GARDEN OF LITERACY

Harriet Beecher Stowe Center Community Day

Saturday, April 20^th
Event begins from 12:00 – 5:00 pm | Open mic begins from 5:00 – 7:00 pm
Children’s reading circle and our new specialty family tour: Inheriting Freedom
Outdoor activities, giveaways, information tables, literary workshops, and ending with an Open Mic

(HARTFORD, CT) – The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center is pleased to announce our community event: Garden of Literacy! Held on Saturday, April 20^th, this program will have outdoor activities, literary workshops, a children’s reading circle and our new specialty tour Inheriting Freedom, and ending with an Open Mic.

“This is a day to celebrate spring, community, and Earth Day. We invite our neighbors and friends to join us on our grounds for a fun-filled day of activities, programs, and giveaways. Our hope for this day is to bring people together and appreciate nature,” said Cat White, Director of Collections and Public Programs.

We will offer games, giveaways, and information tables. There will be two paid literary workshops: Nurture & Nurture: How Nature Nurtures Our Creativity & Inspires Poetry hosted by Versatile Poetiq ($35) and Making the Impossible Possible: The Art of Social Justice Speculative Fiction hosted by Brenna Harvey ($35).

This event will be the first installation of our new spring/summer program The Children’s Literacy Corner, which will be hosted at Stowe the third Saturday of every month. The Children’s Literacy Corner will include a reading circle, library card signups and our new specialty tour Inheriting Freedom, an intergenerational tour experience that focuses on freedom, family, and education.

Karen Fisk, Executive Director, remarked: “The Stowe Center strives to make our space accessible, welcome, and supportive to all. The work we are doing, from the grounds to the buildings, is focused on how to best serve our neighborhood. Our special community days represent that as well as our goal of bringing community together.”

Erika Slocumb, Director of Interpretation and Visitor Experience, “the new intergenerational tour Inheriting Freedom, is a collaboration between myself and Brenna Harvey. It is a tour that is specifically tailored for children to grasp difficult historical topics and to engage in conversations about our collective past, our present, and our collective future. We have the opportunity to see how so many used the word, written and spoken to build freedom, not only for themselves but for the generations that followed.”

The events of the day will continue, rain or shine.

Media Partners may reach out to Christina Tom, Communications Manager, to schedule a tour or a photo opportunity at our event; email address CTom@StoweCenter.org.

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The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center is a museum, research library, and program center in Hartford, Connecticut. The Stowe Center’s mission is to encourage social justice and literary activism by exploring the legacy of Harriet Beecher Stowe. For general information and updates, visit www.HarrietBeecherStoweCenter.org.

School Group Interest Form

School Group Interest Form 2024

Thank you so much for your interest in a group tour at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center! Please help us schedule your visit by answering the questions below.

School name:

Please suggest three dates and times when your group would like to visit. (Note: the Stowe Center is closed on Sunday and Tuesday.)

Contact Teacher Name:

Contact Teacher Email:(Required)

Contact Teacher Phone Number:(Required)

Number of students expected to attend:(Required)

Please enter a number from 8 to 40.

Please identify the grade level(s) of attending students:(Required)

Likely number of chaperones (including other teachers):

The Stowe Center requires one adult per every 10 students.

Are there special student, teacher, or chaperone accommodations that can help us serve you best?

Do you plan to have lunch on site?

Yes, please.

No, thank you.

Are you interested in scheduling a joint visit with our neighbor, The Mark Twain House and Museum?

Yes, please

No, thank you.

If yes, have you already contacted The Mark Twain House?

Yes

Adult Group Interest Form

Group Tour Interest Form 2022

Thank you so much for your interest in a group tour at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center! Please help us schedule your visit by answering the questions below.

Group Name:

Name of Primary Contact:(Required)

Contact Email:(Required)

Contact Phone Number:(Required)

What date would you like to visit? (The Stowe Center typically books group tours for Thursday through Sunday visits.)

Expected number of visitors:(Required)

Please enter a number from 20 to 42.

Please indicate the number of adults, seniors, and children expected in your group:

Are there special accommodations that can help us serve you best?

Are you interested in a joint visit with our neighbor, The Mark Twain House and Museum?

Yes, please.

No, thank you.

If yes, have you already contacted The Mark Twain House?

Yes

Isabella Beecher Hooker

Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker (1822-1907)
An ardent member of the woman’s suffrage movement, Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker joined in the cause along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Isabella was the first child of Lyman Beecher and his second wife, Harriet Porter Beecher.

Isabella began her education at Catharine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary and lived with her sister Mary Perkins. In 1841 she married John Hooker, a descendant of Thomas Hooker, the founder of Hartford. John Hooker was a lawyer and an abolitionist.

In the early 1860s Isabella got involved in the woman’s suffrage movement. Isabella joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony as a member of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in 1869. She was a founding member of the Connecticut Woman’s Suffrage Association. Isabella’s ideas of equality were influenced by John Stuart Mills’ On Liberty and the Subjection of Women.

In 1871, Isabella organized the annual convention of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in Washington D.C. and presented her argument before the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate. Her husband, John Hooker, believed in his wife and supported her activities. He helped Isabella draft a bill to the Connecticut Legislature giving married women the same property rights as their husbands. The bill passed in 1877. Isabella annually submitted a bill granting women the right to vote, but it did not pass in her lifetime.