19th and 20th decorative arts, furnishing, paintings and books.

Extensive archives include photographs and documents of the Skinner Family and Holyoke families and organizations.

Wistariahurst offers a wide variety educational programs and opportunities. We host school group programs and Teacher Professional Development Workshops that address specific curriculum topics in local history, industrialism, languages arts and the arts. We offer monthly children and family educational and creative activities that include family friendly tours of the mansion given by youth docents. We have internship opportunities for area college students in museum administration, marketing, fund development and collections and archival management. We maintain an active volunteer docent program with ongoing enrichment opportunities. We are host to a newly formed garden club that holds garden project work parties and monthly educational meetings. Our changing exhibit space is used for both historical exhibits and for outside group exhibits in 1 or 2 month cycles.

In addition to our own programs Wistariahurst has a numerous outside groups who take advantage of our exhibit space and music room. The exhibit space has a busy schedule of exhibits of local artists and craftsman cycled in with our own historical exhibits. We offer concert space for groups such as the Valley Community Arts Association, the New Valley Singers, Pioneer Valley Capella, Pioneer Valley Concert Band, Valley Jazz Ensemble, and an array of individual musicians in varying musical styles. In addition we offer meeting and ceremonial space for the Holyoke Public Schools, Holyoke Community College, The CARE Center Teen Mother Education and Support Program and Avanza Group for positive Hispanic educational outcomes.

Wistariahurst Museum publishes "The Vine" newsletter three times a year.

Wistariahurst Museum is a unique location for ceremonies. In the style of Italian Renaissance and complete with a musician's gallery, the music room holds up to 120 guests. The cost includes up to 3 hours for use of the museum, including time needed for photos.

Please be aware that Wistariahurst is a museum and is used for many purposes; from time to time the rooms may change and/or exhibits may be displayed throughout the museum including the music room. No provisions can be made to adjust these exhibits. Also, please note that the museum allows photo sessions to overlap so that more than one couple has the opportunity to capture photographs of their special day.

Wistariahurst Museum is dedicated to preserving Holyoke’s history and inspiring an appreciation of history and culture through educational programs, exhibits and special events. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Wistariahurst is the former home of William Skinner, a prominent silk manufacturer.

Once considered the Paper Capital of the World, and home to premier cotton and silk mills, the history of Holyoke, Massachusetts offers a microcosm of American industrial development. Founded in 1848 as one of the nation's first planned industrial cities, Holyoke attracted successive waves of Irish, French Canadian, German, Polish, Jewish, and Italian immigrants who worked in the mills, established small businesses, raised their families, and created communities defined largely by ethnic and religious affiliation. However, by the mid-twentieth century, Holyoke, like so many American cities, found its industrial base rapidly disappearing. In the 1960s the most recent wave of people began re-creating Holyoke. Puerto Rican migrant farm workers, attracted by jobs in Western Massachusetts, began settling in old tenement houses once inhabited by earlier immigrant groups. Enjoy the past and the present as you experience interviews with local leaders, business owners, entrepreneurs, artists and young people in this new documentary on the City of Holyoke. DVD price $25 (includes shipping)