"EARLY TOURISM" SUBJECT OF COOLIDGE SITE LECTURE

Plymouth Notch, VT.-- Jacqueline Calder, curator of the Vermont
Historical Society, will address the subject of "Vermont Tourism
Between the Wars" at the President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site
on Sunday, October 4, 1998 at 2:00 PM.  Ms. Calder's slide
presentation is the last in a series of lectures devoted to various
aspects of the "Roaring Twenties."  The series complements a major
20's exhibition at the historic site, both of which are funded by a
grant from the Vermont Council on the Humanities.

     What was it like to be a tourist in Vermont between World War I &
II?  What was there to see and do?  Who was promoting the state
to travelers, and why did Vermont want people to visit?  Calder
will address these questions and other issues including the
effects of the 1927 Flood,  the Green Mountain Parkway
controversy, and the beginnings of the signage and billboard
debate.  Some of Vermont's early tourism proponents, such as
James P. Taylor, Dorothy Canfield Fisher, and Perry Merrill, will
be highlighted.

     Jacqueline Calder has been curator of the VHS since 1990 and
currently serves as president of the Vermont Museum & Gallery
Alliance.  Her Plymouth lecture is based on research for the
exhibition, "Tourists Accommodated: Visiting Vermont 1895 -
1995," which can be seen at the Vermont Historical Society museum
in Montpelier.

     Owned and operated by the Vermont Division for Historic
Preservation, The President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site
is regarded as the best preserved presidential birthplace in the
nation.  The site is open daily 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM through October
18; ten buildings are on the tour.

     Ms. Calder's lecture will be held in the village's Union Christian
Church, which is handicap accessible.   For further information about
this and other special events at the Coolidge State Historic Site,
call 802-672-3773.