Cooperstown

Holloween Event At The Farmers’ Museum

October 7, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

“Things That Go Bump in the Night” at The Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown is an “eerie tour” led by museum interpreters about the shadowy grounds to hear the many mysteries and ghostly happenings that have occurred in the museum’s historic village.

Afterward members of the Templeton Players bring a classic ghost story to life. These tours are held on three nights only: Saturday, October 18; Friday, October 24; and Saturday, October 25, beginning at 5:30 p.m. [Read more…] about Holloween Event At The Farmers’ Museum

Pioneer America Society to Meet in The Mohawk Valley

August 12, 2013 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Pioneer America Society: Association for the Preservation of Artifacts and Landscapes (PAS: APAL) will hold its 45th annual conference in Mohawk Valley.

“The Mohawk Valley – New England Extended: Landscapes of Cultural and Economic Change & Diversity,” will be held Wednesday, October 9th through Saturday, October 12th, 2013. [Read more…] about Pioneer America Society to Meet in The Mohawk Valley

Exhibit Highlights Native American Basket Design

August 2, 2013 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York, presents Plain and Fancy: Native American Splint Baskets, an exhibition of baskets spanning two centuries. The art of ash splint basketry is a beautiful synthesis of form and function. The exhibition opens Saturday, August 10, and runs through December 29, 2013.

The exhibition includes over 30 baskets from the 1800s to the present day. Ash splint basketry ranges in form and decoration from practical storage and market baskets to fanciful and exquisitely designed artworks. Basket makers incorporate numerous design elements, such as a variety of weaves: checker, wicker, twill, and hexagonal plaiting. Artists also use sweetgrass and curled splints to embellish their baskets. Other design elements include dyes, stains, and paint. Domes, triangles, dots, or leaves are hand-painted or stamped with a carved potato, turnip, cork, or piece of wood. [Read more…] about Exhibit Highlights Native American Basket Design

Hudson River School: Nature and the American Vision

July 18, 2013 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown is presenting an exhibition showcasing over forty-five important 19th century landscape paintings by Hudson River School artists. The Hudson River School: Nature and the American Vision, organized by the New-York Historical Society, will run through September 29.

The exhibition is part of a collaborative project with The Glimmerglass Festival, Hyde Hall, and Olana State Historic Site, the home of Frederic Church. Each organization features programming related to the Hudson River School throughout the summer. [Read more…] about Hudson River School: Nature and the American Vision

NYS History Conference Features William Seward Talk

June 6, 2013 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Walter Stahr, the author of Seward: Lincoln’s Indispensable Man, speaks tomorrow June 7 in Cooperstown. His talk, the keynote address at the 2013 Conference on New York State History, begins at 7:30 pm in the Fenimore Art Museum Auditorium and is open to the public. The cost is $5.00.

William Seward, widely known for arranging the purchase of the Alaskan territory from Russia, was one of the most important Americans of the nineteenth century. He was a progressive governor of New York and an outspoken federal senator. As secretary of state, he became Lincoln’s closest friend and adviser during the Civil War. He was also a target of the assassins who killed Lincoln. [Read more…] about NYS History Conference Features William Seward Talk

Conference on New York State History Taking Place June 6-8

May 28, 2013 by Editorial Staff 3 Comments

Local historians and educators from across the state will gather in Cooperstown for the 2013 Conference on New York State History taking place June 6-8 at the Fenimore Art Museum and The Farmers’ Museum. The conference highlights the latest research on New York History and culture. The conference is open to the public.

Several features of this year’s conference are of interest the general public: The keynote address is by Walter Stahr, author of Seward: Lincoln’s Indispensable Man, the evening of Friday, June 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Fenimore Art Museum auditorium. On Saturday, June 8, the annual Wendall Tripp Lecture offers “Another Leatherstocking Tale: Susan Fenimore Cooper, the Episcopal Church, and the Oneida Indians,” delivered by Laurence Hauptman of SUNY New Paltz. This lecture takes place at 12:30 p.m. in the Louis C. Jones Center of The Farmers’ Museum. [Read more…] about Conference on New York State History Taking Place June 6-8

NYS History Journal Ends Print Publication, Goes Digital

May 23, 2013 by John Warren Leave a Comment

The New York State Historical Association’s (NYSHA) quarterly journal New York History, published since 1919, is no longer available as a print publication and will henceforth be published as a digital pdf file. A statement published on the NYSHA webpage reported the change: [Read more…] about NYS History Journal Ends Print Publication, Goes Digital

Pick-Up Trucks Focus Of New Farmers’ Museum Exhibit

May 14, 2013 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The pickup truck is an icon of American values and virtues: it is honest, hard working, durable, and reliable. It is also the best-selling vehicle in the United States today. The Pickup Truck: America’s Driving Force, an exhibit opening Saturday, May 25 at The Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown, New York, examines the fascinating story of this uniquely American favorite. The exhibition runs through October 31.

The exhibit follows the route of the pickup truck from its beginnings when demand for pickup trucks actually preceded their supply. Until 1900, passenger vehicles were modified by dealers and buyers to create cargo wagons – replacing horse-drawn farm wagons. [Read more…] about Pick-Up Trucks Focus Of New Farmers’ Museum Exhibit

Farmers’ Museum Hosting Farm Museum Association

January 29, 2013 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Mid-Atlantic 2013 Regional Meeting of the Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums (ALHFAM) will be held March 8th and 9th, at The Farmers’ Museum, in Cooperstown, New York.

Founded in 1970, the ALHFAM serves those involved in living historical farms, agricultural museums and outdoor museums of history and folklife. [Read more…] about Farmers’ Museum Hosting Farm Museum Association

Native Artisans at the Fenimore Art Museum

June 10, 2012 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Fenimore Art Museum welcomes five Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) artists this summer to spend three days in the museum galleries and outdoors at our Native American interpretive site, Otsego: A Meeting Place. Engaging conversations with these artists offer a delightful, insightful way to learn about traditional Native American art skills that have been handed down for generations.

June 18-20: In addition to traditional pottery, Natasha Smoke Santiago, a self-taught artist, casts the bellies of pregnant women and then forms the casts into sculptural objects incorporating Haudenosaunee craft techniques. She will be creating pottery on site and sharing its relationship to Haudenosaunee tradition and stories.

July 17-19: Penelope S. Minner is a fourth-generation traditional artist making black ash splint baskets and cornhusk dolls. Working in the customary Seneca way, Penny uses no forms for basket shapes and sizes.

August 5-7: Karen Ann Hoffman creates beautiful decorative pieces following the traditions of Iroquois raised beadwork and embodying Iroquoisworldviews.

August 21-23: Ken Maracle creates beads from quahog shells and has been making reproduction wampum belts for more than 25 years. He also makes condolence canes, horn rattles, water drums, and traditional headdresses. He speaks the Cayuga language and is knowledgable about the history of wampum and his people.

August 30-September 1: Iroquois sculptor Vincent Bomberry carves images of Iroquois life in stone.

Artisans will be in the museum galleries and at Otsego: AMeeting Place from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. During the Artisan Series, visitors can explore the extraordinary Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art, a collection of over 800 objects representative of a broad geographic range of North American Indian cultures. Tours of Otsego: A Meeting Place and its Seneca Log House and Mohawk Bark House are also available.

Admission: adults and juniors (13-64) is $12.00; seniors (65+): $10.50; and free for children (12 and under). Admission is always free for NYSHA members, active military, and retired career military personnel. Members enjoy free admission all year.

For more information, visit FenimoreArtMuseum.org.