Smithsonian Exhibit – Crossroads: Change in Rural America

Crossroads

Sunday, February 5, 2023, None Specified
Crossroads will be on display in the Great Hall of the Great Falls Discovery Center Feb. 5 – March 18.

The Montague Public Libraries are glad for the opportunity to collaborate with the DCR, RiverCulture, Friends of the Great Falls Discovery Center, PVMA, and NEPM in supporting programming for "Crossroads: Changes in Rural America."

In 1900, about 40% of Americans lived in rural areas. By 2010, less than 18% of the U.S. population lived in rural areas. Massive economic and social changes led to massive growth of America’s cities. Through a partnership with the world’s largest museum complex, the Friends of the Great Falls Discovery Center proudly hosts “Crossroads: Changes in Rural America,” a traveling exhibit produced by the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum on Main Street program in partnership with Mass Humanities. The exhibition offers small towns a chance to look at their own paths to highlight the changes that affected their fortunes over the past century. Includes local exhibits on Franklin County, the most rural mainland county in Massachusetts – with Crossroads related programming venues throughout the county. Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress.

Crossroads will be on display in the Great Hall of the Great Falls Discovery Center Feb. 5 – March 18, in collaboration with the Friends of the Great Falls Discovery Center, the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the town of Montague’s RiverCulture, the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Montague Public Libraries, and New England Public Media.

Crossroads: Change in Rural America has been made possible in Turners Falls, MA at the Great Falls Discovery Center by Mass Humanities. The exhibition is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and State Humanities Councils nationwide. Support for Museum on Main Street has been provided by the United States Congress.

Smithsonian Exhibit – Crossroads: Changing Storefronts in Turners Falls

Downtown Turners Falls Avenue A, Turners Falls, MA
See the village’s ever changing downtown through reproduced images courtesy of the Montague Historical Society Archive. This self-guided storefront exhibition is an open invitation to think about local, regional and national changes in “doing business” in rural America. At participating restaurant and retail stores in downtown Turners Falls including: LOOT, Breakdown Records, The Shea Theater, The Rendezvous, Responsive Classrooms, Buckingham Rabbits Vintage, The Five Eyed Fox, LOOT, Swanson’s Fabrics, Turners Falls Pizza, Great Falls Harvest, Upper Bend, and Rist Insurance.

Crossroads: Whose Viewpoint? Exhibition of Historic Franklin County Images

Great Falls Discovery Center 2 Avenue A, Turners Falls, MA

In the Great Falls Discovery Center’s Hallway Gallery, near the dioramas, the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA) presents reproductions of historic maps, illustrations, photographs, and paintings exploring perspectives of the image makers. How are our rural places represented in the media? Maps, illustrations, photographs, and paintings were the media of the past. Like today, the makers of these images and documents had viewpoints—both visual and attitudinal—that carried influence. Whose perspectives are we seeing? Whose viewpoints are missing?
“Crossroads: Change in Rural America” will be on view at the Great Falls Discovery Center, 2 Avenue A in Turners Falls from February 5 to March 18, 2023. The exhibition is part of Museum on Main Street, a collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution and Mass Humanities.