About Public Programs at the Stickley Museum

During the first decade of the 20th century, education was of great concern to many reformers: People like John Dewey and Prince Peter Kropotkin argued for a combined manual and academic education. Stickley had no doubt about where he stood:

 “I purpose to bring forward prominently the ethical value of systematic training in handicrafts and to support my argument by instituting a thorough course of education along the most practical lines. . .” 

For him Craftsman Farms would be

 “...a summer home and school for students of farming and handicrafts. While grown people are welcome, the chief object of the school’s existence is to provide an opportunity for the instruction of boys and girls whose parents desire for them a method of training that will enable them to earn a living in whatever circumstances they may happen to be placed.” 

Gustav Stickley’s dream was never fully realized, but in a sense it exists today because the need for it still exists.  Perhaps he himself best expresses this when, speaking of the general Craftsman movement, he says,

 “It stands for the rights of the children to health and happiness, through an education that will develop hands as well as heads; an education that will give them that love and enthusiasm for useful work which is every child’s rightful heritage, and fit them to take their places as efficient members of a great democracy.” 

We invite you to experience our educational programs, offered in the spirit of Gustav Stickley’s original dreams for Craftsman Farms and made fully relevant to our 21^st century lives.