 18 – OCTOBER 10, 2021

2021 OLD DEERFIELD SUNDAY AFTERNOON CONCERT SERIES
Beautiful chamber music performed in the lovely Victorian setting of Memorial Hall Museum’s Music Room—newly renovated and air-conditioned—at 3 p.m. on Sundays July 18th through August 29th, 2020Tickets: $10 for adults; $5 for seniors and students. Tickets available at the door.  See schedule below.

NOTE: All musicians are fully vaccinated as are Memorial Hall Museum Staff. We encourage our audience to be vaccinated. Unvaccinated attendees must wear a mask as must other unvaccinated visitors to the museum.  Fully vaccinated attendees may wear a mask for additional protection if they so choose.

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July 18, 2021
The Deerfield Trio
Mark Fraser,
Cello
Anthony Berner
, Violin
Yu-Mei Wei
, Piano
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July 25, 2021
David Kopp
, Piano

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August 1 ,2021
Bel Conto Players
David Siegel, Violin
Hillary Tanaka Dumond, Violin
Carol Hutter, Viola
Jennifer Allen, Cello

 

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August 8, 2021
Ken Forfia & Guest Pianists
Ken Forfia, Piano


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August 15, 2021
The Valtchev-Tchekoratova Duo
Gregory Valtchev,
Violin
Lora Tchekoratova, Piano

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August 29, 2021
Michael Nix, Banjar
Chris Devine, Violin

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Rescheduled to October 10, 2021
Bella Voce
Lisa Woods
, Mezzo-Soprano
Teri LaFleur, Soprano
Jerry Noble, Piano

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Lucy Terry Prince Day

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July 11, 2021
Lucy Terry Prince Day

a FREE Day in Old Deerfield with America’s First African American Poet

July 11th is “Lucy Terry Prince Day,” marking the bicentennial of the first known African American poet’s death. Find detailed Event Schedule here.

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July 4, 2021 Concert

3 pm, Blue & White Room
Westmoreland Town Band
FREE Concert

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JUNE & JULY, 2021

PVMA TRAVELING EXHIBIT at the GREAT FALLS DISCOVERY CENTER
Fertile Ground: Corn, Cranberries, Tobacco, and Artists

Saturday, July 17, 2021 — 1-3 pm Reception
Join us at the Great Falls Discovery Center for a reception and art-making inspired by the agrarian landscape.


Thank you to the GFDC for extending our traveling exhibit timeline through the COVID shutdown. The Visitor Center is now open Wednesday through Sunday 10 am to 6 pm, and Tuesday noon to 4 pm (closed Mondays). 

This traveling exhibit at the Great Falls Discovery Center in Turners Falls explores connections between the Connecticut River Valley’s agricultural landscape and generations of artists in the Fuller family of Deerfield. Imaginary art studios represent three generations—George Fuller’s painting studio, Arthur Negus Fuller’s printmaking studio, and Elizabeth Brooks Fuller’s en plein air (outdoor) studio. Enjoy reproductions of oil paintings, prints, and watercolors from Memorial Hall Museum’s Fuller collection; learn how farming influenced these artists’ work; and plan your own art inspired by our local landscape. Most labels have English and Spanish translations.

The Great Falls Discovery Center is a Massachusetts State Park. Admission is FREE. Find directions here.


PAST EVENTS – 2020

The Great Greenfield DinoFest
2020 Festival: Dinos Go Hybrid on December 5 & 6!

DinoFest, presented by Piti Theatre and PVMA, is (normally) a celebratory in-person day of performances, interactive exhibits and activities for children, dino films with live music and more celebrating our local dinosaur footprints in the Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts. Why? Because this is where the first scientific study in the world of dinosaur footprints took place! You can learn more on PVMA’s award winning website “Impressions from a Lost World” . . . This year DinoFest will be on Zoom, with Jurassic Roadshow’s professional paleontologists and scientific illustrators, local knowledgeable fossil collectors (the “Track Pack”), story time with a children’s librarian, an environmentalist/beekeeper from Maine and special videos prepared by local museums!

PLUS we’ll have an in-person screening at 10 am on December 5th at Greenfield’s Garden Cinema of an original dino-themed comedy where emerging fascism meets deep time in “The Mayor of Greenpants: Dino Disaster“, written, filmed and edited by Piti Theatre’s Youth Troupe.

Learn all about it here.


January through Fall 2020
“The time of my life” Traveling Exhibit/Display

PVMA filled one side of the Deerfield Historic Commission’s display cases at the Deerfield Town Hall with an adapted version of the exhibit, “The time of my life”—Vintage Views of Western Massachusetts, on view from January through Fall 2020. The full exhibit spent the previous year traveling from the Great Falls Discovery Center, to Memorial Hall Museum, to the Summit House at Skinner State Park, and finally to the Holyoke Heritage State Park Visitor Center.

“Am having the time of my life.” So wrote Bernice on a postcard sent to her “Ma” in the early 20th century—one among many cards from Memorial Hall Museum’s collection featured in the display. A dozen enlarged postcard scenes take visitors on an imaginary road trip, with stops at Mount Tom, Mount Holyoke Summit House, Sugarloaf, Turners Falls, Greenfield, Shelburne Falls and the Mohawk Trail.

Visitors can also view a small display of travel-related artifacts, a postal souvenir album filled with reproductions of postcards from imaginary side trips, as well as reproduction View-Master reels with other area postcard scenes that together paint pictures of civic pride and new ideas about leisure and travel. Before cell phones and social media, the picture postcard reigned supreme.


1704 Commemoration
Feb. 29 & March 1, 2020

We are celebrating our 150th birthday and one of our gifts to you is free admission to the 1704 Commemoration on February 29 and March 1. Scheduled and ongoing events will be at the Indian House Memorial Museum, Bloody Brook Tavern, Memorial Hall Museum, and at the Bement School from 10am-4:30pm on Saturday, and from 10am-2pm on Sunday. The battle reenactment will be on Saturday 2-3pm on the Deerfield Academy soccer fields. Download map and detailed schedule of events here.