News at the Arden Craft Shop Museum
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Welcome to the new website! We hope you like our new website as much as we do! Have a look around and make sure to visit our new blog page, where we will post updates on what we're doing at the museum, announce upcoming exhibitions, feature an Object of the Month, and much more. You will still be able to comment on blog articles and contact us. Thanks for visiting!
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Mission of the Arden Craft Shop Museum
The mission of the Arden Craft Shop Museum is to collect and exhibit materials and artifacts related to the Ardens, which include the villages of Arden, Ardentown, and Ardencroft. The Arden Craft Shop Museum seeks to educate the community on the Ardens’ history as single-tax communities in addition to how the roles of theater, craftsmanship, art, and other aspects of life have affected the development of the Ardens as a close-knit community.
About the Ardens
The three Ardens, consisting of Arden, Ardentown and Ardencroft, are Single Tax and Arts and Crafts communities. “Single Tax” was an economic theory proposed by Henry George, an American economist and philosopher in the late nineteenth-century. George felt that a land value tax was the most fair and equitable tax and felt that any income tax was unfair by nature. The Ardens also were founded on the ideals of William Morris, as an “Arts and Crafts” community. The Arts and Crafts movement was a reaction against the industrial revolution and valued hand-crafted goods and the incorporation of individualistic design.
Arden, the first community, was founded in 1900 by sculptor Frank Stephens and architect Will Price after an unsuccessful campaign to have all of Delaware switch to the Single Tax. Ardentown would founded in 1922, and Ardencroft in 1950. The Ardens continue to use the Single Tax and to serve as an artist community and have many examples of American Arts and Crafts architecture. Click here to visit The Ardens for more information about the three villages.
Arden, the first community, was founded in 1900 by sculptor Frank Stephens and architect Will Price after an unsuccessful campaign to have all of Delaware switch to the Single Tax. Ardentown would founded in 1922, and Ardencroft in 1950. The Ardens continue to use the Single Tax and to serve as an artist community and have many examples of American Arts and Crafts architecture. Click here to visit The Ardens for more information about the three villages.
*This website is maintained by the Arden Craft Shop Museum Curator, Kelsey Ransick. She can be reached at ardencraftshopmuseum@gmail.com.
