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academic spaces

The Main School Building

Erected on the site of the former Dickinson High School and Deerfield Academy Building of 1878, the Main School Building was completed in 1931. It was designed by Charles Platt, and initially served as the classroom building for the entire school. After renovations in the 1980s, the building now houses history classrooms, the Head of School, the Admission Office, and many of Deerfield’s administrative offices. The Caswell Library, located on the first floor, is where many prospective students will wait for their first interviews—don’t be nervous.

The Hess Center for the Arts

The Art Department’s programs are based in the Hess Center for the Arts, with facilities for performing and visual arts. The Hess Center for the Arts houses and the Large Auditorium, the von Auersperg Gallery, the Reid Black Box Theater, the Elizabeth Wachsman Concert Hall, an acting lab, a recording studio, several fine art studios, a photography wet-lab, practice spaces, and more!

Numerous exhibitions and performances take place in the Hess Center each year, drawing enthusiastic audiences and providing showcases for individual talents as well as group efforts. Exhibitions provide recognition for promising young artists and photographers, while actors, technicians, dancers, and musicians showcase their talents in the performing arts spaces.

 

Boyden Library

The Frank L. and Helen Childs Boyden Library supports the intellectual growth, personal exploration, and creative opportunities offered Deerfield Academy students by providing comfortable spaces for individual or group study, and a rich collection of books, Ebooks, research databases, periodicals, and media that meets the diverse curriculum and leisure needs of students and faculty.

Research databases include Academic Search Premier, ProQuest Historical Newspapers, JSTOR, ARTstor, the Oxford English Dictionary, and many subject specialty databases. Staff are available during all open hours to assist students with their research and to provide instruction on the use of library materials and electronic resources. Librarians provide reference service, working extensively with individual students, and formal library instruction in partnership with faculty. Library programs encourage each student to develop an inquisitive and creative mind through habits of independent inquiry.

The goal of the library instruction program is to provide students with library research skills necessary to attain their academic goals at Deerfield, prepare them for using college and university libraries after they leave Deerfield, and promote lifelong learning in a society where information is organized in increasingly complex ways.

The library is named in honor of Frank L. Boyden, headmaster of Deerfield Academy from 1902-1968, and his wife Helen Childs Boyden, a chemistry and math teacher. The library opened in 1968, the year that Mr. Boyden retired.

Von Auersperg Gallery

The von Auersperg Gallery is used by the school community to foster multidisciplinary collaboration and to be a place of active learning.

The exhibits and associated programs are intentionally designed to create a dynamic interaction between the works of art exhibited and themes in our curriculum.

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 7 Boyden Lane, PO Box 87, Deerfield, MA 01342

NOTICE OF NONDISCRIMINATORY POLICY AS TO STUDENTS: Deerfield Academy admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.

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