From Shaker Museum Interim Executive Director Lisa Malone Jackson:
Along with 1,434 other NEH grant recipients, we were informed last week that the grant Shaker Museum was awarded in 2020 was terminated. This grant was meant to subsidize a portion of the construction of our new, permanent location in downtown Chatham, NY.
The Shakers are not just a part of American history—they are as old as the country itself, having arrived here in 1774. In working to create their version of a “heaven on earth,” they left indelible marks on the worlds of design, manufacturing, agriculture, architecture, music, philosophy, and spirituality. Shaker Museum’s goal as an institution is to animate Shaker cultural contributions — including their values and beliefs — in a way that inspires and resonates with a 21st-century audience.
We are proud of this work and grateful to our supporters who help make it possible. The terminations of NEH, IMLS, and NEA grants are a reminder that our country’s museums, libraries, and arts institutions are not luxuries, but necessities for a just society. And like our many peer institutions who find themselves in this moment, we will recommit to the work at hand — building a museum that represents all that is truly good about America.
Collections Manager
Sharon Duane Koomler is a Shaker scholar and traditional letterpress printer living in upstate New York. She has academic degrees in American Folklore from Indiana University and Western Kentucky University. Sharon has worked at Shaker Museums from Kentucky to New Hampshire as an educator, curator, consultant, and director. She has written and published on Shaker material culture and spirituality, and lectured widely on Shaker art, life, and belief. Sharon has a particular interest in the under-researched social aspects of Shaker life and ways in which Shakers practiced inclusion and intentionality.