Mary Lyon's Birthday Is Here; Commemoration to Continue
Mary Lyon's 200th birthday will be marked this week with campus fanfare,
but the milestone will continue to be celebrated for months to come on campus
and in surrounding communities. Ongoing and upcoming Mary Lyon- related events
include the
following:
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The town of Buckland, Lyon's birthplace, will celebrate with a birthday party
from 6 to 8 pm on February 28 at the Shelburne Falls branch of the Greenfield
Savings Bank. Festivities will feature a cake large enough to hold 200 candles.
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The Mary Lyon Web site is online, and will be viewed on February 28 by
schoolchildren in Buckland. It is permanently accessible to Web users all
over the world at this URL:
www.mtholyoke.edu/marylyon.
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The postmaster of Shelburne Falls, Eric Doty, is preparing framed, archival-
quality presentation pieces displaying the five U.S. postage stamps bearing
images of Mount Holyoke people: Mary Lyon, Virginia Apgar, Lucy Stone, Frances
Perkins, and Emily Dickinson. A summary of each woman's claim to fame accompanies
her stamp. One will be presented to the College archives.
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At 3 pm on March 2, the MHC Glee Club will sing at the First Congregational
Church in Buckland.
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The Mary Lyon Lecture Series continues with a March 27 talk by American Civil
Liberties Union president Nadine Strossen.
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On April 10-13, audiences can enjoy a campus presentation of Devotees
in the Garden of Love, a play written and directed by acclaimed playwright
Suzan-Lori Parks '85, winner of the Mary Lyon Award.
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Tentative plans are being made for a Mary Lyon road race in April, with a
course stretching the twenty-two miles from her hometown of Buckland, MA,
to campus.
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A one-woman dramatic pre- sentation on Mary Lyon's life will be performed
at reunion by actress Kate Carney.
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The U.S. Postal Service will offer special cancellation of first-class mail
on September 20 at the "Mary Lyon Church" in Buckland. A rubber stamp bearing
the image of a quill pen, a book on a desk, and the words "Mary Lyon 200th
Anniversary" will be used to cancel mail. The stamp was designed by a
fifth-grader at Buckland-Shelburne Regional School.