The Bennington Museum is an accredited museum with notable collections of art and regional history. It is located at 75 Main Street,

Bennington, Vermont Bennington is a New England town, town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. It is one of two shire towns (county seats) of the county, the other being Manchester (town), Vermont, Manchester. As of the 2020 United States Census, US Cens ...

, USA. The museum's history dates to 1852 when the Bennington Historical Association was first incorporated. In 1923 the association acquired a former church, which it renovated and opened to the public in 1928 as the Bennington Historical Museum. The building was subsequently expanded in 1938, 1960, 1974, and 1999. In 1938 its name was revised to the Bennington Historical Museum and Art Gallery to reflect its holdings of artwork, and in 1954 it was renamed the Bennington Museum. The collections have a special focus on Vermont and adjacent areas of New York and Massachusetts. In 1972 the schoolhouse attended by

Grandma Moses Anna Mary Robertson Moses (September 7, 1860 – December 13, 1961), or Grandma Moses, was an American folk artist. She began painting in earnest at the age of 78 and is a prominent example of a newly successful art career at an advanced age. M ...

was moved to the grounds and included as part of the museum. It also includes a genealogy and history research library. Key aspects of the museum's permanent collections include: * Grandma Moses Gallery - the largest public collection of paintings by noted local artist "

", Anna Mary Robertson Moses (1860-1961). * Fine Art Gallery - including works by

Ralph Earl Ralph Earl (May 11, 1751August 16, 1801) was an American artist known for his landscape paintings and numerous portraits. Early life Ralph Earl was born on May 11, 1751, in either Shrewsbury or Leicester, Massachusetts, the oldest of four ch ...

, Oliver Tarbell Eddy,

Erastus Salisbury Field Erastus Salisbury Field (May 19, 1805 in Leverett, Massachusetts – June 28, 1900 in Sunderland, Massachusetts) was an American folk art painter of portraits, landscapes, and history pictures. Erastus Field and his twin sister, Salome, were born ...

Ammi Phillips Ammi Phillips (April 24, 1788 – July 11, 1865) was a prolific American itinerant portrait painter active from the mid 1810s to the early 1860s in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York. His artwork is identified as folk art, primitive art, p ...

William Morris Hunt William Morris Hunt (March 31, 1824September 8, 1879) was an American painter. Born into the political List of Hunt family members of Vermont, Hunt family of Vermont, he trained in Paris with the realist Jean-François Millet and studied under hi ...

, Frederick MacMonnies,

Rockwell Kent Rockwell Kent (June 21, 1882 – March 13, 1971) was an American painter, printmaker, illustrator, writer, sailor, adventurer and voyager. Biography Rockwell Kent was born in Tarrytown, New York. Kent was of English American, English descent. ...

, and Simon Moselsio. * Bennington Modernism - avant-garde artworks from the early 1950s through the mid-1970s by artists including Pat Adams,

Willard Boepple Willard may refer to: People * Willard (name) Geography Places in the United States * Willard, Colorado * Willard, Georgia * Willard, Kansas * Willard, Kentucky * Willard, Michigan, a small unincorporated community in Beaver Township, Bay ...

Anthony Caro Sir Anthony Alfred Caro (8 March 192423 October 2013) was an English abstract sculptor whose work is characterised by assemblages of metal using ' found' and industrial objects. He began as a member of the modernist school, having worked with ...

Paul Feeley Paul Feeley (July 27, 1910 − June 10, 1966) was an artist and director of the Art Department at Bennington College during the 1950s and early 1960s. Overview Though Feeley was born in the same generation as the Abstract Expressionists, his ...

Helen Frankenthaler Helen Frankenthaler (December 12, 1928 – December 27, 2011) was an American abstract expressionist painter. She was a major contributor to the history of postwar American painting. Having exhibited her work for over six decades (early 1950s u ...

, Patricia Johanson, Vincent Longo,

Kenneth Noland Kenneth Noland (April 10, 1924 – January 5, 2010) was an American painter. He was one of the best-known American color field painters, although in the 1950s he was thought of as an abstract expressionist and in the early 1960s as a minimal ...

, Jules Olitski, Dan Shapiro, David Smith, and Tony Smith. * Gilded Age Vermont - focused on Bennington from the mid 1800s to mid 1900s. Exhibits include paintings by

, Frederick MacMonnies’ portrait painting of May Suydam Palmer, and glass and metal works by

Lewis Comfort Tiffany Louis Comfort Tiffany (February 18, 1848 – January 17, 1933) was an American artist and designer who worked in the decorative arts and is best known for his work in stained glass. He is associated with the art nouveauLander, David"The Buyable ...

, as well as a parlor organ manufactured by the Estey Organ Company and the Martin Wasp, a luxury automobile made in Bennington in 1924-25. * Military Gallery - focusing on the Revolutionary War's

Battle of Bennington The Battle of Bennington was a battle of the American Revolutionary War, part of the Saratoga campaign, that took place on August 16, 1777, on the John Green farm in Walloomsac, New York, about from its namesake, Bennington, Vermont. An American ...

, and including an exhibit of Vermont-made firearms from 1760 to 1900. * Bennington Pottery - featuring pieces by Norton Pottery (1785-1894), United States Pottery Company (1847-1858), Fenton pottery, and redware. * Textile Gallery - the Bennington flag, one of the oldest “stars and stripes” in existence, a

Green Mountain Boys The Green Mountain Boys were a militia organization established in 1770 in the territory between the British provinces of New York and New Hampshire, known as the New Hampshire Grants and later in 1777 as the Vermont Republic (which later be ...

flag belonging to

John Stark Major-General John Stark (August 28, 1728 – May 8, 1822) was an American military officer who served during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. He became known as the "Hero of Bennington" for his exemplary service at the Ba ...

, the Jane Stickle Quilt, and other textiles. The museum also displays temporary exhibits on a wide variety of subjects.

References

* * ''The Vermont Encyclopedia'', John J. Duffy, Samuel B. Hand, Ralph H. Orth (editors), University Press of New England, 2003, page 55. . {{authority control Buildings and structures in Bennington, Vermont Art museums and galleries in Vermont History museums in Vermont Museums in Bennington County, Vermont Museums established in 1928 1928 establishments in Vermont