The Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street Exhibit

Mohawk Trail Regional School (MTRS) is proud to have been a host site for the 2025–2026 Smithsonian Institution’s Voices and Votes: Democracy In America tour.

From April 19, 2025, through May 29, 2025, we enjoyed having this small but mighty exhibit in the Mohawk Trail Regional High School library where it greeted, engaged, and informed guests and groups.

More Voices, More Votes

With support from Mass Humanities and Local Cultural Councils, we are offering additional democracy-related events from December 2025 through December 2026. Some are still in the planning stages (there may be additions!), but most are confirmed! All events are free and open to the public.

We kicked off the year in December 2025 by remembering the Boston Tea Party with a talk by Emily Dickinson Museum director Jane Wald. Wald touched on the social functions of tea in 19th-century America (and at the end of the 18th century with the Boston Tea Party) and showed photographs of tea paraphernalia in the museum’s collection.

This event was co-sponsored by the Friends of the Tyler Memorial Library, with support from Mass Humanities and the Charlemont-Hawley Arts Council.

Programs in 2026, hosted largely in the Mohawk Trail Regional School Library:

In May, we hosted a program featuring William Apess, the early Native American autobiographer (and Colrain son), with artist Deborah Spears Moorehead and scholar Drew Lopenzina, in the Mohawk Trail Regional school library. Moorehead painted a portrait of Apess, which now resides in the school, and Lopenzina is a noted Apess scholar. The recording may be viewed here.

The Trivia Night with the League of Women Voters was a huge hit, as the event returned by popular demand, with participants from across the generations. Senator Paul Mark welcomed attendees and local personality Kay Lyons “emceed” the event.

MoMS and the Charlemont Forum presented Austin Sarat, of Amherst College for a lecture and questions about the Future of Democracy in the school library. To view this presentation, click here. (Note: The sound improves as the recording progresses.)

In early August, at the Hawley Meeting House, soprano Tinky Weisblat, pianist Jerry Noble, MTRS student Landon Clark, and friends came together for “Of Thee I Sing: A History of the United States through Song.” In this special semiquincentennial program, townspeople read the Declaration of Independence, after which Tinky contextualized music that marked important trends in American History. Singing ensued at this free event that was part of Hawley Day, the annual reunion of the Sons & Daughters of Hawley.

Save these Dates!

Monday, October 19, through Friday, November 13

The exhibit Frederick Douglas: Advocate for Equality will be on display in the Mohawk Trail Regional school library. It will be open to the public on Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon to 2 p.m. and during the Douglass event below.

Thursday, October 29, 7 p.m.

Reading Frederick Douglass Together

Students and guests will take turns reading “What to the Slave Is the Fourth of July,” the seminal speech by Frederick Douglass, in the school library. Refreshments and discussion will follow.

About This Program

Mass Humanities believes everyone deserves access to quality museum exhibitions. That’s why they partner with small towns to bring the Smithsonian’s Museum on Main Street (MoMs) to Massachusetts, with the goal of engaging small town audiences and revitalizing attention to rural communities.

Through This Program, You Can:

• Attend free public events featuring exhibits curated by the Smithsonian and local historians.
• Revitalize civic discourse in rural communities.
• Spark local storytelling, history, and conversation with friends and neighbors.
• Create exhibits, programs, and events that put local history in conversation with national history.