CHS will be holding its annual summer fest and plant sale on Saturday
July 6. Those interested in vendor space should contact margoc@tds.net or call 802-226-7807. The Stone
Church will be open and available for tours that day.
Friday, April 12, 2013
CHS News 4/12/13
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Volunteer Opportunities at the Cavendish Historical Society
Updated
4/10/13
MAKE A
DIFFERENCE IN OUR COMMUNITY AND VOLUNTEER!
Become
a Cavendish Historical Society (CHS) volunteer and learn more about Cavendish,
make new friends, meet interesting people, share your skills and gain new ones
and help leave an important legacy for future generations.
A wide
variety of volunteer positions exist at the Cavendish Historical Society (CHS).
Please visit frequently for updates.
Unless
posted otherwise, contact Margo Caulfield margoc@tds.net
or call 802-226-7807 for volunteering or for more information.
Summer
Fest-July 6: Help
is needed with the plant sale, including donations of plants; selling of raffle
prizes etc.
Raffle
Prize Ticket Sellers:
CHS is conducting a raffle, which includes 10 prizes all connected to
Cavendish-paintings by the artist Craig Rankin; original 1927 flood photograph;
Delicious Cavendish (food items made in Cavendish); Out and About in Cavendish
(Fun things to do in Cavendish); Historic Cavendish (a collection of
interesting items from CHS) and more.
The drawing will be held on July 27 at 1pm at the Stone Church. Tickets
are $5 a piece.
Docents: Interested in learning more
about the Museum’s collection as well as the famous and infamous of Cavendish,
then this is the job for you. Docents are needed to staff the Museum on Sundays
from 2-4 pm.
Hands
on History:
CHS provides a variety of workshops to the school, home school groups as well
as to the community throughout the year. We are currently offering a series on
WWII and will be doing gravestone cleaning in May and June. Volunteers are
needed to help with workshops, which are often during the day
Monday-Friday.
Fundraising: Need ideas and volunteers to
conduct fundraisers
Board
Members: Help
shape CHS by being on the board. The commitment is five meetings a year.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Cavendish Farewell Speech 2/28/94
The following
speech was given by Alexksandr Solzhenitsyn and interpreted by his son Stephan.
Citizens of
Cavendish, our dear neighbors,
At town meeting
seventeen years ago I told you about my exile and explained the necessary steps
which I took to ensure a calm working environment, without the burden of
constant visitors.
You were very
understanding; you forgave my unusual way of life, and even took it upon
yourselves to protect my privacy. For this, I have been grateful throughout all
these years; and today, as my stay here comes to an end, I thank you. Your
kindness and cooperation helped to create the best possible conditions for my
work.
The eighteen
years which I have spent here have been the most productive of my life. I have
written absolutely everything I wanted to. I offer today those of my books that
have been translated into English to the town library.
Our children
grew up and went to school here, alongside your children. For them, Vermont is
home. Indeed, our whole family has come to feel at home among you. Exile is
always difficult, and yet I could not imagined a better place to live, and
wait, and wait for my return home than Cavendish.
And so this
spring in May, my wife and I are going back to Russia, which is going through
one of the most difficult periods in its entire history-a period of rampart
poverty, a period where standards of human decency have fallen, a period of
lawlessness and economic chaos. That is the painful practice we had to pay to
rid ourselves of Communism, during whose seventy-year reign of terror sixty
million people died just from the regime’s war on its own nation. I hope that I
can be of at least some small help to my tortured nation, although it is
impossible to predict how successful my efforts will be. Besides, I am not
young.
I have observed
here in Cavendish, and in the surrounding towns the sensible and sure process
of grassroots democracy where the local population decides most of its problems
on its own, not waiting for the decision of higher authorities. Alas, this we
still do not have in Russia, and that is our greatest shortcoming.
Our sons will
complete their education in America, and the house in Cavendish will remain
their home.
Lately, while I
have been walking on the nearby roads, taking in the surroundings with a
farewell glance, I have found every meeting with many of you to be warm and
friendly.
Friday, March 29, 2013
CAVENDISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY ANNUAL MEETING
Due to a snowstorm, the Cavendish Historical Society Annual Meeting, originally scheduled for Feb. 24, was cancelled and has been rescheduled for April 14 (Sunday), 5pm at Gethsemane Episcopal Church Parish Hall, off of Depot Street in Proctorsville. There will be a potluck supper, short meeting, and the film “The Homecoming” will be shown. Documenting the two-month train journey across Russia, under taken by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn upon his return home, Solzhenitsyn lived in exile for 20 years, including 18 years in Cavendish, VT. Solzhenitsyn, the man who experienced and revealed to the world the full horror of the Soviet gulag, is recognized throughout Russia as 'the conscience of the nation'. But despite the triumphant and emotional homecoming, this is no easy ride for Solzhenitsyn, his wife and American sons. Instead, they abandon their refuge in America to find their trans-Siberian trip from Vladivostok to Moscow dogged by the KGB, the Russian Mafia, old-style communist bosses, the tragic plight of ordinary Russians and the echoes of its even more terrible past.
Friday, March 8, 2013
Solzhenitsyn Exhibit
Aleksandr
Solzhenitsyn, soviet dissident and Nobel Laureate for literature lived in
Cavendish from 1976 to 1994. During this time, he wrote the “Red Wheel.”
Because of the interest in his time in the United States, in 2012, the Cavendish
Historical Society (CHS) began working with Solzhenitsyn’s family on a
three-fold project:
• Maintain a permanent
exhibit, whose primarily focus is the 18 years Solzhenitsyn lived in Cavendish
VT.
•
Obtain oral histories, archives and documentation pertaining to his life in
Cavendish
•
Outreach to community, including schools and organizations, in order to promote
an understanding of Solzhenitsyn’s work and the role life in Cavendish played
in it.
The future home
of the Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn exhibit is the Cavendish Universalist “Stone”
Church.
Under the
leadership of Rev. Warren Skinner, a well-known abolitionist, the building was
completed and dedicated in 1844. The construction was snicked ashlar. This technique
refers to walls constructed with exterior and interior surfaces composed of
mortared stone slabs arranged vertically on edge, tied together with smaller
horizontal slabs called "snecks." The space between the wall surfaces
was filled with rubblestone. Oral tradition indicates that Scottish stonemasons
working in Canada were responsible for introducing the technique into Vermont.
Buildings of this type date from 1832 to 1860. The stones used for the church
came from local quarries.
While much of
the interior of the church remains as built, it was equipped with power
sometime after 1908. “New” wood burning stoves were added in the early 1900’s
but it appears that the Church was primarily used in the summer months starting
in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Decommissioned as a church in 1960, it was leased to
the Cavendish Historical Society in the 1970’s and was added to the National
Register of Historic Places in 1973.
On March 4, 2013, the citizens of the Town of Cavendish
voted to accept the deed of the Church from the Vermont Quebec Universalist
Unitarian Convention, which will be given to the town on May 11, 2013.
CHS is working
with the Preservation Trust of Vermont on the restoration of the building.
Those wishing to
help support this Solzhenitsyn Exhibit can do so by making a tax-deductible
contribution to the Cavendish Historical Society and send to CHS, PO Box 472,
Cavendish, VT 05142. CHS is a 501 © 3 non-profit.
For more
information about CHS, the Solzhenitsyn Exhibit or ways to become involved
please call 802-226-7807, e-mail margoc@tds.net
or mail PO Box 472, Cavendish, VT 05142.
Monday, March 4, 2013
Thank you Cavendish Voters
The voters at Cavendish Town Meeting on March 4, overwhelming voted in favor of accepting the gift of the historic Universalist Stone Church from the Universalist Unitarian Convention of Vermont and Quebec. The building will have a multi purpose use-the home of the permanent Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn exhibit and a small venue for plays, concerts, lectures etc.
Friday, March 1, 2013
Solzhenitsyn Videos Available On-Line
Updated July 25, 2017
The following videos are in English or have English subtitles.
The following videos are in English or have English subtitles.
Videos about Solzhenitsyn
Great Writers (48.41 minutes): Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Presents the story of the
writer’s life, as well as examines the social and political events that
influenced their works. This program includes insightful commentary as well as
archival documents and rare interviews.
One Word of Truth (27.15 minutes) Nobel Prize acceptance speech
Receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature (8:07 minutes): Although awarded in 1970,
Solzhenitsyn could not claim it in person until 1974
The Dialogues with Solzhenitsyn (19 part series in 10
minute lengths): Alexandre Sokourov interviews Alexandre Solzhenitsyn
Trilogy by Sergei
Miroshnichenko Russian with English subtitles
Trilogy I: Live Not by Lies (56.09 Minutes) 2001
Trilogy II: On the Final Stretch (45.25 Minutes)
Trilogy III: The Word (57.44 minutes): 2009 Includes scenes from Solzhenitsyn’s funeral
and his widow’s reflections.
Videos/Films of Sozhenitsyn’s Books
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1963 47.17 minutes) Bob Hope Presents Chrysler
Theater
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1970 1:39:20 Minutes)
In the First Circle (2007) Screenplay written by Solzhenitsyn. Last major work before his death, this is an eight part series.
In the First Circle (2007) Screenplay written by Solzhenitsyn. Last major work before his death, this is an eight part series.
Other
“Solzhenitsyn Reader” Book Launch 2006 (53.21 minutes)
Ignat Solzhenitsyn’s Lecture on "The Red Wheel: and Life in Cavendish
One Minute Per Day: Solzhenitsyn's Television program in Russia
One Minute Per Day: Solzhenitsyn's Television program in Russia
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