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From YouTube: Positively Vermont -Lindsay Varner of the Rokeby Museum
Description
Interview with Lindsay Varner, Director of the Rokeby Museum.
The museum’s website is www.rokeby.org. We encourage people to go here to follow our programs and learn more about the museum.
This video belongs to http://www.cctv.org and published with permission under Creative Commons License CCTV Center for Media & Democracy Programming is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
A
This
is
Dennis
and
welcome
to
positively
Vermont.
Today
my
guest
is
Dr
Lindsey
vonner,
director
of
the
local
B
Museum,
located
in
Ferrisburgh
Vermont,
which
is
a
nationally
significant
underground
railroad
story
tucked
into
a
quintessential
Vermont
experience.
That's
quite
a
mouthful
and
it's
going
to
be
a
very
interesting
talk.
We
are
going
to
have
about
the
Underground
Railroad
and
about
all
the
Roka
Beach
museum
has
to
offer.
Welcome
Lindsay.
First
of
all
tell
us
a
little
bit
about
yourself.
B
So
that's
for
my
area
of
expertise
really
lies
and
I
was
lucky
enough
to
start
my
role
at
rugby
at
the
end
of
2020,
so
in
the
middle
of
a
pandemic,
I
applied
for
the
job
here
was
interviewed
and
moved
to
Vermont
to
take
over
as
director
here
at
Rogue
B,
and
it's
been
such
a
wonderful
experience.
The
museum
just
does
fantastic
work,
looking
at
the
the
long
history
of
abolition
and
advocacy
and
how
that
really
impacts.
People
today,
in
particular,
regarding
things
like
the
social
justice
and
racial
Justice
movement,
that's
taking
place.
B
So
we
have
a
historic
Farmhouse
that
we
used
to
tell
the
story
of
the
Robinson
family
through
all
four
generations,
because
all
four
generations
did
live
in
that
house
and
along
with
that,
we
have
the
you
know
the
other
house,
which
is
kind
of
another
type
of
house
on
the
property.
There's
Smokehouse
slaughterhouse
Tool
Shed.
All
of
this
helps
us
to
tell
the
multifaceted
history
of
the
Robinson
family.
B
B
The
family
started
to
call
the
property
rokeby
and
what
we
think
we're
not
entirely
certain
why
this
was.
But
rokeby
is
a
very
well-known
poem
by
Sir
Walter
Scott.
It
is
a
Manor
House
in
England
in
County
Durham
in
Northeast
England,
and
it
is
a
place
that
we
find
across
the
U.S.
People
were
naming
their
houses
rugby
in
honor
of
this
poem
and.
B
One
thing
that
we
found
over
the
years
through
research
is
that
this
kind
of
idea
of
hiding
enslaved
people
wasn't
necessarily
something
that
we
were
seeing
in
Vermont.
There
weren't
slave
catchers,
necessarily
this
far
north.
So
it
we
have
stories
of
Freedom
Seekers
that
were
coming
to
rugby,
that
Rowland
and
Rachel
Robinson
were
helping
and
they
were
not
hiding
and
some,
including
Jesse,
whose
Story
We
Tell
in
our
exhibits
stayed
and
worked
here
for
some
time
and
saved
up
money.
B
B
But
the
reason
our
exhibit
is
free
and
safe
is
the
idea
that,
once
you
made
it
to
Vermont,
you
were
essentially
free
and
safe.
Whether
you
felt
welcomed
in
Vermont
is
a
whole
other
question
and
whether
people
decided
to
stay
in
Vermont
and
that's
a
whole
other
conversation,
but
we
by
following
the
Underground
Railroad
here
they
were
free
and
safe
and
could
start
to
build
a
life
elsewhere.
B
So
our
exhibits
and
our
Museum
really
explores
that
connection.
The
letters
within
our
collection
are
show
some
of
the
best
documented
resources
for
the
Underground
Railroad.
So
that's
where
our
national
landmark
status
actually
comes
from.
Are
these
this
collection
of
letters
that
we
have
making
us
one
of
the
best
documented
Underground
Railroad
sites
in
the
country.
A
B
Yeah,
so
the
National
Park
Service
does
the
national
register
designation
and
then
the
national
landmark
designations.
We
are
a
national
register
sites.
We
were
a
national
register
site
before
we
were
a
national
landmark
and
the
national
register
is
administered
by
the
states
and
we
were
initially
put
onto
the
national
register
for
Ryland
Evans
Robinson
and
his
work
as
a
writer
and
and
the
long
history
of
the
family
that
lived
on
this
site
when
the
museum
started
to
reach
search
more
of
the
Abolitionist
history.
Here.
A
B
It's
just
not
the
story
that
was
always
told
and
as
they
dug
into
the
collection
and
realized
just
the
extent
of
the
documentation
that
we
had
as
this
being
a
abolitionist
and
an
underground
railroad,
stop
that's
when
the
museum
applied
for
the
national
landmark
status
and
that's
a
very
select
number
of
places
from
across
the
country
that
are
designated
as
important
to
the
American
story.
So
these
are.
These
are
sites
of
national
significance
and
the
museum
is
deemed
one
of
those
sites
of
national
significance.
That's.
A
B
B
The
rural
New
Yorker
forest
and
stream,
which
today
is
Field
and
Stream.
He
did
these
Fantastical
cartoons
was
always
sketching
on
things
over
time.
He
started
to
lose
his
eyesight
and
when
he
lost
his
eyesight,
he
turned
to
writing
and
with
the
help
of
his
wife,
they
he
would
write
out
on
a
board
his
words
and
she
would
type
them
up
and
send
them
off
to
the
Publishers.
B
She
was
also
a
very
talented
artist.
She
did
a
lot
of
naturalist,
drawings,
animals
and
plants,
particularly
things
that
you
would
find
around
rugby.
So
we
you
get
a
really
good
feel
for
the
types
of
flowers
that
were
growing
around
rugby
and
the
animals
that
were
wandering
the
forests
in
the
fields.
Here
they
passed
that
love
of
art
onto
their
children
as
well,
and
their
daughter,
Rachel
Robinson
Elmer
became
a
very
well-known
commercial
artist.
In
the
early
20th
century
she
went
to
the
art
students
league
in
New.
B
B
So
the
family
really
has
this
incredible
collection
of
Arts
that
we
hold
here
at
the
Museum
and
I.
Think
one
of
the
most
spectacular
things
that
we
have,
because
the
Robinsons
didn't
throw
anything
away
and
is
that
we
have
this
very
rare
collection,
a
lot
of
places
that
our
art
museums
have
the
final
product.
They
have
the
the
last
the
the
final
painting
or
whatever
it
is,
but
we
have
every
piece
of
the
process
leading
up
to
that
final
product.
B
So
for
Rachel
last
year
we
did
an
exhibit
of
her
commercial
artwork
and
one
of
the
most
amazing
things
is
I
could
go
through
her
sketchbooks
and
see
the
many
versions
of
a
drawing
that
she
would
do
before.
She
would
come
up
with
the
final
drawing
that
we'd
end
up
published
in
one
of
the
books,
and
we
can
trace
the
step
from
her
playing
with
the
clothing
to
the
movement
of
the
arm
to
the
way
a
child
is
posed
or
sitting.
All
of
that
is
pieced
together,
and
then
we
have
the
final
product
as
well.
B
So
agriculture
is
Central
to
a
lot
of
the
work
that
was
taking
place
here
at
work.
We
threw
all
four
generations:
Thomas
Robinson
was
the
first
Robinson
to
live
here
at
rugby.
He
was
one
of
the
first
farmers
to
import
Mourinho
sheep
into
Vermont
and
that
really
set
the
family
up
for
the
first
few
Generations
is
being
incredibly
wealthy.
B
Rowland
is
well
known
in
the
American
anti-slavery
Society,
so
he's
a
national
figure
in
the
Abolitionist
movements,
he's
writing
directly
to
William
Lloyd
Garrison.
He
shows
up
in
the
Liberator
writing
articles,
so
he's
really
using
the
fact
that
he's
a
gentleman
farmer
almost-
and
this
gives
him
the
privilege
to
really
pursue
a
lot
of
his
abolitionist
and
anti-slavery
work,
so
that
Legacy
of
advocacy
is
something
that
we
really
look
at
here
at
rugby
and
the
one
thing
that
we
recognize
is
when
the
Civil
War
ends
and
slaves
are
emancipated.
B
That's
not
not
the
end
of
the
advocacy
work
that
a
lot
of
abolitionists
were
working
towards,
there's
still
a
long
ways
to
go
and
there's
a
long
history
of
abolition
and
advocacy
and
equal
rights
and
Justice,
and
that
is
work
that
is
continuing
on
today.
So
we
use
this
history
that
we
have
at
the
Museum
to
talk
about
how
history
really
impacts.
What
we
see
happening
in
our
world
today
and
we
use
this.
We
we
help
to
promote
and
to
talk
about
some
of
the
work
that
is
happening
in
our
communities.
A
What's
we're
recording
this
on
the
third
day
of
October
and
the
museum
is
going
to
close
at
the
end
of
this
month,
but
there's
a
continuing
series
of
projects
and
events
that
are
going
on
and
we'll
continue
throughout
the
year.
So
tell
us
a
little
bit
about
what's
going
on
and
what
will
be
going
on
through.
B
So
we
are
a
seasonal
Museum,
we're
open
May
to
October,
but
we
are
open
throughout
the
year.
We
do
virtual
programming
in
the
winter,
so
things
like
January
through
April
we'd,
run
a
winter
book,
Discussion
Group.
We
do
virtual
lectures
throughout
the
year
this
year
at
the
very
end
of
October.
Right
after
we've
closed,
we
do
a
program
called
spirits
of
rugby,
which
ties
into
the
spiritualist
history
that
took
place
here
at
rugby
and
the
seances
that
we
know
the
family
took
part
in.
B
So
it's
a
participatory
performance
where
you
get
to
participate
in
a
recreation
of
a
of
Robinson
Seance,
so
we're
doing
programming
all
the
time.
We
also
keep
the
Museum's
education
center
open
throughout
the
winter
for
school
groups
and
private
tours
that
want
to
come
in.
So
if
you
call
we
are
open
by
appointments
and
just
depending
on
the
weather,
you
may
or
may
not
be
able
to
get
into
anything
else
on
the
property,
because
the
snow
can
pile
up
but
a
lot
of
the
historic
buildings.
A
B
Yeah,
so
this
was
something
that
came
out
of
the
pandemic.
We
had
intended
in
2020
to
have
an
artist
in
Residence
to
do
a
series
of
programs
here
at
rokeby
and
when
the
pandemic
happened,
Courtney,
who
was
running
this
program,
who
was
our
artist
in
Residence,
was
in
Montreal.
She
wasn't
going
to
be
able
to
come
to
Vermont
and
to
undertake
this
program,
so
she
adapted
what
she
had
hoped
to
do
on
site
into
a
virtual
drawing
course.
It
was
completely
free.
B
It
used
the
inspiration
from
the
art
here
in
the
collection,
in
particular
the
early
art
education
of
Rachel
Robinson
Elmer.
Through
the
letters
we
can
trace
the
correspondence
art
course
that
she
took
and
she
used
that
correspondence
to
create
this
distance,
drawing
course
for
a
modern
audience
and
we
kept
it
completely
free.
It
is
still
on
our
website.
You
can
go
through
and
take
all
courses
that
she
had
put
together
and
she
weaves
into
it
the
history
of
rugby
and
and
Rachel's
education
as
an
artist.
B
A
B
Yeah,
so
rugby
is
a
non-profit,
so
we
do
seek
donations
during
an
annual
fund
and
throughout
the
year
to
help
with
our
operating
budget.
But
we
are
always
looking
for
volunteers.
Our
tours
that
run
throughout
the
year
for
the
public
during
mid-october's
opening
season
are
completely
run
by
volunteers.
So
we're
always
looking
for
tour
guides
or
docents
to
help
guide
visitors
who
are
coming
to
the
area.
B
A
lot
of
our
visitors
to
rugby
are
from
out
of
state,
so
they
don't
know
the
history
and
they're
eager
to
learn
more
about
the
Underground
Railroad
and
the
Robinson
family
and
Vermont's
role
in
history.
So
our
guides
play
a
very
important
role
in
helping
to
share
that.
So,
if
you're
interested
in
volunteering,
whether
it's
tour
guiding
working
in
our
collections
or
just
helping
around
the
site,
like
I
said
we
have
90
Acres,
we've
got
Trails
on
the
site,
so
we're
always
looking
for
grounds
maintenance,
people.
You
can
visit
our
website.
B
A
Great
well,
we
certainly
look
forward
to
hearing
more
about
you
as
ropey
goes
into
a
his
hibernation
for
the
winter
and
then
opens
up
next
year
and
we're
going
to
have
you
back
at
some
point.
We
describe
some
of
the
exhibits.
Do
you
have
any
long-term
plans
now
for
next
year
or
anything
you're
working
on
getting
at
the
Museum.
B
B
So
we're
going
to
have
a
lot
of
collections,
work
happening
over
the
next
couple
of
years,
moving
things
into
the
secure
space,
so
we're
going
to
need
a
lot
of
volunteers
to
help
with
that,
and
that
is
a
a
multi-year
project,
getting
things
cleaned
and
stored
into
this
building,
and
we
are
also
looking
at
Future
preservation
work
on
all
of
the
properties.
So
that's
a
long-term
project.
We're
going
to
be
looking
at
and
the
big
thing
within
our
exhibits
is
our
free
and
safe.
B
Exhibit
is
coming
up
to
10
years
old
next
year
and
it's
due
a
revamp.
A
lot
of
history
has
changed.
We've
learned
a
lot
more
language
has
changed
since
that
exhibit
was
initially
put
in
and
I'm
hoping
that
we'll
be
updating
that
exhibit
in
the
next
couple
of
years
and
that's
going
to
be
a
major
project
going
on
here
at
the
Museum.
That's.