PART TWO OF THE FOUR-PART HISTORY LECTURE SERIES

250 YEARS: LOOKING BACK & LOOKING AHEAD

HELD AT THE NORMAN WILLIAMS PUBLIC LIBRARY

CO-HOSTED BY THE WOODSTOCK HISTORY CENTER

IRA ALLEN & THE GREEN MOUNTAIN FRONTIER

with historian Kevin Graffagnino

Land speculator, revolutionary, pamphleteer, politician, and empire builder, Ira Allen was a key figure on the Green Mountain frontier. In a remarkable Vermont pioneer generation that included such noteworthy leaders as Ethan Allen, Thomas Chittenden, Moses Robinson, Isaac Tichenor, and Stephen Row Bradley, Allen stood out for his extraordinary energy, vision, and accomplishments. Allen helped create and sustain the independent State of Vermont; held such important state offices as treasurer, surveyor general, and member of the Governor’s Council; published hundreds of pages defending Vermont against a host of internal and external enemies; and represented Vermont in negotiations with the British Empire, other American states, and Congress.

About the Speaker:

J. Kevin Graffagnino is author/editor of 17 books on Vermont history, including The Shaping of Vermont, Vermont in the Victorian Age, and Vermont Heritage: Essays on Green Mountain History, 1779-1920. His most recent books are Ira Allen: A Biography and Vermontiana: An Annotated Checklist, 1764-1899, both of which came out in 2024. Dr. Graffagnino was curator of Vermont history at the University of Vermont library’s Special Collections 1978-95 and executive director of the Vermont Historical Society 2003-08. 

Ira Allen and the Green Mountain Frontier is a Vermont Humanities program, hosted by the Woodstock History Center and the Norman Williams Public Library, and supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this program do not necessarily represent those of the NEH, the Vermont Humanities, or the hosting partners.