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In Harmony

Spring 2024


Assistant Director’s Update

Diane Sanders, Assistant Director of Historic New Harmony

It’s my favorite time of year when we welcome visitors back to the Atheneum and begin our new tour season. Unlike the critters and creatures who spent the winter hibernating, the staff at Historic New Harmony and the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art were busy creating new experiences and exhibitions for visitors to experience this spring. We will be unveiling many of these new offerings in this issue of In Harmony but stay tuned to future editions of this newsletter and our social media channels for more announcements throughout the season!

If you have had the opportunity to visit the Atheneum Visitors Center since March 1, you may have noticed that we premiered a new introductory film. Produced by Blackstrap Media, the 11-minute film provides a brief overview of New Harmony’s history and culture and features New Harmony residents and business owners, Historic New Harmony staff and University of Southern Indiana faculty. I’m delighted by the filmmakers’ skill in capturing the essence of the town and showcasing our corner of the world so beautifully. I hope you’ll check it out.

Historic New Harmony’s tours started on March 15 at the Atheneum Visitors Center, and we’re thrilled to be offering a brand-new option for visitors this season. The New Harmony Tram Tour is a family-friendly tour that will take you on a 45-minute exploration of the town aboard our tram. Interpreters will offer their local insights, telling stories and showing you the “can’t miss” spots and iconic sites that contribute to a great New Harmony experience. We’re planning to offer this tour at 10 a.m. Tuesday-Saturday. For the month of March, we’ll be offering the tour for free in exchange for your feedback and suggestions!

In addition to changes at the Atheneum Visitors Center, we’ve been working on new program offerings too. We started a new program series, Talking History, for visitors and residents to gather to “talk history” around a shared New Harmony theme. These programs also allow Heidi Taylor-Caudill, our Collections and Community Engagement Manager, to showcase our collections and connect community members. Our first program was well attended, and we’re looking forward to the next program at 10 a.m. on March 21 at the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art.

It’s an exciting time to be at New Harmony and we hope that you’ll take the time to experience it with us anew. Please let us know what you think about the new offerings, as we’ll continue experimenting, innovating, and improving to find the right harmony between the elements, so that we can create an exceptional experience here in Utopia for you and your family. 


New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art Update

Welcome, Audra Lambert

Audra Verona Lambert, Curator at the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art

Audra is a curator and art historian with over a decade of experience organizing 60+ exhibitions in the United States. She holds an MA, Art History and Visual Culture from Lindenwood University in St. Charles, MO and a BA, Art History and Asian Studies from St. Peter's University in Jersey City, NJ. She has studied abroad on scholarships in the Kansai region of Japan and in Germany's Nordrhein-Westfalen region. Lambert has managed exhibitions for the Yeshiva University Museum, Art in Odd Places festival, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, More Art, White Roof Project and more. She is co-founder of the site-specific art festival, alt_break art fair, and has been invited as a guest curator/lecturer at Columbia University, New York University, Fashion Institute of Technology, Rhode Island School of Design and more. She and her spaniel mix, Patrick, live in Evansville. IN.

Learn more about Audra’s curatorial ethos in this recent feature in Shoutout North Carolina Magazine.


Totality, March 9-April 20, 2024

T Lance, Senior Gallery Associate, New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art

New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art, University of Southern Indiana is proud to present Totality, an exhibition juried by professor and physicist Dr. Kent W. Scheller. On April 8, 2024, New Harmony, Indiana, will be in the path of a total solar eclipse. To commemorate this astronomical event, the gallery sought out artwork related to and/or inspired by the idea of an eclipse.

Totality will be on display Saturday, March 9 through Saturday, April 20. An opening reception was held on March 9 with a presentation by Dr. Scheller on the cultural impact exuded by a solar eclipse. New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art’s open hours are Tuesday - Saturdays, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Central Time, located at 506 Main Street, New Harmony, Indiana.

Exhibiting artists include Andy Batt, Ariana Chilvers, Audra Lynn Clayton, Rita H.G. Davis, Vernelle Farrington, Mary Kay Glinis, Brian Hitselberer, Heather Landry, Beata Renata Marczak, Ravyn McHugh, Rob Millard-Mendez, Sarah Moschel Miller, Jakey Mumfie, Dawn Murtaugh, Laura Foster Nicholson, Sheryl Sullivan, and Bill Tortoriello.

Juror Dr. Kent W. Scheller, Professor of Physics in the Pott College of Science, Engineering, and Education at the University of Southern Indiana, has been teaching physics for the past 25 years.

New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art at the University of Southern Indiana promotes discourse about and access to contemporary art in the southern Indiana region. New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art is a proud outreach partner of the University of Southern Indiana. This exhibition is made possible in part by the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana and the Indiana Arts Commission, which receives support from the State of Indiana and the National Endowment for the Arts.


Upcoming Exhibitions

T Lance, Senior Gallery Associate, New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art

Residence VIII | April 27–June 1, 2024

Residence VIII is NHGCA’s annual exhibition highlighting the most recent round of artists in-residence at New Harmony Clay Project.

New Harmony Clay Project (NHCP) is an artist residency and educational center located in New Harmony. NHCP fosters an environment that supports the investigation of new ideas and work in the ceramic arts. It was established in 2015 by Lenny Dowhie, an internationally known ceramic sculptor and Professor Emeritus at University of Southern Indiana. NHCP is supported by the Robert Lee Blaffer Foundation, Efroymson Family Fund, Greater Houston Community Foundation and Lenny and Anne Dowhie Trusts. Its goal is to encourage emerging and professional visual artists and educators in ceramics by giving them quiet space and the time to develop a new body of work. NHCP is located within the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Ceramic Studio in New Harmony, next to the Roofless Church.

Performing Place | June 8-July 20, 2024

Curated by Audra Verona Lambert.

Local Voices Exhibit | August 3-September 7, 2024

New Harmony Second Saturdays

The New Harmony Second Saturdays event series continues through November. For more information about upcoming programs and events, please visit www.usi.edu/nhsecondsaturdays, or follow us on Instagram @newharmonysecondsaturdays and on Facebook @NHSecondSaturdays.

Do you have an event for Second Saturdays that you want publicized? Add your information here.


Historic New Harmony Updates

Heritage Artisans Days – Call for Volunteers

Heidi Taylor-Caudill, Collections and Community Engagement Manager, Historic New Harmony

Historic New Harmony needs volunteers for this year's Heritage Artisans Days program on Wednesday, April 24, Thursday, April 25 and Friday, April 26 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. This event would not be a success without volunteers helping everything to run smoothly!

Thousands of elementary school students attend Heritage Artisan Days over three days to experience what life was like in the 19th century through the eyes of historical interpreters and period artisans.

If you're interested in volunteering with us, go to the Heritage Artisans Days page on the Historic New Harmony website and look for the Volunteer link. It will take you to the registration form, which lists available dates and shifts. Of course, we appreciate any time that you may be available during that week to help!

Please contact Heidi Taylor-Caudill at 812-682-6133 or hltaylorca@usi.edu if you have any questions about volunteering.


New Harmony Tram Tour

Heidi Taylor-Caudill, Collections and Community Engagement Manager, Historic New Harmony

We are so happy to share that in addition to our usual New Harmony History Tour, we are introducing a new tram tour of New Harmony. This family-friendly tour takes you on a 45-minute exploration of New Harmony aboard our tram. As you travel around town, an interpreter will offer their local insight, telling stories and showing you the "can't miss" spots and iconic sites that contribute to a great New Harmony experience. This tour would be perfect for first-time and returning visitors, residents with out-of-town guests, and anyone who just wants to learn more about the community.

We wish to thank the Kent and Laurie Parker Family Foundation for their generous gift to fund the purchase of the tram for Historic New Harmony.

As the New Harmony Tram Tour is a new program, we are still experimenting with the route and stories that we tell. For the month of March, we are offering free tour tickets and asking participants to share their opinions on improvements we could make. For more information, call the Atheneum Visitors Center at 812-682-4474.

Tour Schedule:

New Harmony Tram Tour (45 minutes)
10 a.m., Tuesday-Saturday

New Harmony History Tour (2 hours)
1 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday


The Harmonist Connection: Economy, Pennsylvania

Heidi Taylor-Caudill, Collections and Community Engagement Manager, Historic New Harmony

On Sunday, March 10, Old Economy Village curator Sarah Buffington and museum educator David Miller presented a Harmonist Connection talk on the Harmonists’ relocation in 1824-1825 from New Harmony, Indiana, to Economy, Pennsylvania. The event took place over Zoom on the 343rd anniversary of Pennsylvania’s charter and during Old Economy Village’s bicentennial year.

The Harmonist Connection is a free virtual program sponsored by Historic New Harmony, Historic Harmony, and Old Economy Village. It brings the three sites of the Harmony Society together to discuss what connects us. Past talks have covered the Harmonists and topics of religion and symbolism, redware pottery, cemeteries, town planning, and gardens.

Recordings of all the talks are available to watch on the Harmonist Connection YouTube channel.


Talking History

Heidi Taylor-Caudill, Collections and Community Engagement Manager, Historic New Harmony

In February 2024, Historic New Harmony launched a new, free monthly program for local history lovers to gather to share and discuss historical topics of interest related to New Harmony. This program, Talking History, uses objects and other materials to inspire conversation. Though each meeting is guided by a theme, participants are free to go “off script” and take the conversation in different directions. We also encourage participants to bring objects, photographs, or other materials to share with the group. No reservations are required - just show up to the gathering and bring your memories, thoughts, and questions!

The first Talking History gathering happened at Black Lodge Coffee Roasters in New Harmony, Indiana, on Saturday, February 24. 18 people attended the event. Objects shared included three items from Historic New Harmony’s artifact collection and two photograph albums brought by a participant wanting to know more about her family’s history in New Harmony. Another participant played a recording of an oral history interview for the group.

The next Talking History gathering will take place on Thursday, March 21 at 10 a.m. at the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art, 506 Main Street in New Harmony. While there, participants will have the chance to see the NHGCA’s current exhibition, Totality, on view now through April 20.

Our theme for March is Seasons. As we head into Spring in New Harmony, reflect on your memories of the seasons here. What is your favorite type of weather? Do you have any stories about storms or flooding here in southwestern Indiana? Did you ever go swimming in the Wabash River?

We hope to see you at the next gathering! For more information about the latest program, visit the Talking History page.


Read Up on Intentional Communities

Heidi Taylor-Caudill, Collections and Community Engagement Manager, Historic New Harmony

Intentional communities - a movement of people choosing to live in communities based on shared values and co-operative culture - can be found all around the world and throughout history. New Harmony was the site of two intentional communities: the Harmony Society (1814-1824) and the Owen/Maclure community (1825-1827). If you’ve learned about New Harmony’s history and want to delve more deeply into the idea of intentional communities, check out these books available in the Atheneum Museum Store.

Seeing Like a Commons: Eighty Years of Intentional Community Building and Commons Stewardship in Celo, North Carolina
Joshua Lockyer (2023, Rowan & Littlefield)

In Seeing Like a Commons, Joshua Lockyer demonstrates how a growing group of people have, over the last eighty years, deliberately built Celo Community, a communal settlement on 1,200 acres of commonly owned land in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. Joshua Lockyer highlights the potential for intentional communities like Celo to raise awareness of global interconnectivity and structural inequalities, enabling people and communities to become better stewards and citizens of both local landscapes and global commons.

Camphill and the Future: Spirituality and Disability in an Evolving Communal Movement
Dan McKanan (2020, University of California Press)

The Camphill movement, one of the world’s largest and most enduring networks of intentional communities, deserves both recognition and study. Founded in Scotland at the beginning of the Second World War, Camphill communities still thrive today, encompassing thousands of people living in more than one hundred twenty schools, villages, and urban neighborhoods on four continents. Camphillers of all abilities share daily work, family life, and festive celebrations with one another and their neighbors. Unlike movements that reject mainstream society, Camphill expressly seeks to be “a seed of social renewal” by evolving along with society to promote the full inclusion and empowerment of persons with disabilities, who comprise nearly half of their residents. In this multifaceted exploration of Camphill, Dan McKanan traces the complexities of the movement’s history, envisions its possible future, and invites ongoing dialogue between the fields of disability studies and communal studies.

What Is Happening in Your Community? Why Community Development Matters
Matthew J. Hanka (2023, Rowman & Littlefield)

Communities are not static or stationary organisms. They are fluid and dynamic and change over time. The role of community development in the change and transformation of a community is critical to improving and enhancing the quality of life of the community and its residents. This book examines how community development changes a community and why that change matters, while also examining the relationship between community development and social capital. When a community improves its social capital, change can happen because people can leverage their networks to produce better results for themselves. This book also looks at comprehensive community development and collective impact models and several case studies that utilize these models. It also looks at how the transformation and revitalization of a neighborhood through new housing creates opportunities for people everywhere, and how effective placemaking strategies empower diverse groups of people in a community to reimagine their public spaces and the built environment to be more livable, walkable, creative, and sustainable while fostering greater connections with people in their community.

Zoar: The Story of an Intentional Community
Kathleen Fernandez (2019, The Kent State University Press)

In 1817, a group of German religious dis­senters immigrated to Ohio. Less than two years later, in order to keep their distinctive religion and its adherents together, they formed a communal society (eine güter gemeinschaft or “community of goods”), where all shared equally. Their bold experiment thrived and continued through three generations; the Zoar Separatists are considered one of the longest-lasting communal groups in US history.

Fernandez traces the Separatists’ beginnings in Württemberg, Germany, and their disputes with authorities over religious differences, their immigration to America, and their establishment of the communal Society of Separatists of Zoar.

The community’s development, particularly in terms of its business activities with the outside world, demonstrates its success and influence in the 19th century. Though the Society dissolved in 1898, today its site is a significant historical attraction. Zoar is based on ample primary source material, some never before utilized by historians, and illustrated with thirty historic photographs.

American Community: Radical Experiments in Intentional Living
Mark S. Ferrara (2020, Rutgers University Press)

American Community takes us inside forty of the most interesting intentional communities in the nation’s history, from the colonial era to the present day. You will learn about such little-known experiments in cooperative living as the Icarian communities, which took the utopian ideas expounded in a 1840 French novel and put them into practice, ultimately spreading to five states over fifty years. Plus, it covers more recent communities such as Arizona’s Arcosanti, designed by architect Paolo Soleri as a model for ecologically sustainable living.

In this provocative and engaging book, Mark Ferrara guides readers through an array of intentional communities that boldly challenged capitalist economic arrangements in order to attain ideals of harmony, equality, and social justice. By shining a light on these forgotten histories, it shows that far from being foreign concepts, communitarianism and socialism have always been vital parts of the American experience.

Eco-Alchemy: Anthroposophy and the History and Future of Environmentalism
Dan McKanan (2017, University of California Press)

For nearly a century, the worldwide anthroposophical movement has been a catalyst for environmental activism, helping to bring to life many modern ecological practices such as organic farming, community-supported agriculture, and green banking. Yet the spiritual practice of anthroposophy remains unknown to most environmentalists. A historical and ethnographic study of the environmental movement, Eco-Alchemy uncovers for the first time the profound influences of anthroposophy and its founder, Rudolf Steiner, whose holistic worldview, rooted in esoteric spirituality, inspired the movement. Dan McKanan shows that environmentalism is itself a complex ecosystem and that it would not be as diverse or as transformative without the contributions of anthroposophy.


Calendar of Events

Alistair W. Baldwin Lecture
7 p.m., Thursday, March 21 at the Atheneum Visitors Center
Alistair W. Baldwin is an award-winning landscape architect and garden designer from Yorkshire, England. He will talk about the restoration, regeneration, and enhancement of historical gardens in England, Scotland, and New Harmony.

The StumpGrinders! A Special Eclipse Extravaganza Concert
8 p.m., Sunday, April 7 at the Murphy Auditorium
For more information, please visit: 

Total Solar Eclipse Fundraiser Watch Party
10 a.m.-3 p.m., Monday, April 8 at the Atheneum Visitors Center
Tickets are on sale at: Eclipse - University of Southern Indiana (usi.edu). Note: the deadline to purchase tickets for this event is Monday, March 25.

New Harmony Second Saturdays
Every second Saturday, March-November, at various locations
For more information, please visit: New Harmony Second Saturdays - University of Southern Indiana (usi.edu)

Under the Beams Concert: Mokoomba
7:30 p.m., Saturday, April 20 at the Murphy Auditorium
For more information, please visit: Under The Beams | New Harmony, IN

Heritage Artisan Days
Wednesday, April 24 through Friday, April 26 in New Harmony
For more information, please visit: Heritage Artisans Days - University of Southern Indiana (usi.edu)

Firefly Festival
Friday, June 7-Saturday, June 8 at various locations in New Harmony


Help Historic New Harmony and the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art continue their historic preservation efforts, educational programming and more with your charitable gift to the USI Foundation. You can make your gift securely online at USI.edu/giving, calling 812-464-1918, or mailing to USI Foundation, 8600 University Blvd., Evansville, IN 47712. Your charitable gift is tax-deductible and a gift receipt will be issued.

Fall 2023 Edition

Diane Sanders, Assistant Director of Historic New Harmony

I interviewed for the Assistant Director position last October and experienced the beauty of New Harmony arguably during its prettiest season. Since moving here, I have patiently waited for fall to return, so I could enjoy the splendor that made me fall in love with New Harmony all over again. I particularly love driving into town via Maple Hill Road and enjoy how the fiery canopy overhead frames the landscape. It certainly highlights New Harmony’s status as a “Tree City” by the Arbor Day Foundation.  

Despite the tranquil picture that the landscape often paints, New Harmony has been bustling with visitors. Historic New Harmony served more than 7,000 visitors between August and October this year—nearly doubling last year’s attendance figures. While the beautiful weather certainly contributed to our success, we also offered several programs throughout the season that drew numerous participants.

We offered two sessions of our Natural Dyes, Colorful Textiles workshop in partnership with instructor Peggy Taylor of Raintree Cottage Textile School at the Double Log Cabin and David Lenz House dye garden this fall. These sessions were generously funded by the Lifelong Arts Indiana Creative Aging Program, which allowed us to offer the classes free of charge to participants. Each session featured morning and afternoon classes over the course of four days in August and September. Geared toward senior learners, this program aimed to create community while participants learned new skills. The workshops were well received, and participants indicated that they were interested in attending similar workshops at our historic sites. Given the enthusiastic response, we are looking into the possibility of offering more hands-on workshops as lifelong learning opportunities.

We hosted several hundred University of Southern Indiana freshman on September 12 for the UNIV101 New Harmony Freshman Experience Day. Students explored 12 historic sites throughout the town to complete their scavenger hunts and compete for prizes. Students also enjoyed the fare from four food trucks at Church Park, explored the shops throughout town and participated in a spirit fair at the Atheneum. This year's focus on community building was particularly successful, as we heard many accounts of students making friends, enjoying New Harmony's atmosphere and generally having a great time. We thank all our staff, advisory board, volunteers, and community partners for helping us make this event a great success! We are already looking forward to planning next year’s event!

Just a few short weeks later, Historic New Harmony hosted the 50th Communal Studies Association conference during the first week of October. Conference sessions were held at the Atheneum, Murphy Auditorium, and the Working Men’s Institute. More than 100 attendees participated in the conference and hailed from around the world. People from France, Germany, Sweden and across the United States gathered in New Harmony for the conference. The University of Southern Indiana was well represented with participants across numerous departments, colleges and disciplines. Faculty and staff participated in 5 sessions overall with 10 presentations total. Members of academia, historic sites and active intentional community members joined together to share their experiences of communal societies—both past and present.

Next spring, Historic New Harmony will be unveiling a new orientation film in the Atheneum Visitors Center. We are working with Blackstrap Media to create a new film that will better orient visitors to New Harmony’s past, while painting a vision for its future. In addition to filming during the UNIV101 event, Blackstrap Media’s team has been out to New Harmony several times this November to shoot footage and conduct interviews with university staff and community members.

Speaking of interviews, we’ve been doing that a lot this season! We have been focused on filling our open positions, and I’m pleased to announce that Historic New Harmony’s administrative team is now fully staffed! We welcomed Heidi Taylor-Caudill to the team in September as our Collections and Community Engagement Manager. In addition to stewarding our collections, Heidi manages educational programming, community outreach, university engagement and communication activities. You’ll hear more from her in this edition of the newsletter. Our new Experience Coordinator, David Angel, joined us this month; he oversees visitor services at the Atheneum, manages our interpretive and museum shop staff and facility rentals. We will feature David in our next issue. Both Heidi and David bring great experience to their positions, and I’m looking forward to planning Historic New Harmony’s future with such a talented team.

I hope you will join us at one of several events coming up at Historic New Harmony and at the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art, many of which are featured in this issue of the newsletter. If you haven’t visited lately, be sure to take a historic tour at 1:00 pm (CST) Saturdays and Sundays, before Historic New Harmony’s last day of the season on Saturday, December 16. The New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art will continue to remain open during the winter months.


New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art Update

FILLED UP 4: A Ceramic Cup Show

T Lance, Senior Gallery Associate, New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art

Left to right: Grant Akiyama, James Tingey, Samantha Purze and Andrew Tran

The University of Southern Indiana New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art (NHGCA) is proud to present Filled Up 4, A Ceramic Cup Show, in partnership with New Harmony Clay Project. Filled Up 4 features ceramic cups by contributing artists around the United States, juried by noted ceramic artist Pattie Chalmers. 

The exhibit opens at 3 p.m. and will host a public opening reception from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, November 11, featuring a juror’s talk and an award announcement.  

An additional public reception for Filled Up 4 will be held Saturday, December 2 in conjunction with Christmas in New Harmony from 4 to 6 p.m. where visitors can remove purchased works from the Gallery.  

Partnering with New Harmony Clay Project, over 80 submissions were received, 57 of which were accepted by the juror. The cup, one of ceramics' more iconic productions, has been used as a metaphor, a sculptural element, a sculptural foundation and a functional daily piece of dinnerware. Whether you choose to fill your cups with beverages, food, pencils, or ideology, this exhibition will feature a multitude of handmade creations from artists across the country. 

Chalmers currently serves as a Professor at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.  Professionally, Chalmers has exhibited in group exhibitions on five continents, in six countries and in 34 states. She has had six solo exhibitions in the past five years. Recent exhibitions include The Mudmaid Museum at the Sheldon Art Center in St. Louis, Missouri, and Imperfect Ramblings at Merwin Gallery at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois. Chalmers has taught at the University of Minnesota and Ohio University. 

She earned a bachelor’s in fine arts degree in printmaking in 1994 from the University of Manitoba and a master’s degree in fine arts in ceramics in 2001 from the University of Minnesota. 

New Harmony Clay Project (NHCP) is an artist residency and educational center located in historic New Harmony, Indiana. NHCP fosters an environment that supports the investigation of new ideas and work in the ceramic arts. It was established in 2015 by Lenny Dowhie, an internationally known ceramic sculptor and Professor Emeritus of Ceramics at USI. 

NHCP is supported by the Robert Lee Blaffer Foundation, Efroymson Family Fund, Greater Houston Community Foundation and Lenny and Anne Dowhie Trusts. The goal is to encourage emerging and professional visual artists/ educators in ceramics by giving them quiet space and time to develop a new body of work. The Clay Project is located within the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Ceramic Studio in New Harmony, next to the Roofless Church. 

The NHGCA promotes discourse about and access to contemporary art in the southern Indiana region and is an outreach partner of USI. The gallery is located at 506 Main Street in New Harmony, Indiana. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, visit the NHGCA website, or call 812-682-3156.  

This exhibition is made possible in part by the Lenny and Anne Dowhie Trust, Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana, and the Indiana Arts Commission, which receives support from the State of Indiana and the National Endowment for the Arts. 

Did you miss the WEEE Artist Talk with Rachel Stallings Thomander?

View it here: https://youtu.be/0ZA-jXjeTGs

Upcoming Exhibitions

T Lance, Senior Gallery Associate, New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art

Juan William Chávez | January 20–March 2, 2024

Juan William Chávez is an artist and cultural activist who creates and shares space in the built and natural environments to address community identified issues. At the heart of Chavez’s practice is his studio research, which includes drawings, films, photographs, craft, labor, architectural interventions and unconventional forms of beekeeping and agriculture. Chávez utilizes art as a way of researching, developing and implementing projects of creative placemaking and social engagement. His exhibitions feature his studio research in the form of multimedia installations. Chavez has exhibited his work at venues such as ArtPace, Van Abbemuseum, McColl Center for Art + Innovation, Tube Factory Artspace, 21c Museum Hotel, Laumeier Sculpture Park and Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis.

His interdisciplinary approach to art has gained the attention and support of prestigious institutions like the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, Creative Capital, Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, ArtPlace America, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts and Art Matters Foundation. Chávez holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Kansas City Art Institute and a Master of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Solar Eclipse Open Call | March 9–April 20, 2024

This will be a juried exhibition with an open call for art that encompasses the theme of the solar eclipse. The exhibition will coincide with the April 2024 total solar eclipse, in which New Harmony will be in the line of totality. More details to come. We plan to choose a juror and announce our call for entries in mid-December 2023 to early January 2024.

Residence VIII | April 27–June 1, 2024

Residence VIII is NHGCA’s annual exhibition highlighting the most recent round of artists in-residence at New Harmony Clay Project.

New Harmony Clay Project (NHCP) is an artist residency and educational center located in New Harmony. NHCP fosters an environment that supports the investigation of new ideas and work in the ceramic arts. It was established in 2015 by Lenny Dowhie, an internationally known ceramic sculptor and Professor Emeritus at University of Southern Indiana. NHCP is supported by the Robert Lee Blaffer Foundation, Efroymson Family Fund, Greater Houston Community Foundation and Lenny and Anne Dowhie Trusts. Its goal is to encourage emerging and professional visual artists and educators in ceramics by giving them quiet space and the time to develop a new body of work. NHCP is located within the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Ceramic Studio in New Harmony, next to the Roofless Church.

New in the Gallery Shop

With holidays just around the corner, you will want to stop by the consignment shop at the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art to find a unique gift for your loved one. Stop by today to see what is new in the gallery shop.

Brian Hart wood turnings

Jen Bretz jewelry

Laura Foster Nicholson weavings

Kyle Darnell prints, books and ceramics

Contemporary Digital Portraiture, November 11–December 16, 2023

T Lance, Senior Gallery Associate, New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art

Back Gallery Projects at the University of Southern Indiana’s New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art (NHGCA) is proud to present Contemporary Digital Portraiture. This exhibition showcases the work of students in USI’s Digital Illustration course.  

Contemporary Digital Portraiture will be on display Saturday, November 11 through Saturday, December 16 with a reception 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, December 2 in conjunction with Christmas in New Harmony. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. 

“This project challenged students to create several digital portraits using different illustration styles such as WPAP, Fleischer, Granular Gradient, Flat or Line and Shadow,” says Dr. Gregory Blair, Assistant Professor of Art and Design. “Each portrait was created from a photograph using only a mouse in Adobe Illustrator. The project focused on learning how to build a portrait illustration from a reference image, how to use Pantone color books and further development of abstraction processes and value mapping.” 

Student artists include Kayla Allen, Ali Brandes, Caitlyn Ebert, Cierra Fitzgerald, Allie Gee, Iain Girten, Isabel Greiner, Sara Griffin, Aidan Hoover, Lily Hubbard, Mason Niemeier, Jenna Norrick, Mikayla Satterfield and Al Sheets. 

The NHGCA is dedicated to enhancing the experiences of students through an artist-run exhibition space in the Back Gallery. Back Gallery Projects at NHGCA allows students to exhibit, experiment and/or curate within a working contemporary art gallery setting. Through exhibition and curatorial strategies, students can envision new possibilities for collaborations and their art practice. 

Future BGP exhibitions:

January–February | Woodworking

March–April | Curated by Violet Thomas-Cummings

May–June | Ceramics

July–August | Photography

September–October | Curated by Violet Thomas-Cummings

November–December | Curated by Fall '24 Sanders Gallery Fellow


New Harmony Second Saturdays

The New Harmony Second Saturdays event series continues through November. For more information about upcoming programs and events, please visit www.usi.edu/nhsecondsaturdays, or follow us on Instagram @newharmonysecondsaturdays and on Facebook @NHSecondSaturdays.


Historic New Harmony Updates

It's a Solarbration! 2024 Total Solar Eclipse

Diane Sanders, Assistant Director of Historic New Harmony

You're invited to attend Historic New Harmony's Total Solar Eclipse Fundraiser Watch Party for the best view of the solar system's hottest show this spring. Witness this dazzling celestial event on top of the internationally acclaimed Atheneum Visitors Center from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm (CST) on Monday, April 8, 2024. Totality will begin at 2:01:47 pm and will last for 3 minutes, 54 seconds. 

Nonrefundable VIP tickets may be purchased for $250 each and are limited to 8 tickets per person. Your purchase includes reserved parking, exclusive access to the Atheneum Visitors Center, rooftop balcony viewing, light refreshments and solar eclipse viewing glasses. Each ticket includes a $200 charitable donation for the ongoing operation and maintenance of the Atheneum Visitors Center.

With only 40 tickets available, you’ll want to secure your spot quickly! For more information and to complete your purchase, please visit www.usi.edu/hnh/eclipse.

Art for Science’s Sake: Stalking John James Audubon Film Screening and Discussion

Heidi Taylor-Caudill, Collections and Community Engagement Manager, Historic New Harmony

Produced by two University of Southern Indiana faculty members, Art for Science’s Sake: Stalking John James Audubon is a documentary that explores the art and science of 19th century naturalist John James Audubon. Dr. Leigh Anne Howard and Dr. David Black spent the past 10 years learning about Audubon, who is best known for his beautiful life-size illustrations of birds in their natural habits and for his monumental publication, The Birds of America. In the film, they interview Audubon biographers and experts about his contributions to the study of birds and demonstrate the stages of production—from drawing to printing to publication—that resulted in The Birds of America. The documentary won the award for Best Hoosier-made Film at the Victory International Film Festival in Evansville, Indiana, in September 2023.

Historic New Harmony will be offering a free screening of Art for Science’s Sake followed by a discussion with Dr. Howard and Dr. Black from 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. (CST) on Saturday, November 11 at the Atheneum. This program is part of the New Harmony Second Saturdays event series. For more information and to view a trailer of the film, visit: https://youtu.be/3JjS7dX8JlQ?si=mv5k_yhOL71gT3Gj.

The Harmonist Connection: Christoph Weber, Redware Potter of the Harmony Society

Heidi Taylor-Caudill, Collections and Community Engagement Manager, Historic New Harmony

Join author Michael Strezewski for The Harmonist Connection as he presents Christoph Weber, Redware Potter of the Harmony Society, at 6:00 pm (CST) on Wednesday, November 15. The virtual presentation is in conjunction with Strezewski’s new book on the same subject. This event is free to the public.

Christoph Weber was the master potter of the Harmony Society, a German utopian group founded by religious dissenter George Rapp. Working from 1808 to 1853, Weber made a variety of household wares such as pitchers, storage jars, jugs, plates and mugs. Weber’s pottery was distributed among the Society’s members and sold to their neighbors. Utilizing documentary sources, archaeological investigations and analysis of surviving ceramics, Michael Strezewski, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Southern Indiana, paints a detailed picture of Christoph Weber, the different types of pottery he manufactured and his place in the early nineteenth century origins of the ceramics industry in the United States.

Michael Strezewski is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Southern Indiana. Dr. Strezewski has directed archaeological excavations in New Harmony since 2008, publishing numerous reports and articles on the Harmony Society.

Please register in advance for this program at https://usi.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJIuce-oqD4jE9eLsMEZ9Fvm1fhbucj-Zd3i. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

My Journey to New Harmony

Heidi Taylor-Caudill, Collections and Community Engagement Manager, Historic New Harmony

Photos of New Harmony sites in one of my travel scrapbooks (December 2001).

I started working with Historic New Harmony as the new Collections and Community Engagement Manager in September 2023. I am so pleased to be here! Thank you to everyone in New Harmony for your warm welcome and the stories that you have already shared with me about the town. As Anna Sewell said in Black Beauty, “It is good people who make good places,” and I feel like that’s very true here.

I was born in Kentucky to a family of teachers and history lovers. My parents took my sister and me on road trips every year and we visited many museums, battlefields, historic sites and parks around the country. In my senior year of high school, we came to New Harmony so that I could see Richard Meier’s Atheneum (at the time I was interested in becoming an architect). I was captivated by the history of New Harmony on that trip, and I have never forgotten the pleasant and peaceful ambiance of the town.

I started college as an architecture student at the University of Kentucky and then changed majors in my sophomore year to art history. A month after graduating with a B.A. in Art History in 2005, I moved to Louisville, Kentucky, to enroll in the curatorial studies graduate program at the University of Louisville. I spent two years working on an M.A. in Art (Creative) and Art History with a concentration in Critical and curatorial Studies. After receiving my master degree in late 2007 and entering a very tough job market during the Great Recession, I stayed in Kentucky and found work with an art museum, an arts advocacy nonprofit, an exhibit design firm and the state arts agency. I also spent time as a freelance art cataloger. I eventually returned to graduate school at the University of Kentucky and earned a M.S. in Library Science in 2014.

I spent the next 9 years working as an archivist, museum curator and part-time adjunct instructor at a university. Before coming to Historic New Harmony, I served as the archivist for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Owensboro and the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph in Maple Mount, Kentucky, and as the curator of the Audubon Museum at John James Audubon State Park in Henderson, Kentucky. When I heard about the job opening for the new Collections and Community Engagement Manager with Historic New Harmony this summer, I remembered my long-standing fascination with New Harmony and knew I had to apply. Maybe this was the destination that I had been heading towards all along?

I would love to hear any stories that you have about your “journey” to New Harmony, whether it was just for a short visit or to stay for decades. I’m also open to researching questions about Historic New Harmony’s collections and thinking through ideas for collaboration. If you would like to get in touch with me, my email is hltaylorca@usi.edu.

Show and Tell: A Map, Two Books and…Robert Owen’s Hair?

Heidi Taylor-Caudill, Collections and Community Engagement Manager, Historic New Harmony

On September 21, 2023, the Illinois State Museum Society visited Historic New Harmony’s office in the Schnee Ribeyre Elliott House for an up-close look at selections from the HNH collections. Here are the fascinating, beautiful and unusual items that I pulled from our holdings that day.

“A Plan of the town of Harmonie in Posey County Indiana; the property of Frederick Rapp Esq. by William Pickering, November 5th, 1824” (1824)

Original town map of Harmony from 1824

Let’s start with the item that received the most attention from our visitors that day: an original map of Harmony’s (later renamed New Harmony) layout in 1824. The group gathered around the drawing, attempting to find our location on the plan and pointing out streets and buildings still in use.

Where does this town map fit in the timeline of Father George Rapp’s sale of Harmony to Robert Owen? There’s an important clue on the document. According to a note on the lower right corner of the map, William Pickering drew the town’s layout to scale on November 5th, 1824. Earlier that year, the Harmonists had decided to sell Harmony and move back to Pennsylvania. They chose Richard Flower from Albion, Illinois, to find a buyer. In August 1824, Flower met with Robert Owen at New Lanark, Scotland, to talk about the possibility of purchasing the town. He was receptive to the idea and set about making plans to visit Harmony. On October 2, 1824, Owen and his son William sailed from Liverpool, England, to the United States. Using the date on the map, William Pickering apparently finished the drawing while Owen was traveling to Harmony. This would have been six weeks before his arrival on December 16, 1824. Perhaps Owen used this document as an aid in making his decision to purchase the town a few months later, in January 1825.

Thomas Say: American Conchology, or Descriptions of the Shells of North America Illustrated from Coloured Figures From Original Drawings Executed from Nature, Parts 1-7 (1830-1836)

John Le Conte, editor: The Complete Writings of Thomas Say on the Entomology of North America, Volume I (1859)

First row features the title page, dedication page and illustrations from Thomas Say’s American Conchology (1830). Second row contains illustrations from The Complete Writings of Thomas Say on the Entomology of North America, Volume I (1859).

Thomas Say (1787-1834) was a self-taught naturalist, conchologist, entomologist and herpetologist who has been called the father of American descriptive entomology and conchology. Robert Owen’s business partner, William Maclure, convinced Say and other prominent scientists, artists and educators to come to New Harmony in 1826. The next year, Say married Lucy Way Sistare. She worked closely with her husband, contributing drawings and coloring the plates for American Conchology, which was published in New Harmony in 1830. Say remained in New Harmony until his death in 1834.

I selected a few illustrations to share from our copy of American Conchology and a later edited volume of Thomas Say’s writings on entomology. Several visitors commented on the delicate colors and details of the prints. I made sure to point out details of the title and dedication pages of American Conchology on display. The book had been printed in 1830 at the “School Press” in New Harmony and was dedicated to William Maclure as “a small, but sincere tribute of respect and friendship.”

Robert Owen’s Hair

A single strand of Robert Owen’s hair mounted on a microscope slide.

What is probably the smallest item in the Historic New Harmony collections is this single hair attributed to Robert Owen. The hair is mounted on a glass microscope slide along with a note describing its provenance (history of ownership). According to the note, a Mr. R. Lewis took some hair from Owen’s head at his death on November 17, 1858, and sent them to another person. Eventually the Cooperative Union Ltd. of Manchester, England received some of the hair. Dr. Donald Pitzer, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Southern Indiana, brought this strand of Robert Owen’s hair to the United States in 1974.

I purposefully kept the hair specimen hidden in its little box until our visitors finished looking at the map and loose book pages. It was delightful to watch their reactions as I took off the lid and uncovered the top layer of tissue paper, explaining what kind of treasure was waiting inside. Responses to the 165-year-old hair ranged from incredulity to surprised laughter to confusion.

One person asked me, “Well, what else do you have in the collection?” I didn’t have a great answer at the time (it was only my second week) and I’m still getting acquainted with HNH’s holdings, but I can say that I’m excited to see what’s here and to find more ways to share our artifacts with a wider audience.


Calendar of Events

New Harmony Second Saturdays
November 11 at Various Locations
For more information, please visit: https://www.usi.edu/new-harmony-gallery-of-contemporary-art/programs/new-harmony-second-saturdays

Art for Science’s Sake: Stalking John James Audubon Film Screening
10 to 11:30 a.m. (CST) at the Atheneum Visitors Center
For more information, please visit: https://www.usi.edu/hnh/programs/film-screening

Filled Up 4: A Ceramic Cup Show
November 11–December 16 at the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art

Indiana’s Poet Laureate, Matthew Graham Lecture
6:30 pm (CST) at the Working Men’s Institute

Christmas in New Harmony
December 1–3 at Various Locations
For more information and event details, please visit: https://visitposeycounty.com/event/christmas-in-new-harmony-9/2023-12-01/

Last Day and Tour of 2023 Visitor Season
December 16 at the Atheneum Visitors Center

University of Southern Indiana Winter Break
The University of Southern Indiana, Historic New Harmony, and the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art will be closed December 23, 2023–January 1, 2024

SUMMER 2023 Edition

Diane Sanders, Assistant Director of Historic New Harmony

New Harmony’s spring showers have turned golden as the city’s beloved goldenrain trees are in bloom. Between that and the rising temperatures, there’s no doubt the summer tourist season has arrived! What a joy it has been watching our brand-new tram buzzing around town filled with visitors eager to learn about New Harmony’s utopian past. I hope you will soon be one of them before the season’s end!

With the start of summer comes the end of our fiscal year, and I am delighted to share we have had many positive developments on this front over the past few months. Lilly Endowment Inc. awarded Historic New Harmony more than $2 million in a five-year implementation grant through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative. The Wabash River Heritage Corridor Commission also provided a $1,000 grant from the Amenity Fund Sponsorship to improve landscaping and provide native plantings around the wayside signs at the Atheneum. I’m honored to have the support of these organizations, and I can’t wait to unveil the improvements made possible by these funds. Stay tuned for updates!

The composition of our Advisory Board transitions at this time of year with outgoing members’ terms ending on June 30 and new members’ terms beginning the following day on July 1. I would like to thank our outgoing Board members for their service and generosity to Historic New Harmony: Rod Clark, Melodee Dubois (Vice Chair, Development), Ed Jones, Lisa Muller, Tara Overton, Michelangelo Sabatino, Katie Waters (Chair), Barbara Williams, Brian Williams and Scott Wylie. I would also like to extend a warm welcome to our 11 new Board members: Kent Brasseale, Greg Brown, Marsh Davis, Del Doughty, Judy Griffin, John Grizzell, Ron Henderson, Bill Muller, Barbara Northern, Trudy Stock and Linda Willis. Finally, I’d like to congratulate Ed Jones for becoming a life member, Silvia Rode on becoming Chair, Jamie Wicks on becoming Vice Chair Development, and Lisa Brooks on continuing as Vice Chair Special Events. I’m excited to work with the new Advisory Board to strategize for the future and plan another year’s worth of tours, educational programming and events!

With these developments and many more that you will read about in this edition of In Harmony, it’s easy to be optimistic about Historic New Harmony’s future. This summer, we will be resuming the strategic planning process that began last year and was later put on hold. With new circumstances, new opportunities, and our new tram, the possibilities truly are endless! I’m looking forward to implementing the strategies and processes needed to make our dream a reality. I hope you will lend us your support as we begin this exciting journey ahead.

MARCH 2023 Edition

Assistant Director's Update

Spring is in the air—the daffodils are blooming, the days are getting longer and the temperatures are rising (and falling again)! For Historic New Harmony, March is an exciting month as we welcome visitors back to the Atheneum and resume guided tours of the historic sites. Read more about Historic New Harmony's spring news! 

Now Hiring!

Historic New Harmony (HNH) and the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art (NHGCA) are now hiring! Click here to apply.


NHGCA Update

River, Red by Ahmed Ozsever

The New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art’s current exhibition, River, Red, features photography by Indiana artist Ahmed Ozsever. River, Red will be on view from March 4 through April 15, 2023. Find out more about the exhibition.

Residence VII: A Showcase of Artists from the New Harmony Clay Project

The New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art will host the group exhibition Residence VII, from April 22 through June 3, 2023. The exhibition features work by Grant Akiyama, Sarah Alsaied, Elizabeth Arzani, Caro Burks, Cameron Ford, and Jackson Shaner. Find out more about the exhibition.

Ichor by Inka Kobylanski

BG Projects at the New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art is proud to present Ichor, a solo show highlighting the work of Inka Kobylanski. The exhibition opens Saturday, March 25 with a reception on Saturday, April 1 from 4:00 – 6:00 pm CST. Click here to learn more.

New Harmony Second Saturdays 2023

The 2023 Second Saturday Season is upon us! Join us in New Harmony every Second Saturday, March through November, for town-wide events. To learn more or add your event, click here.


Historic New Harmony News

Fan Window Sees New Light of Day

The Harmonist Church fan window is now on display in the Atheneum in Gallery II after being stored for several years. The window was originally part of the Door of Promise, which served as the north entrance to the brick Harmonist Church built in 1822. Read more about the window's restoration.

Heritage Artisans Days Returns for 39th Season

Heritage Artisans Days returns to New Harmony this spring on April 12, 13, and 14. For 39 years, Historic New Harmony has had a tradition of inviting thousands of elementary school children to learn what life was like living in New Harmony in the early 1800s. Click here for more information or to volunteer for the event. 

"Grace" Us with Your Presence at Historic New Harmony's Annual Hat Luncheon

The “Three Graces” from Sandro Botticelli’s Primavera will be the focus of the keynote presentation by USI Associate Professor of Art History Dr. Shannon Pritchard at this year’s Spring Hat Luncheon. The annual fundraiser will be held on Saturday, April 22, 2023, from 11:00 am to 1:30 pm at the Rapp-Owen Granary in New Harmony. Purchase your tickets today!

FEBRUARY 2023 Edition

Assistant Director's Update
In my family, childhood vacations often felt more like school field trips than relaxing breaks. My mom, a former elementary teacher, loved to fill our family’s leisure time with educational visits to museums, historic sites, parks and other roadside attractions. Read more from our new Assistant Director, Diane Sanders

Atheneum Update
The Atheneum reopens on March 1 after a very busy off season. Read more about what occurred during the winter break

NHGCA Update
Our current exhibition, Climb In and Back Out Again, is a raw display of vulnerability exploring femininity, motherhood and way-finding. Melanie Cooper Pennington utilizes materials, methods and symbols to examine gendered issues around power, grief and desire. Learn more about the artist

Advisory Board Spotlight
Dr. Mark Krahling has been at USI for nearly 30 years. While his involvement with the Historic New Harmony Advisory Board just began, his appreciation of this community has been there since the beginning. Learn more about Mark

ISMHS Update
This winter, the Harmonist Labyrinth has been shinning bright at night to guide visitors through its hedges. For decades now, people have walked around the path of this replica Harmonist labyrinth to achieve a thoughtful, ponderous state leading to clarity and discovery. Read more on how the community came together to light the labyrinth 

James A. Sanders Spring ’23 Fellowship
As the Spring James A. Sanders fellow, Al Sheets will organize and curate shows in the Back Gallery Projects' space at New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art. The current display in the Back Gallery Projects is Hodge Podge, an exhibition highlighting the diversity of work brought together by members of the USI Art Club Learn more about the exhibition

Interim Assistant Director's Update
For those of you that have been reading this newsletter from the beginning, you might remember an article I wrote for the very first edition in June 2020 about our very own history mystery. After two years the mystery is (kind of) solved! Read more from Claire

NHGCA Update
Revelations, a solo exhibition featuring Chicago-based artist Cass Davis, has closed and two new exhibitions have opened! Learn more about these new exhibitions

Christmas in New Harmony
Believe it or not, the holiday season is here. Throughout town, businesses are preparing for one of our biggest weekends of the year: Christmas in New Harmony. Read how Historic New Harmony is participating in the festivities 

Three New Harmony Properties Sold
On Thursday, November 3, the University of Southern Indiana Board of Trustees approved the sale of three properties in New Harmony.Learn more about these sales

ISMHS Update
This year, it was my pleasure to prep and plan a spooky program for the New Harmony State Historic Site to host in October. Read more from Jess about the program 

Interim Assistant Director's Update
For those of you that have been reading this newsletter from the beginning, you might remember an article I wrote for the very first edition in June 2020 about our very own history mystery. After two years the mystery is (kind of) solved! Read more from Claire

NHGCA Update
Revelations, a solo exhibition featuring Chicago-based artist Cass Davis, has closed and two new exhibitions have opened! Learn more about these new exhibitions

Christmas in New Harmony
Believe it or not, the holiday season is here. Throughout town, businesses are preparing for one of our biggest weekends of the year: Christmas in New Harmony. Read how Historic New Harmony is participating in the festivities 

Three New Harmony Properties Sold
On Thursday, November 3, the University of Southern Indiana Board of Trustees approved the sale of three properties in New Harmony.Learn more about these sales

ISMHS Update
This year, it was my pleasure to prep and plan a spooky program for the New Harmony State Historic Site to host in October. Read more from Jess about the program 

Interim Assistant Director's Update
Last fall at a Historic New Harmony Advisory Board meeting, Provost Khayum shared his vision that all USI students would have an experience in New Harmony before they graduated. Spurred by his enthusiasm, members of the Advisory Board, the HNH team and USI faculty and staff came together to figure out how to fulfill that vision. Read more about the UNIV101 New Harmony Experience

ISMHS Update
Each year the New Harmony State Historic Site produces an exhibition in Thrall's Opera House on an aspect of The Golden Troupe. Hear from Jess as she shares some of the research she's completed for the next exhibition

Online Ticket Sales
We’ve listened to our visitors and have set up an online system for the purchase of New Harmony tour tickets.Learn how to purchase tour tickets in advance

Interim Assistant Director's Update
As summer winds down, I can’t help but look forward to my favorite season in New Harmony: fall. I’m ready for cooler temperatures, colorful leaves and Kunstfest. But before I get too ahead of myself, I thought I’d share what’s been happening in utopia this summer. Read more from Claire

A Reflection on Labyrinths
Last month, Dr. Del Doughty began his tenure as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts at USI. His love of labyrinths quickly led him to New Harmony, where he walked the Harmonist Labyrinth. Read his reflection

NHGCA Update
The New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art recently completed the first stage of long-overdue facilities upgrades in the main gallery space! Learn more about these upgrades and the first exhibition in the new space

Natural Dyes in Harmonist Times
The Harmonists created, adapted and adopted the new technologies of their day giving them a competitive edge in the growing early American economy, particularly in textile manufacturing—wool, cotton and silk—and agricultural production. Read more from In Harmony guest writer Peggy Taylor as she shares more on the history of natural dyeing

Family Fun Month
Multiple organizations all over the country are promoting their sites and special features for the entire month including the National Endowment for the Arts and Blue Star Families. Learn more about the Blue Star Museum program

Interim Assistant Director's Update
July brings both joy and sadness when it comes to the Historic New Harmony Advisory Board. It means welcoming new excited supporters, but also saying goodbye to some fantastic members. Read more about the Historic New Harmony Advisory Board

Atheneum Maintenance Update
Work on the Atheneum roof started this week! As work continues, the entire roof, second and third floors will be closed off to the public, including the Clowes Theater and the 1824 town model. Learn more about the work being completed

ISMHS Update
On June 4, the Indiana State Museum hosted a beekeeping class in Community House No. 2 titled “Beekeeping 101.” Hear from Jess as she shares more about the program

Second Saturday Programming Continues
This year seems to be flying by! We’re now halfway through the year (and our New Harmony Second Saturday programing). As our first year participating in Second Saturday, we’ve worked hard on developing a new and exciting program each month. Learn more about upcoming Second Saturdays

Interim Assistant Director's Update
Excitement is building in the HNH Office regarding our Lilly Religion and Cultural Institution Initiative planning grant. The survey is completed, results are being studied, site visits are being made and the possibilities seem endless. Read more about the planning grant process

The Atheneum
In March, Paul was contacted by a group of students from Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology in Xi'an, China. Their professor wanted them to have a deeper understanding of famous architects and their buildings. Read more about their work with the Atheneum

The Harmonist Brick Church and the “Door of Promise”
As we celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the "Door of Promise," learn more about the history of the Harmonist Brick Church in this month's History Lesson

NHGCA Update
Over the next few weeks, the gallery side of New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art will be closed for some exciting facilities upgrades. Learn more about these upgrades

Interim Assistant Director's Update
The HNH team has been incredibly busy, and we just didn’t get an April newsletter released. It felt weird not sitting down to write my monthly article, but it’s a new month and we’re ready to get back on track! Read more from Claire

“The Golden Troupe Superb Silver Band and Orchestra” Now Open in Thrall's Opera House
The Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites is once again utilizing the space in Thrall’s Opera House to display a new exhibit on New Harmony’s Golden family. “The Golden Troupe Superb Silver Band and Orchestra” gives visitors an insight into the band that supported one of the most popular theatrical companies of the late 1800s.  Learn more about the exhibit

A Note from HNH’s Spring Student Worker
This semester, Hanna Clark, a senior at USI double majoring in political science and world languages and cultures with a focus in Spanish, assisted our team with the Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative II planning grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. Read more about how she helped

More Perfect Places: A Theatrical Celebration of the Past, Present and Future
More Perfect Places, a play inspired by New Harmony’s utopian history, also invites you to imagine what the future holds for this unique community. Free performances will take place at Thrall’s Opera House June 10-11, 2022. Learn more about More Perfect Places

NHGCA Update
On April 30, New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art opened “Residence VI,” an exhibition featuring ceramics by recent New Harmony Clay Project (NHCP) artists-in-residenceLearn more about the artists included in this exhibition

Interim Assistant Director's Update
While names like George Rapp and Robert Owen dominate our historical record, the women of New Harmony played just as an important role. From Gertrude Rapp and Frances Wright to Mary Emily Fauntleroy and Jane Blaffer Owen, this town wouldn't be what it is today without them and others. As we celebrate Women’s History Month, I wanted to share with you a few of those women who I greatly admire. Learn more about the New Harmony women I admire

Museum Shop Update
Welcome back to another season with Historic New Harmony! As we start this new season, there are some new items in the museum shop that are definitely worth checking out. Read more about what's new

NHGCA Update
Visualizing Spaces opens March 12 (New Harmony’s Second Saturday), featuring work by regional and national artists examining ideas around what utopia is, and for whomLearn more about the artists included in this exhibition 

Adventures through the Archives
As a new manager of the Indiana State Museum’s historic sites in New Harmony, it has been my duty for the last four months to inventory, photograph and catalogue the thousands of artifacts the state museum stores in Community House No. 2. Read more about Jess' favorite artifacts

Interim Assistant Director's Update
We’re often asked if things are slow when the tour season ends and winter arrives. The truth is, not at all! The first few weeks of the year are all about preparation for the next tour season and the year ahead. Things have seemed especially busy this time around, as we have so many exciting things happening at HNH. Read more about what's happening

HNH Welcomes New Student Worker
In late January, HNH welcomed a new student worker. Hanna Clark, a senior at USI double majoring in political science and world languages and cultures with a focus in Spanish, will be assisting our team with the Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative II planning grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. Learn more about Hanna

Devout & Disciplined: Harmonists in New Harmony, 1814-1824 on Exhibit on USI's Campus
Devout & Disciplined: Harmonists in New Harmony, 1814-1824, shares the continuing story of religious separatists seeking refuge in America from the strict formation of the German Lutheran Church. The exhibition includes artifacts from the Working Men's Institute and Historic New Harmony collections. Read more about this exhibition

NHGCA Update
In spite of snow days and COVID outbreaks, Vanessa Viruet’s solo exhibition PAÑUELXS is up and on view through March 5, 2022. Hear more from Iris as she shares what's next

Interim Assistant Director's Update
When this year started, there were still a lot of unknowns as to what we’d be able to accomplish, but after weathering the storm of 2020, the Historic New Harmony team felt prepared to take on whatever came our way. We were ambitious as we began planning our 2021 season, and I’m happy to report that very little of what we planned did not come to fruition. Read more about we accomplished this year

A Look Ahead
As you read in Claire’s report on our activities and programs in 2021, the Historic New Harmony team was busy and is looking ahead to 2022 which shows no sign of stopping! At the top of our “To Do” list is embarking on a new strategic plan. This will inform our direction, priorities and engagement for the next five years. Learn more about what we have planned for 2022

Christmas Traditions
The way we celebrate Christmas had changed dramatically throughout the years.Read more about how New Harmony residents have celebrated in the past

NHGCA Update
The new year will start with a short break at the Gallery with PAÑUELXS opening January 22. Learn more about this upcoming exhibition

Robert Owen 250th Creative Writing Contest
Our Robert Owen 250th Celebration is coming to an end, which means our second and first place winners are now published! Read all the winning pieces

Interim Assistant Director's Update
When I sat down to write my update this month, I was at a bit of a loss. Not because I had nothing to report—quite the opposite in fact. The HNH staff has been so busy in the last month wrapping up our daily tour season and our Robert Owen 250th celebration, hosting Water/Ways and even looking ahead to next year (you’ll hear more details about what we have planned in next month’s newsletter). I just couldn’t decide what to share and then it hit me... Read more about what HNH is thankful for this year

NHGCA Update
The NHGCA continues its partnership with the New Harmony Clay Project with Filled Up 2: A Ceramic Cup Show. Learn more about the latest exhibition

New Harmony State Historic Site Welcomes Site Coordinator
On October 25th, Jess began her tenure at the New Harmony State Historic Site. Learn more about Jess

Robert Owen 250th Creative Writing Contest
Our third place winner is all the way from England! Read Barry Carter's poem here

Museum Shop Update
Written and illustrated by the talented Marsha Bailey and produced by the Kiwanis Club of New Harmony, this coloring book is full of important New Harmony scenes. Read more about this new coloring book

Christmas in New Harmony
Every December New Harmony celebrates Christmas in a big way! The first weekend of December hosts Christmas in New Harmony, a spirit filled weekend sure to get you in ready for the holiday. The town will be decorated in the Christmas spirit along with a tree lighting, a performance of the Nutcracker, Artisan Vendors throughout the town and even visits from a certain someone to see if you have been naughty or nice! Learn more about how we are participating in Christmas in New Harmony

Interim Assistant Director's Update
While the tour season seems to be winding down, everything else seems to be getting busier! This past month (really the last year), a lot of our focus has been on Water/Ways, a Smithsonian Museum on Main Street traveling exhibit made possible in Indiana by Indiana Humanities. This exhibition, which dives into water—an essential component of life on our planet, environmentally, culturally and historically, is only traveling to six locations in Indiana. New Harmony’s connection to the Wabash River is an important one, and this has given us a great chance to explore those connections while cultivating new partnerships. Learn more about these partnerships

Pioneer Hearth Cooking Demonstration
Cooking in the age of pioneers was a lot different than it is today! Join Historic New Harmony Interpreter Becky Smyth as she demonstrates pioneer hearth cooking in the Double Log Cabin

Museum Shop Update
New Harmony, Indiana: Like a River, Not a Lake has flowed its way back onto our shelves after a short hiatus. Written by Jane Blaffer Owen and edited by one of our own talented tour guides Nancy Mangum McCaslin, it also includes Forewords from John Philip Newell and J. Pittman McGehee and Afterwords from Anne Dale Owen and Jane Dale Owen. Learn more about this book

Robert Owen 250th Creative Writing Contest
Charlie Gaston's essay "Robert Owen: Protector of Workers" was chosen as an Honorable Mention in our Robert Owen 250th Creative Writing Contest. As a New Harmony resident, his personal history and connection to our town make for an intriguing read. Read it here

Systems | Bodies | Parameters now open at the NHGCA
The exhibition, which runs through November 13 features 12 lush abstract paintings with surfaces that have to be seen in person. Learn more about the artist