Save the date as the 2026 Annual Conference is well into the planning stages! The 2026 Annual Conference will take place May 27-30, in Burlington, Vermont. We will have museum visits, demonstrations, tool sales, displays of members work and lots of fun.

Hotel Reservations for the guest room block may be made here (coming soon)​​

​

 Burlington is a beautiful city on the shores of Lake Champlain. It is a city of history and historical and cultural attractions from the Ethan Allen Homestead, the Red Mill, Lake Champagne Maritime Museum, to the Fleming Museum of Art.

   Registration begins on Wednesday and will also include our traditional tailgate tool sale in the hotel parking lot.

    On Thursday we will begin with a visit to the Shelburne Museum. A 45-acre campus founded by Electra Havemeyer Webb, featuring 31 historic buildings moved to the site and collections of folk art, circus memorabilia, folk architecture, wildfowl decoys, dolls, and more. At the museum we will have an opportunity to observe the print shop in action and to do other hands on activities, but our main goal for the day will be to tour the campus (there will be special tours throughout the day) and even visit the steam ship Ticonderoga, which is now a landlocked static exhibition. There is something to satisfy every interest from decoy collections, a steam locomotive, carousel animals, stenciled walls, large wood carvings, dolls, textiles, firearms, various forms of architecture, horse drawn vehicles, and even a lighthouse!

   After our tours of the Shelburne  and dinner on your own we will return to the host hotel for our annual ice cream social and the ever popular  “whatsit,” session hosted by Terry Page. Be sure to bring something to stump the audience!

   On Friday we will split into 2 groups and will switch mid-day. One will head to the Arnold Zlotoff Tool Museum and the Hyde Cabin for tours. The tool museum is comprised of the thousands of tools collected during Mr. Zlotoff’s lifetime. Also included is a visit to the Z Motorsports Collection which is adjacent to the Zlotoff Museum.  The Hyde Cabin was built in 1783 by Jedidiah Hyde, a Green Mountain Boy. The Champlain Islands on which the cabin is located were given to Revolutionary Way Veterans for their service. The cabin is now the home of the Grande Isle Historical Society and its interpretive collections.

Group 2 will travel to the workshop of EAIA member Craig Farrow. Craig is a Master Furniture maker who has spent his life as a 17th & 18th Century American Furniture & Architectural Replica creator. Craig will demonstrate some of his skills, his tools and the great wheel on which he hand builds his reproductions. All of the work in his shop is done with hand tools in order to recreate the furniture and architectural elements that he creates. His work is featured in some of the nation’s most prestigious colonial homes and museums.

   On Friday evening after dinner on your own at one of many fine dining establishments in Burlington we will return to the hotel for an evening of fun. Past President Dana Shoaf will lead us in a fun night of trivia. Bring your knowledge or your trivial fact and he will see that your evening is filled with laughter.

   Saturday morning we will have our annual tool exchange and display exhibitions. The theme for this year is “Life on a 19th Century Farmstead.” There will be awards for both ‘in theme’ and ‘out of theme.’ We hope you will participate; it is a learning opportunity for everyone to see your collections or the results of your research!

  Three presentations will be held in the afternoon. Art Cohn will tell us about “Lake Champlain Archaeological History.” Karl Rogers of the Shelburne Museums will talk about and display items from the museum’s waterfowl decoy collection, and Jan Lewandowsky will discuss “Timber Frame Restoration in Historic Vermont Structures.”

   After the day’s activities we will enjoy a cocktail reception and our always popular silent auction. Our host Dana Shoaf will, as always, make bidding on the interesting and unique finds fun and hopefully profitable!

   Our annual banquet is the final act of our convention. After a buffet dinner President Rodney Richer will lead the annual business meeting and awards for display winners and other awards and recognitions. The keynote speaker this year is Mr. Gerald Carbone, the author of Brown & Sharpe, The Measure of American Industry. Carbone will help us to understand how this manufacturing company came to be the leader in measuring instruments and how it shaped the manufacturing history of Rhode Island.

    We really look forward to this annual conference and hope that you will be able to join us in learning about Vermont and all it has to offer!