Shelburne Museum Stagecoach Inn Renovation Project

FAIN: PF-266737-19

Shelburne Museum (Shelburne, VT 05482-0010)
Chip Stulen (Project Director: January 2019 to October 2023)

An implementation project to preserve the Shelburne Museum's renowned folk-art collection, housed in the 1783 Stagecoach Inn. To protect the collections, the museum would improve environmental conditions, security, fire suppression, and lighting in the historic structure.

Shelburne Museum requests a $243,880 Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections implementation grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to stabilize and protect its folk art collection, housed in Stagecoach Inn, an important historic structure. Renovations in Stagecoach Inn will result in a reduction of energy use while also maintaining current levels of environmental control. Greater consistency of lighting control will be established throughout the building and light levels will be reduced on the second floor following the installation of visitor activated light sensors. Objects installed on both pedestals and mounted on walls will experience less vibration and have better support, and the collection will receive improved security thanks to an increase in camera coverage and upgrades to the VESDA system. Consequently, the project will also result in better protection and presentation of the Museum’s important and renowned folk art collection.

Associated Products

Stagecoach Inn: A Vermont Treasure (Article)
Title: Stagecoach Inn: A Vermont Treasure
Author: Museum Staff
Abstract: This past fall, the Museum started a two-year project to both renovate the Inn and reinstall the folk art collection. The project has been awarded a $243,880 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Sustaining Cultural Heritage Collections program. The grant will help fund major structural renovations. The renovation and reinstallation of Stagecoach Inn follows two major projects recently completed at the Museum: Dorset House in 2016 and Webb Gallery in 2014.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://shelburnemuseum.org/about/newsletters-archive/
Primary URL Description: Shelburne Museum Website newsletter archive.
Access Model: Available online. Mailed directly to mailing list of 4,000.
Format: Other
Periodical Title: Shelburne Museum Newsletter Winter/Spring 2020
Publisher: Shelburne Museum

Shelburne Museum Reopens Stagecoach Inn in September (Blog Post)
Title: Shelburne Museum Reopens Stagecoach Inn in September
Author: Kristen Levesque
Abstract: On the occasion of the Shelburne Museum’s 75th anniversary, the museum will reopen its historic Stagecoach Inn building, home to the museum’s renowned American folk art collection, on September 11. After a two-year renovation, Stagecoach Inn’s galleries have been refreshed and reinstalled with iconic selections representing the best of the museum’s folk art collection. New research looks past the formal qualities of weathervanes, ship’s carvings, trade signs, and more, digging into the origins, makers, and functions of these objects to offer 21st-century perspectives reflective of the vast and varied ingenuity and creativity that inflects America’s rich visual story. “Renovating Stagecoach Inn created the opportunity to rethink how the American folk art collection is presented,” said Thomas Denenberg, John Wilmerding Director and CEO at Shelburne Museum. “The new installation aims to deepen visitors’ understanding of the ‘invention’ of folk art in the context of the times in which the very category was created and elucidate narratives that are relevant today.”
Date: 8-31-22
Primary URL: https://shelburnemuseum.org/2022/08/31/shelburne-museum-reopens-stagecoach-inn-iconic-folk-art-gallery-received-extensive-renovation/
Primary URL Description: Shelburne Museum blog
Blog Title: Shelburne Museum Reopens Stagecoach Inn
Website: Shelburnemuseum.org

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