Center for Research on Vermont

Resources

The Center's membership is drawn from researchers who have a demonstrated interest in research on Vermont and are trained in a variety of disciplines. This cross-disciplinary network has enabled the Center to focus effectively on three major goals:

   (1)    to encourage and facilitate scholarly studies that contribute to the understanding of the Vermont experience,
   (2)   to foster greater public interest in Vermont studies,
   (3)   to assemble a wide variety of materials on people and organizations which have a primary interest in Vermont studies.

To realize these goals, the Center has supported and publicized a number of diverse activities over the years.

The Center places major emphasis on its publications program. A landmark publishing initiative by the Center, in cooperation with The Snelling Center for Government, is the January 1999 book Vermont State Government Since 1965, under the editorship of Michael Sherman (Liberal Studies, Vermont College of the Union Institute & University).

Other recent publications include The Essential Aiken: A Life in Public Service, compiled and edited by Samuel B. Hand (Emeritus, History, University of Vermont), and Stephen C. Terry (Green Mountain Power), and The University of Vermont Presidents: Two Centuries of Leadership by Frank Smallwood (Emeritus, Political Science, Dartmouth College).

The Center publishes a refereed series of Occasional Papers. To date twenty publications have appeared under this rubric, ranging in subject from hitherto unpublished Civil War correspondence to musings on the character of Vermont to topics such as land gains taxation. In the summer of 2002, the Center issued its most recent Occasional Paper, #20, “‘Dear Wife’: The Civil War Letters of Chester K. Leach,” compiled by Edward J. Feidner (Emeritus, Theatre, UVM).

Other publications issued by the Center include reference materials such as a catalogue to the UVM Archives of Folklore and Oral History , published in coordination with the University of Vermont Libraries, and the proceedings of several conferences, including two volumes of scholarly papers and curricular projects about teaching Vermont's heritage.

Two major publications resulted from multiyear humanities series presented at Burlington's Fletcher Free Library with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities: Lake Champlain: Reflections on Our Past , edited by Jennie G. Versteeg (300pp., 1987); and We Vermonters: Perspectives on the Past , edited byMichael Sherman and Jennie Versteeg (361 pp.,1992). Annotated bibliographies for each series of programs are also available.

During each academic year the Center sponsors the Research-in-Progress Seminar Series at locations on and off the University of Vermont campus. The seminars provide researchers with the opportunity to exchange preliminary findings across disciplinary lines and, by means of the Occasional Papers Series, the prospect of dissemination to a wide audience.

Thanks to an ongoing partnership with Regional Educational Technology Network (RETN) , the Center's Research-in-Progress Seminars and other presentations are broadcast weekly on cable television (usually on Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. in the Greater Burlington area, reaching a potential audience of 30,000 households.. For information about broadcast times for specific programs, please contact RETN at 802-654-7980 or email <info@retn.org> or visit the RETN Web site .

Videotapes of these Center programs are available for borrowing from the Center for Research on Vermont. For titles and descriptions, please see the Video Library . Our videotapes are available free of charge, but we request a $2.50 reimbursement for postage if you ask us to mail the video to you. To request a video, please send an email to <crv@uvm.edu> or call the Center at 802-656-4389.

For further information contact The Center for Research on Vermont.

Last modified January 22 2009 11:02 AM