Previous Local History Events

Since 2016, our annual local history event has been sponsored by Pat Robins and Lisa Schamberg. We are honored to receive their support.

More Than a Market: Food, Community, and Family in the Markets of Burlington and Winooski, Vermont

For generations, neighborhood groceries, bakeries, and butcher shops have formed the heart of Burlington and Winooski's communities. From the mid-1800s to mid-1900s, French Canadian, Italian, Irish, Lebanese, Jewish, and German markets were concentrated in Burlington's Old North End and Lakeside neighborhoods and near the mills in Winooski. Since the 1980s, immigrants from Vietnam, Bosnia, Bhutan, and Eastern and Western Africa have carried on this entrepreneurial tradition. Learn more about the vibrant role these neighborhood markets have played at Champlain College's ninth annual Local History Event, which will feature a talk by Charlotte Barrett. 

Charlotte Barrett serves as Community Preservation Manager for Historic New England. Since 2016, she has collaborated with a network of partners to support the preservation of the buildings and stories that define the diverse history of the region. In 2018, she co-produced and co-directed the award-winning film, Rooted: Cultivating Community in the Vermont Grange. She has a B.A. from Dartmouth College, an M.S. in Historic Preservation from the University of Vermont, and a Certificate in Museum Studies from Tufts University.

(Public Event, 2022)

Sepia toned photograph of one woman and two men in front of a small grocery store.

Aged scraps of paper showing old prescriptions lay against a wood background

Maladies & Medicines: Opioids in the Queen City

The current opioid epidemic has many connections to the past, as evidenced by two historians' research on opium, morphine, and opioid addiction in nineteenth-century Burlington. Independent scholar Gary G. Shattuck will present the history and context of opioids in the Queen City and the State of Vermont in his talk titled Behind the Curtain: Examining the Causes of Addiction in Nineteenth-Century Vermont. Champlain College Special Collections Director Erica Donnis will present The Vibrant Life and Tragic Death of Lucy Benedict Henderson. A resident of Adams and South Union Streets, Mrs. Henderson (1861-1896) was in many ways an ordinary middle-class wife and mother, but she suffered from chronic illness, and eventually, morphine addiction. Watch the recording and view related resources on our Digital Display.

(Public Event, 2021)

Green Mountain Melodies

Due to the public health crisis, Green Mountain Melodies was canceled. Please go to our Green Mountain Melodies webpage to share and celebrate the amazing work of the students involved in this project. 

Green Mountain Melodies is the culmination of Champlain College's year-long Humanities Research for the Public Good project, funded by the Council of Independent Colleges and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and completed in collaboration with Vermont Public Radio, Linda Radtke, and Wayne Schneider.

(2020, Public Event).

Green-tinted sheet music cover for The Green Hills of Vermont featuring an illustrated forest scene.

Sepia-toned picture of a carriage road between stone gate posts

Burlington's Grand Estates

(Public Event, 2019)

Dining in the Queen City

An evening highlighting the rich and delicious history of dining in Burlington. featuring an exhibition of historic restaurant menus and promotional items drawn from the College's Special Collections holdings, and talks by Elise Guyette and Gail Rosenberg, co-founders of the Burlington Edible History Tours, on Eating In & Dining Out, 1840 - 1940, and Peter Straube, a former local restauranteur and Champlain College faculty member and events producer, on The Evolution of the Burlington Restaurant Scene, 1960s - Present. Read a related article.

(Public Event, Spring 2018)

Copy of green ink-printed matchbook, titled Miss Burlington Diner with a drawing of a diner counter and patrons.

Postcard picture of Church Street featuring parked cars (i.e. pre-pedestrian mall), Burlington, VT. Titled The Heart and Soul of the Queen City.

Burlington's Historic Church Street

An evening highlighting the fascinating evolution of Burlington's most prominent street, with a Special Collections exhibition and a talk by Professor Thomas Visser and Adrienne Dickerson of the University of Vermont's Historic Preservation Program titled Burlington's Historic Church Street, featuring key architectural landmarks. Read a related article. (Public Event, Spring 2017)

Water Meets Land: Commerce, Recreation and Preservation of Burlington's Waterfront

An evening highlighting the rich history of Burlington's waterfront, featuring a Special Collections exhibition and presentations by Dr. Vincent Feeney, on The Early Days of the Burlington Inland Port, and Britta Fenniman Tonn, on The Burlington Breakwater: Past and Present. (Public Event, Spring 2016)

Postcard picture of a boat on the Burlington Waterfront. Titled Water Meets Land.

Postcard illustration of City Hall Park in Burlington

Lost Burlington: 150 Years of Change in the Queen City

An evening illuminating hidden gems from the past, including A Ravine Runs Through It: Topography and Function in Nineteenth-Century Burlington with Jeffrey Marshall; Future Past: Using Technology to Preserve and Augment History, with Coberlin Brownell; and Burlington Jewry: From "Little Jerusalem" to the Lost Shul Mural, with Aaron Goldberg & Jeff Potash. (Public Event, Spring 2015)

Songs of Vermont: Celebrating Sheet Music in the Llewellyn Collection

An evening of vintage Vermont music with pianist Wayne Schneider and vocalists Bill and Mindy Pickford performing musically and historically significant works from sheet music of the Llewellyn Collection of Vermont History. (Public Event, Spring 2014)

Red-tinted sheet music cover for On Lake Champlain featuring an illustration of two canoers on a lake.