Welcome to the conversation!


Welcome to the conversation!

Harriet Beecher Stowe's (1811-1896) best-selling anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), made her the most famous American woman of the 19th century and galvanized the abolition movement before the Civil War.

The Stowe Center is a 21st-century museum and program center using Stowe's story to inspire social justice and positive change.

The Salons at Stowe programs are a forum to connect the challenging issues (race, gender and class) that impelled Stowe to write and act with the contemporary face of those same issues. The Salon format is based on a robust level of audience participation, with the explicit goal of promoting civic engagement. Recent topics included: Teaching Acceptance; Is Prison the New Slavery; Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North; Creativity and Change; Race, Gender and Politics Today; How to be an Advocate

This blog will expand the reach of these community conversations to the online audience. Add your posts and comments to keep the conversation going! Commit to action by clicking HERE to stay up to date on Salon and social justice news.

For updates on Stowe Center programs and events, sign up for our enews at http://harrietbeecherstowe.org/email.

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Take action today for Museums Advocacy Day!

Today is Museums Advocacy Day! We hope you will (re)read our blog post from last week, Museums Advocacy Day 2014, about the importance of museums and our hope that you, as a friend of the Stowe Center, will encourage your Congressional leaders to support museums as as historic and cultural sites, institutions of learning, program centers, and community anchors.


Below are statistics about museums as well as ways you can take action today and show your support of museums! (courtesy of the American Alliance of Museums)


Did You Know?
Museums spend more than $2 billion a year on education; the typical museum devotes three-quarters of its education budget to K-12 students.
  • Museums directly contribute $21 billion to the U.S. economy each year. They generate billions more through indirect spending by their visitors.
  • The nonprofit arts and culture industry annually generates over $135 billion in economic activity, supports more than 4.1 million full-time jobs and returns over $22 billion in local, state and federal tax revenues. 
  • Governments that support the arts see an average return on investment of over $7 in taxes for every $1 that the government appropriates.
  • 78% of all U.S. leisure travelers participate in cultural or heritage activities. These travelers—including visitors to museums—spend 63% more on average than other leisure travelers.
  • At least 22% of museums are located in rural areas and engage in programs to bring education and access to their materials to their communities in a variety of ways.
While many working in the museum field know that museums play a key role in education, job creation, tourism, economic development and more, elected officials are not fully aware of our enormous impact. Help us spread the word about the importance of museums on this, our sixth Museums Advocacy Day.


What You Can Do: Advocate from Anywhere
This year, wherever you are, you can use our updated tools and materials to join the nationwide effort to make the case for museums.





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