Montpelier ~ The Appalachian Mountain Club's Hut System is a unique institution in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Dartmouth College Professor Allen Koop will discuss its history in an illustrated lecture at Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro on May 6. His talk, “The White Mountain Huts,” is part of the Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays lecture series and takes place at 7:00 p.m.

Koop will explain how the history of the huts reflects the larger issues of American history, but also how the huts and their people have formed a society with its own history, traditions, and legends.

Professor Allen Koop earned his Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania. He lectures in the History Department at Dartmouth College, primarily on 20th century European history and on the American health care system.

The Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays series is held on the first Wednesday of every month from October through May, featuring speakers of national and regional renown. Talks are held at Brooks Memorial Library.

First Wednesdays is also presented in eight other communities statewide: Burlington (at Fletcher Free Library); Manchester (at First Congregational Church, hosted by Mark Skinner Library); Middlebury (at Ilsley Public Library); Montpelier (at Kellogg-Hubbard Library); Newport/Stanstead, Quebec (at Goodrich Memorial Library and Stanstead College, in alternating months); Norwich (at Norwich Congregational Church, hosted by Norwich Public Library and Norwich Historical Society); Rutland (at Rutland Free Library); and at St. Johnsbury Athenaeum. The program is free, accessible to people with disabilities and open to the public.

The 2008-9 Brattleboro talks conclude with “American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies in the Founding of the Republic” with Pulitzer Prize winner Joseph Ellis on June 3 (rescheduled from January).

The Vermont Department of Libraries and Windham Foundation are the statewide underwriters of First Wednesdays. Brooks Memorial Library is sponsored by Brattleboro Savings & Loan, Downs Rachlin Martin PLLC, Entergy Vermont; Friends of Brooks Memorial Library, and Merrill-Lynch, Brattleboro.

“The White Mountain Huts” is sponsored by The Woodstone Company.

For more information, contact Brooks Memorial Library at 802.254.5290 or contact the Vermont Humanities Council at 802.262.2626 or info@vermonthumanities.org, or visit www.vermonthumanities.org.

The Vermont Humanities Council is a private nonprofit working to bring the power and the pleasure of the humanities to all Vermonters—of every background and in every community. The Council envisions a state in which every individual learns throughout life—a state in which all its citizens read, reflect, and participate in public affairs.

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