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'Remembering the American Revolution' student exhibit at Henry Sheldon Museum includes donation box, comic and powder horns
Summary
Middlebury College students presented artifacts — a Washington Monument donation box, a Crispus Attucks comic from the 1960s Golden Legacy series, and 18th‑century powder horns — at the Henry Sheldon Museum; the exhibit opens May 20 (4–6 p.m.) and runs through early January.
Students from Middlebury College’s course 'Remembering the American Revolution, 1776 to 2026' presented objects and brief research talks at the Henry Sheldon Museum ahead of a student‑curated exhibit.
Brooke, a senior at Middlebury, described a small 19th‑century donation box used by the Washington National Monument Society to solicit modest contributions from post office patrons. "This box actually tells us quite a different story," Brooke said, noting the society asked postmasters nationwide to place boxes so citizens could donate a few cents per visit; government funding later completed the monument in 1884.
Noah discussed a Golden Legacy graphic novel about Crispus Attucks, saying the comic recenters Attucks’s role in the Boston Massacre and foregrounds black Americans’ revolutionary‑era experiences. Noah connected the comic’s 1960s publication to work by Joan Baucus and the civil‑rights era’s efforts to preserve Black neighborhood history. "Representation matters and black history is American history," a student commented.
Sabrina and Henry presented two powder horns dated to the 1770s donated by local families; one was identified as Amaria Storrs’s horn (made in 1775) and another as Benjamin Agard’s horn (1771), donated by Orrin Abbey. Presenters described engraved imagery — ships, houses, mythical figures — as both practical identification and personal expression used by soldiers.
The students invited the public to the exhibit opening on Wednesday, May 20 from 4–6 p.m.; they said the exhibit will remain on view through early January and that the Henry Sheldon Museum is open Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. The exhibit was created with support from Middlebury’s Axon Humanities Lab.
