Image: Norman Rockwell Museum, Stockbridge
The Norman Rockwell Museum will host ‘The Power of Stories,’ a curator-led program examining American literature, familiar characters and the tensions embedded in cultural narratives, on Friday, September 11, 2026, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. The morning talk is presented in connection with the exhibition ‘American Stories: Revolution to Rockwell.’
Stephanie Haboush Plunkett, the museum’s chief curator, will lead the session. According to the museum’s event listing, the discussion will consider how American literature and beloved characters reflect both the aspirations and contradictions of their time.
The program is part of a series of curator talks devoted to themes drawn from ‘American Stories: Revolution to Rockwell.’ The exhibition’s title places Norman Rockwell within a broad account of American visual and cultural history, linking the artist’s work with stories and images that have helped shape ideas of the United States.
Featured authors and artists for the session will include Louisa May Alcott, Horatio Alger Jr., Washington Irving, Norman Rockwell and Mark Twain. The museum’s September programme also identifies Rockwell’s story illustration ‘Out the Window/Tom Sawyer Sneaking Out the Window from Tom Sawyer Folio’ (1936) as an example of the artist’s engagement with literary material. The work was made as a story illustration for Mark Twain’s ‘Tom Sawyer’ for the Heritage Press in 1936.
The talk will take place before the museum’s public opening hours, offering attendees an early-opening opportunity to spend time with the galleries as part of the programme. The event is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge. Tickets are listed at $20 in addition to museum admission, with a $10 price for members.
The museum’s September listings place ‘American Stories: Revolution to Rockwell’ alongside ‘Norman Rockwell Paints the Presidents’ and ‘Norman Rockwell’s 323 Saturday Evening Post Covers’ among exhibitions on view. The wider schedule also includes a September 5 artmaking session inspired by ‘American Stories: Revolution to Rockwell,’ but the September 11 event is specifically focused on the exhibition’s literary and interpretive theme.
