The Putney School is an independent

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Putney, Vermont Putney is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 2,617 at the 2020 census. The town's historic core makes up the Putney Village Historic District, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Histo ...

. The school was founded in 1935 by Carmelita Hinton on the principles of the

Progressive Education Progressive education, or protractivism, is a pedagogical movement that began in the late 19th century and has persisted in various forms to the present. In Europe, progressive education took the form of the New Education Movement. The term ''pro ...

movement and the teachings of its principal exponent,

John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...

. It is a co-educational,

college-preparatory A college-preparatory school (usually shortened to preparatory school or prep school) is a type of secondary school. The term refers to state school, public, Independent school, private independent or parochial school, parochial schools primaril ...

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...

, with a day-student component, outside

Brattleboro, Vermont Brattleboro (), originally Brattleborough, is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The most populous municipality abutting Vermont's eastern border with New Hampshire, which is the Connecticut River, Brattleboro is located about no ...

. Danny O'Brien became head of school in 2022. The school enrolls approximately 225 students on a hilltop campus with classrooms, dormitories, and a dairy farm on which its students work before graduating. Putney emphasizes academics, a work program, the arts, and physical activity. Its curriculum is intended to teach the value of labor, art, community, ethics, and scholarship for individual growth.

Campus

Most of the buildings on Putney's campus were partially or completely built by Putney students and faculty, with the exception of the most recent additions, the Michael S. Currier Center and the Field House. The Currier Center is a departure from Putney's customary white, colonial-style architecture, instead using stone and concrete walls in an angular design. It is used for dance, music, movie-making and visual-art presentations. The Field House, which opened in October 2009, was designed as a "net

zero-energy building A Zero Energy Building (ZEB), also known as a Net Zero Energy (NZE) building, is a building with net zero energy consumption, meaning the total amount of energy used by the building on an annual basis is equal to the amount of renewable energy ...

Academic program

In 1995, the ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' described Putney as combining "a New England work ethic and a strong academic program." It is a member of the Independent Curriculum Group and in 2009 received a 10-year accreditation review by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

Notable alumni and faculty

Alumni

According to The Putney School 2008 Alumni Directory, alumni of The Putney School include (graduation date shown, where applicable): *

Sam Amidon Samuel Tear Amidon (born June 3, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Musical career In 2001, Amidon self-released ''Solo Fiddle'', an album of traditional Irish fiddle instrumentals. Amidon's first album of ...

, musician *

David Amram David Werner Amram III (born November 17, 1930) is an American composer, arranger, and conductor of orchestral, chamber, and choral works, many with jazz flavorings.

'48, composer *

Tim Asch Timothy Asch (July 16, 1932 – October 3, 1994) was an American anthropologist, photographer, and ethnographic filmmaker. Along with John Marshall and Robert Gardner, Asch played an important role in the development of visual anthropology. He i ...

'51, anthropologist, filmmaker *

Carlos Buhler Carlos Buhler (born October 17, 1954 in Harrison, New York) is one of America's leading high altitude mountaineers. Buhler's specialty is high-standard mountaineering characterized by small teams, no oxygen, minimal gear and equipment, and relative ...

'72, mountaineer *

Peter L. Buttenwieser Peter Lehman Buttenwieser (December 9, 1935 – February 4, 2018) was an American educator, philanthropist, and Democratic Party fundraiser. He was a member of the Lehman family. Biography Buttenwieser was born in New York City to investment ba ...

, educator, philanthropist, member of the

Lehman family The Lehman family is a prominent family of Jewish German-Americans who founded the financial firm Lehman Brothers. Some were also involved in American politics. Members have married into the prominent Morgenthau, Loeb, and Bronfman families. The ...

* Tim Caldwell, Olympic cross-country skier, son of John Caldwell *

Jonathan Crary Jonathan Crary is an art critic and essayist, and is Meyer Schapiro Professor of Modern Art and Theory at Columbia University. His first notable works were ''Techniques of the Observer: On Vision and Modernity in the 19th Century'' (1990), and ...

, art historian * Dave Cole '96, sculptor *

Carlton Cuse Arthur Carlton Cuse (born March 22, 1959) is a screenwriter, showrunner, producer, and director, best known for the American television series ''Lost'', for which he made the ''Time'' list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2010. ...

'77, television writer/executive of ''

LOST Lost may refer to getting lost, or to: Geography *Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland * Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US History *Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...

'' *

Tim Daly James Timothy Daly (born March 1, 1956) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Joe Hackett on the NBC sitcom ''Wings'' and his voice role as Clark Kent/Superman in '' Superman: The Animated Series'', as well as his recurring role as ...

'74, actor *

Alicia Dana Alicia Throm Brelsford Dana (born February 12, 1969) is an American Paralympian. She qualified for the United States Paralympics Cycling National Team in 2001 and competed at the 2002 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships before taking a bre ...

'87, U.S. Paralympian *

Lydia Davis Lydia Davis (born July 15, 1947) is an American short story writer, novelist, essayist, and translator from French and other languages, who often writes short (one or two pages long) short stories. Davis has produced several new translations of ...

'65, writer,

Man Booker International Prize The International Booker Prize (formerly known as the Man Booker International Prize) is an international literary award hosted in the United Kingdom. The introduction of the International Prize to complement the Man Booker Prize was announced ...

recipient *

Thulani Davis Thulani Davis (born 1949) is an American playwright, journalist, librettist, novelist, poet, and screenwriter. She is a graduate of Barnard College and attended graduate school at both the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University. In ...

'61, playwright, journalist, librettist, novelist, poet, and screenwriter *

Anna Dewdney Anna Elizabeth Dewdney (née Luhrmann; December 25, 1965 – September 3, 2016) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. The first book she wrote and illustrated, ''Llama Llama Red Pajama'', received critical acclaim in 2005. ...

'83, children's book author and illustrator *

Barnaby Dorfman Barnaby Dorfman is an American businessman and currently the Chief Technology Officer of Go1.com. He was Chief Engineering Officer and General Manager of the PayScale Consumer Products Division. He is the founder and former CEO of Foodista. His pre ...

'86, inventor, technology products * Mahdi ElMandjra '50, Moroccan

futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities abou ...

, economist and sociologist * Kai T. Erikson '49, sociologist * David Griffiths '60, physicist, teacher * William B. Gray, U.S. Attorney for Vermont * Andrea Gruber, soprano * William Hinton '36, author, agricultural advisor, People's Republic of China *

Joan Hinton Joan Hinton (Chinese name: 寒春, Pinyin: ''Hán Chūn''; 20 October 1921 – 8 June 2010) was a nuclear physicist and one of the few women scientists who worked for the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos. She lived in the People's Republic of C ...

'39, atomic physicist, dairy farmer in China *

Lee Hirsch Lee Hirsch (born 1972) is an American documentary filmmaker. Hirsch is a graduate of The Putney School in Vermont and Hampshire College, in Amherst, Massachusetts. He wrote and directed the documentary '' Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Har ...

'90, filmmaker. *

Jeffrey Hollender Jeffrey Hollender (born 1954 in New York City) is an American entrepreneur, author and activist best known for founding Seventh Generation Inc. Early life Hollender grew up in New York City and attended The Town School, The Allen-Stevenson Sch ...

'73, CEO of

Seventh Generation Inc. Seventh Generation, Inc. is an American company selling environmentally friendly, eco-friendly cleaning, paper, and personal care products. Established in 1988, the Burlington, Vermont–based company distributes products to natural food store ...

Reid Hoffman Reid Garrett Hoffman (born August 5, 1967) is an American internet entrepreneur, venture capitalist, podcaster, and author. Hoffman was the co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn, a business-oriented social network used primarily for prof ...

'85, web entrepreneur, co-founder of

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...

* Felicity Huffman '81, actor *

Jeffrey Jones Jeffrey Duncan Jones (born September 28, 1946) is an American character actor, best known for his roles as Emperor Joseph II in '' Amadeus'' (1984), Edward R. Rooney in ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'' (1986), Charles Deetz in ''Beetlejuice'' (1988 ...

'64, actor *

Harper Simon Harper James Simon (born September 7, 1972) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer. He is the son of Paul Simon and his first wife Peggy Harper. Simon's talents have appeared on several studio albums, and has been featured in ...

'90, singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer and son of

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor whose career has spanned six decades. He is one of the most acclaimed songwriters in popular music, both as a solo artist and as half of folk roc ...

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend Kathleen Hartington Kennedy Townsend (born July 4, 1951) is an American attorney who was the sixth Lieutenant Governor of Maryland from 1995 to 2003. She ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Maryland in 2002. She was the first female lieutenant ...

'69, lieutenant governor of Maryland *

Kerry Kennedy Mary Kerry Kennedy (born September 8, 1959) is an American lawyer, author and human rights activist. She is the seventh child and third daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy. During her 15-year marriage to former New York Gove ...

'77, lawyer and human rights activist * Bill Koch '73, Olympic

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

medalist * Steven Kunes '74, TV writer and producer *

Mike Ladd Mike Ladd is an American hip hop musician from Boston, Massachusetts. He is based in Paris, France. ''The Guardian'' described him as "the king of the hip-hop concept." Early life Mike Ladd was born in Boston, Massachusetts. As a child, he live ...

, hip-hop artist * Jonathan Lash '63,

Hampshire College Hampshire College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts. It was opened in 1970 as an experiment in alternative education, in association with four other colleges ...

president * Ellen Hamilton Latzen '99, actor *

Téa Leoni Téa Leoni (; born Elizabeth Téa Pantaleoni; February 25, 1966) is an American actress. In her early career, she starred in the television sitcoms '' Flying Blind'' (1992–93) and '' The Naked Truth'' (1995–98). Her breakthrough role was in ...

(Pantaleoni) '84, actor *

Christopher Lehmann-Haupt Christopher Lehmann-Haupt (June 14, 1934 – November 7, 2018) was an American journalist, editor of the ''New York Times Book Review'', critic, and novelist, based in New York City. He served as senior Daily Book Reviewer from 1969 to 1995. Bi ...

, '52, journalist, critic, novelist *

J. Anthony Lukas Jay Anthony Lukas (April 25, 1933 – June 5, 1997) was an American journalist and author, probably best known for his 1985 book '' Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families''. ''Common Ground'' is a classic study ...

'51,

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

-winning journalist and author *

Jared Martin Jared Christopher Martin (December 21, 1941 – May 24, 2017) was an American film and television actor. He was best known for his role as Steven "Dusty" Farlow in the 1978 series ''Dallas'' and for roles on two science fiction TV series, ''The ...

, actor *

Sally Mann Sally Mann HonFRPS (born Sally Turner Munger; May 1, 1951) is an American photographer who has made large format black and white photographs—at first of her young children, then later of landscapes suggesting decay and death. Early life and e ...

'69, fine-art photographer *

Joanna Miles Joanna Miles (born March 6, 1940) is an American actress. She received two Emmy Awards for her portrayal of Laura Wingfield in the 1973 film production of Tennessee Williams' ''The Glass Menagerie''. Early life and education Miles was born in Ni ...

'58, Emmy award-winning actress in

The Glass Menagerie ''The Glass Menagerie'' is a memory play by Tennessee Williams that premiered in 1944 and catapulted Williams from obscurity to fame. The play has strong autobiographical elements, featuring characters based on its author, his Histrionic persona ...

Adrian Morris Adrian Grant Morris (18 May 1929 – 6 December 2004) was an England, English painter. Early life Morris was born in London, England. He spent his childhood in rural Somerset before the family moved to the United States, where he attended the ...

, painter *

Errol Morris Errol Mark Morris (born February 5, 1948) is an American film director known for documentaries that interrogate the epistemology of its subjects. In 2003, his documentary film '' The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamar ...

'65, filmmaker *

Nell Newman Elinor Teresa Newman (born April 8, 1959) is an American former child actress who performed under the name of Nell Potts. She is an environmentalist, biologist, and a prominent supporter of sustainable agriculture, who became an entrepreneur when ...

'78, co-founder/owner,

Newman's Own Newman's Own is an American food company headquartered in Connecticut. Founded in 1982 by actor Paul Newman and author A. E. Hotchner, the company donates all of its after-tax profits to charity through the Newman's Own Foundation, a private no ...

Heather Nova Heather Nova (born Heather Allison Frith, July 6, 1968) is a Bermudian singer-songwriter and poet. , she has released eleven full-length albums, six EPs and twelve singles. Biography Heather Nova was born Heather Allison Frith on Bermuda, a B ...

'83, musician and songwriter *

Ken Olin Kenneth Edward Olin (born July 30, 1954) is an American actor, television director, and producer. He is known for his role as Michael Steadman in the ABC drama series ''Thirtysomething'' (1987–1991), for which he received a Golden Globe Award ...

'72 actor, director and TV producer * Bob Perelman '64, poet, literary critic and professor *

Jonathan Piel Jonathan Piel (born 23 November 1938) is an American science journalist and editor. Work At the Scientific American He became the editor of ''Scientific American'' in June 1984 and left the magazine in August 1994. Following the tradition estab ...

'57, science journalist, past editor of ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...

'' * Tyler Rasch '06, television personality *

Noel Rockmore Noel Rockmore (December 15, 1928 – February 19, 1995) was born Noel Montgomery Davis to his mother, Gladys Rockmore Davis, and his father, Floyd Davis, in New York City.Rockmore, Noel, The World of Noel Rockmore, Published by Greer Gallery, Ne ...

'47, painter, portraitist *

Martha Rockwell Martha Rockwell (born April 26, 1944) is a retired American Cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skier and coach, who competed at the Winter Olympic Games in 1972 Winter Olympics, 1972 and 1976 Winter Olympics, 1976. She has been cited in ...

'62, Olympic cross-country ski racer *

Jonathan Rosenbaum Jonathan Rosenbaum (born February 27, 1943) is an American film critic and author. Rosenbaum was the head film critic for ''The Chicago Reader'' from 1987 to 2008, when he retired. He has published and edited numerous books about cinema and has ...

'61, film critic * Demetria Royals, filmmaker *

Jonathan Schell Jonathan Edward Schell (August 21, 1943 – March 25, 2014) was an American author and visiting fellow at Yale University, whose work primarily dealt with campaigning against nuclear weapons. Personal Schell was born in New York City on August 2 ...

'61, author *

Wallace Shawn Wallace Michael Shawn (born November 12, 1943) is an American actor, playwright, and essayist. His film roles include Wally Shawn (a fictionalized version of himself) in '' My Dinner with Andre'' (1981), Vizzini in ''The Princess Bride'' (1987), ...

'61, actor, playwright *

Lucy Shelton Lucy Shelton is an American soprano best known for her performance of contemporary music. She graduated from The Putney School in 1961 and Pomona College in 1965. The only artist to receive the International Walter W. Naumberg Award twice (as a ...

'61, soprano *

Alexis Stewart Alexis Gilbert Stewart (born September 27, 1965) is an American television host and radio personality. She is the only child of Martha Stewart and her ex-husband Andrew. She was the co-host of ''Whatever with Alexis and Jennifer'' on Sirius Satell ...

'83, television host, daughter of

Martha Stewart Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. As founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing pu ...

Peter Willcox Peter Willcox (born March 6, 1953) is an American sea captain best known for his activism with the environmental organization Greenpeace. He was on board as captain of the ''Rainbow Warrior (1955), Rainbow Warrior'' when it was bombed and sunk b ...

'72,

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

activist, '' Arctic Sunrise'' captain *

Ellen Winner Ellen Winner is a psychologist and a professor at Boston College. She specializes in psychology of art. Winner graduated from the Putney School in 1965 and received a PhD in developmental psychology from Harvard University in 1978. She collabora ...

, professor specializing in the psychology of art * John Bell Young, American concert pianist

Faculty

Some Putney faculty members (subject taught in parentheses) had careers that extended beyond their teaching. *

Eric Aho Eric Aho (born 1966) is an American painter living in VermontDC Moore Galleryin New York City represents his work. Early life Aho was born in Melrose, Massachusetts and moved to New Hampshire with his family in 1974. His father, whose parents ha ...

(art), American painter * John H. Caldwell (mathematics), Nordic skier on the U.S. Olympic Ski Team, author and Nordic coach of the U.S. Olympic Ski Team *

Chard deNiord Chard or Swiss chard (; ''Beta vulgaris'' subsp. ''vulgaris'', Cicla Group and Flavescens Group) is a green leafy vegetable. In the cultivars of the Flavescens Group, the leaf stalks are large and often prepared separately from the leaf blade; ...

(English, philosophy), Poet Laureate of Vermont * Eric Evans (English) Olympic canoeist * Fernando Gerassi (art), artist * Peter C. Goldmark, Jr. (history), environmentalist, publisher, and executive * Margarete Seeler (art), German-born American artist, designer, educator, and author

References

External links

Putney School web site

The Association of Boarding Schools profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Putney School The Private high schools in Vermont Boarding schools in Vermont Preparatory schools in Vermont Buildings and structures in Putney, Vermont Educational institutions established in 1935 Schools in Windham County, Vermont 1935 establishments in Vermont