Executive Director to Retire May 2018

August 1, 2017

The Harriet Beecher Stowe Center today announced Katherine Kane’s retirement as Executive Director effective May 2018. Kane has held the position since 1998.

“Serving as Executive Director of a 21st century museum that inspires social justice and positive change has been an honor and a privilege,” said Kane. “I look forward to working with the staff and board to ensure a smooth transition to a new leader who will carry on the Center’s mission.”

Under Kane’s leadership, the Stowe Center has transformed from a private foundation to a publicly-oriented museum with a diverse audience, a myriad of programs, and expanded regional and national partnerships.

Now a program center and tourist attraction, the Stowe Center is a place where people from all 50 states and 20 countries gather to take inspiration from Harriet Beecher Stowe whose words changed the world with her 1852 anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In addition to those who visit, the Stowe Center annually engages online with more than 300,000 people from countries around the globe including Pakistan, Argentina, India and the United Kingdom.

Innovative programs developed during Kane’s tenure include award winning Salons at Stowe, bringing the public into the parlor for conversations on contemporary issues, the Harriet Beecher Stowe Prize for Writing to Advance Social Justice — most recently awarded to Bryan Stevenson for his memoir Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption — and the Student Stowe Prize. Kane also oversaw the recently completed Stowe House interior preservation — the first major renovation since the National Historic Landmark opened in 1968 — as well as development of an inventive new tour experience.

The Stowe Center’s program approach has gained considerable attention from other museums and the public. Recent colleague visits include The Historic Ford Estates, the National Park Service, Trustees of Reservations, the New England Museum Association, the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, and the Thomas Cole Historic Sites. Ms. Kane has spoken about Stowe Center tours and programs at industry conferences around the country and in Denmark and Japan.

“For nearly 20 years, Katherine Kane has shown tremendous vision and leadership,” said Thomas O. Farrish, Chair of the organization’s Board of Trustees. “Her courage to transform the Stowe Center into a community-focused entity and her willingness to take on difficult discussion topics mark her as an exceptional leader who has left her imprint on the institution.”

Susan Johnson, Board of Trustees Vice Chair added “Katherine has been immensely valuable to the Stowe Center and to the Hartford community. We will miss her intelligence, professionalism and camaraderie as we move into a new chapter in the Stowe Center’s nearly 50-year history.”

In addition to her impact at the Stowe Center, Ms. Kane is a museum leader at both the state and federal levels, serving on the American Association of Museums Accreditation Commission and currently as chair of the governing council of the American Association for State and Local History.

Ms. Kane received the NCCJ Human Relations Award in 2014, was appointed to the American Antiquarian Society in 2011, received the Hartford Permanent Commission on the Status of Women annual award in 2011, and the Civitan Citizen of the Year Award in 2005. She has been a frequent contributor to museum publications and has participated on multiple panels for the National Endowment for the Humanities and Institute for Museum & Library Services.

Prior to serving as Stowe Center Executive Director, Ms. Kane was Director of the Collections Services and Access Division at History Colorado, and Director of Special Projects at the Denver Art Museum. She has a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Denver and an M.A. in Anthropology from the University of Colorado and was a fellow in the Getty Trust’s Museum Management Institute.

A board committee will be formed to begin a nationwide search for Ms. Kane’s successor.

School Group Interest Form

School Group Interest Form 2023

Thank you so much for your interest in a group tour at the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center! Please help us schedule your visit by answering the questions below.

School name:

Please suggest three dates and times when your group would like to visit. (Note: the Stowe Center is closed on Sunday and Tuesday.)

Contact Teacher Name:

Contact Teacher Email:(Required)

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Number of students expected to attend:(Required)

Please enter a number from 8 to 40.

Please identify the grade level(s) of attending students:(Required)

Likely number of chaperones (including other teachers):

The Stowe Center requires one adult per every 10 students.

Are there special student, teacher, or chaperone accommodations that can help us serve you best?

Do you plan to have lunch on site?

Yes, please.

No, thank you.

Are you interested in scheduling a joint visit with our neighbor, The Mark Twain House and Museum?

Yes, please

No, thank you.

If yes, have you already contacted The Mark Twain House?

Yes

Isabella Beecher Hooker

Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker (1822-1907)
An ardent member of the woman’s suffrage movement, Isabella Holmes Beecher Hooker joined in the cause along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.

Isabella was the first child of Lyman Beecher and his second wife, Harriet Porter Beecher.

Isabella began her education at Catharine Beecher’s Hartford Female Seminary and lived with her sister Mary Perkins. In 1841 she married John Hooker, a descendant of Thomas Hooker, the founder of Hartford. John Hooker was a lawyer and an abolitionist.

In the early 1860s Isabella got involved in the woman’s suffrage movement. Isabella joined Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony as a member of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in 1869. She was a founding member of the Connecticut Woman’s Suffrage Association. Isabella’s ideas of equality were influenced by John Stuart Mills’ On Liberty and the Subjection of Women.

In 1871, Isabella organized the annual convention of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association in Washington D.C. and presented her argument before the Committee on the Judiciary of the United States Senate. Her husband, John Hooker, believed in his wife and supported her activities. He helped Isabella draft a bill to the Connecticut Legislature giving married women the same property rights as their husbands. The bill passed in 1877. Isabella annually submitted a bill granting women the right to vote, but it did not pass in her lifetime.