Historic New Harmony

Join us for a virtual speaker series like no other. Encompassing more than five disciplines, each speaker will present on a topic related to Crossroads: Change in Rural America. Sponsored by Hafer. I grew up in the 1950s on a southern Indiana farm. As an avid young reader, my formative imagination transformed exotic story locations into relatable revisions. Oceans became the Ohio River. Deserts became grazing pasture. Weather was tornado-green, dry-leaf brown, overcast grey, or blinding-sunshine yellow. Birds were noisy…

Join us for a virtual speaker series like no other. Encompassing more than five disciplines, each speaker will present on a topic related to Crossroads: Change in Rural America. Sponsored by Hafer. Hospital closures in Rural America have become all too common. Since January of 2005, 163 rural hospitals have closed their doors with last year (2019) being the worst year; 19 rural hospitals shuttered. This, understandably, has caused many to question what can be done to save America’s rural…

Join us for a virtual speaker series like no other. Encompassing more than five disciplines, each speaker will present on a topic related to Crossroads: Change in Rural America. Sponsored by Hafer. Two hundred years of art and literature in Indiana, from T.C. Steele to George Ade, Gene Stratton-Porter to Robert Indiana, Mari Evans to John Green and Adrian Matejka, serve as a jumping-off point for Kevin’s discussion of Indiana’s rural townships, towns, suburbs, and cities. Place is central to…

Leisa grew up in the 1950s on a southern Indiana farm. As an avid young reader, her formative imagination transformed exotic story locations into relatable revisions. Oceans became the Ohio River. Deserts became grazing pasture. Weather was tornado-green, dry-leaf brown, overcast grey, or blinding-sunshine yellow. Birds were noisy starlings, the bright flash of cardinals, the rapid swoop of hawks. Forty acres held the wide world's equivalence--in translation. Midwestern life informed everything she read and observed, ultimately shaping her internal map…

“First Brush of Spring” Paint Out  April 14 – 17 in Historic New Harmony Art patrons, art collectors, and artists will converge on New Harmony, Indiana, April 14 to April 17, for the 22nd Annual Plein Air Paint Out, known locally as the “First Brush of Spring”.  Each year, the Paint Out attracts more than 150 artists and hundreds of art enthusiasts to this historic southwestern Indiana town, where visitors can enjoy the Paint Out and other activities held in…

Celebrate World Labyrinth Day with our Second Annual World Labyrinth Day Competition! We want you to design your own labyrinth at home. You can use chalk on your driveway, use toothpicks, rocks, or dominoes on your tabletop, or even create a beautiful labyrinth painting. Get creative! Just remember a labyrinth is not a maze and there is only one path. Submit your creations by Monday, April 26th at 11:59 p.m. CDT. Labyrinth creations will be judged in three age groups:…

On Thursday, April 15, artists are invited to bring a blank canvas, have it stamped, and be ready to participate in the competitive Quick Draw event beginning at the Redbud Park by 3 -3:30 p.m.  Artists must keep their canvases blank until a signal is given for them to begin painting.  The Quick Draw entries will be judged at 4:45 p.m., and awards will be given at that time. The public is welcome to attend the awards at Redbud Park.

Join us and Dr. Bill Elliott as we kick off another year of our Virtual Community Conversations! This program has been made possible through a grant from Indiana Humanities in cooperation with the National Endowment for the Humanities. In January 1826, the passengers of the Philanthropist arrived in New Harmony, Indiana to participate in a social experiment led by Robert Owen and William Maclure focusing on communal living. Although this experiment dissolved by 1828, the community continued to innovate through…

Imagine stepping aboard an experimental ship and making a two year journey to study alien life. Thomas Say will begin with the story of his 1819 zoological expedition to the Rocky Mountains, touching on his start in science, malaria on the journey, extinction and finally his move to New Harmony. Timepiece Theatre offers educational outreach theatre for diverse audiences. Sparking interest in History and Science through personal stories of discovery, exploration and innovation. Please register in advance for this program.…

Join Dr. Gregory Claeys as he examines Robert Owen's idea of exchanging conspicuous consumption for a rational frugality. Owen's opposition to fashion, in particular, indicates an attitude of rational consumption in which competition for the esteem of others, most notably through clothing, was to be substituted for the extraordinary flamboyance in display which marked his own time, and which in his view produced additional hardship for the working classes. Owen unfolded these views at various points, and several efforts were…

Although not widely recognized, there is a long history of African American experimentation with cooperatives modeled after Robert Owen’s utopian communities. In Mound Bayou, Mississippi, an all-black town modeled on Owen’s utopian ideas, cooperatives thrived and the town served as a refuge for Black activists throughout the civil rights movement. In the early twentieth century W.E.B. DuBois became a major proponent of cooperatives, founding the Negro Cooperative Guild in 1918 and traveling the country promoting them. With the advent of…

Universal happiness was the goal of Robert Owen’s ‘new moral world’ or the ‘rational system of society’, and he promised to eradicate bad passions. If Owen’s story is well known, much less has been said about what, exactly, he meant by happiness. In Owenite formulation, happiness meant something quite specific and tended to be used relatively: in short, happiness denoted the absence of negative feelings, and was to be achieved in quite prescriptive ways. As this presentation will show, the…

The 7th Annual Wonderful Wabash is taking a new route this year! Join us on Saturday, October 23rd for the 7th annual Wonderful Wabash Canoe Event. This year we are partnering with Historic New Harmony and USI to feature the Smithsonian Museum on Main Street exhibition Water/Ways. The route will start at the boat launch under the I64 Bridge on the Illinois side. We will stop at a sand bar partway for a break and educational presentations. We will end…