The 'Timeline' project is a collaboration of the Vermont Music Library program of Big Heavy World, the Vermont Historical Society, and the Vermont Folklife Center. Each will be delving into their recording and printed music archives and working with Vermont musicians to re-create the music of Vermont's last four centuries, bringing examples from different eras together in a CD set for educators and the public.

A web site will expand the project content and a teacher's guide will be created with the participation of the Vermont Department of Education.

The project will be released in early 2009 as our contribution to the State's Lake Champlain Quadricentennial, a year-long commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s first visit to the region and the exploration of the lake that now bears his name.

Media sponsors Vermont Public Radio and the Burlington Free Press have committed to serializing the project for broadcast and print in 2009.

Vermont's history within the project is outlined by the Vermont Historical Society's 'A Vermont History Timeline,' a set of eight posters with accompanying teacher's guide. It describes eight eras in Vermont's history:

1. Ndakinna, Native Cultures Prior to 1609
2. French and Indian Era, 1609-1765
3. English Settlement, 1763-1791
4. Reform and Agricultural Expansion, 1791-1850
5. Industrial Expansion, 1850-1890
6. Growth of Industry and Tourism, 1890-1927
7. Emergence of Modern Vermont, 1927-1946
8. Modern Vermont, 1946-Present

Design support for the project identity, CD artwork, and Web site is being provided by Place Creative Company.

The project is steered by James Lockridge of the VMLS and Andy Kolovos of the Vermont Folklife Center. The project is being advised by volunteer artists including Deb Flanders, Mark Sustic, and Pete Sutherland.

Special thanks to Sigid Lumbra, VT Dept. Education; Jody Evans, Vermont Public Radio; Mike Townsend and Becky Holt of the Burlington Free Press, Dave Speidel of Place Creative Company; Paul Carnahan, Vermont Historical Society; and Catherine Brooks, VT Dept. Tourism & Marketing.