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

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, 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 bor ...

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, pr ...

, William Morris Hunt,

Frederick MacMonnies Frederick William MacMonnies (September 28, 1863 – March 22, 1937) was the best known expatriate American sculptor of the Beaux-Arts school, as successful and lauded in France as he was in the United States. He was also a highly accomplishe ...

, Rockwell Kent, and

Simon Moselsio Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genus ...

. * Bennington Modernism - avant-garde artworks from the early 1950s through the mid-1970s by artists including Pat Adams, Willard Boepple, Anthony Caro,

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 Patricia Johanson (born September 8, 1940, New York City) is an American artist. Johanson is known for her large-scale art projects that create aesthetic and practical habitats for humans and wildlife. She designs her functional art projects, c ...

, 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 he was though ...

, 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 William Morris Hunt,

’ 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 the American artist most associated with the Art NouveauL ...

, as well as a parlor organ manufactured by the Estey Organ Company and the

Martin Wasp The Martin-Wasp or Wasp is a luxury American automobile which was built by the Martin-Wasp Corporation in Bennington, Vermont, from 1919 to 1925. History Karl Hamlen Martin designed bespoke coachwork automobile bodies, as well as creating desi ...

, a luxury automobile made in Bennington in 1924-25. * Military Gallery - focusing on the Revolutionary War's Battle of Bennington, 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 Bennington is a town in Bennington County, Vermont, United States. It is one of two shire towns (county seats) of the county, the other being Manchester. As of the 2020 US Census, the population was 15,333. Bennington is the most populous to ...

, one of the oldest “stars and stripes” in existence, a

Green Mountain Boys The Green Mountain Boys were a militia organization first 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 late ...

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 Batt ...

, the

Jane Stickle Jane A. Blakeley Stickle (1817-1896) was an American artist. She is most known for a quilt she completed in 1863, known as the 'Dear Jane' quilt. Early life Jane A. Blakeley was born in Shaftsbury, Vermont on April 8, 1817. She married on 29 Octob ...

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

References

Bennington Museum
* ''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