New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Cooperstown

NYS Museums Conference Call for Proposals

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cooperstown provided by MANYThe Museum Association of New York (MANY) annual conference has been set for April 7-9, 2019 in Cooperstown, NY. Coordinators have announced a call for proposals, following the theme Acess & Identity.

Presentations by individuals from institutions of all sizes, all stages of their careers, and from all disciplines are welcome to submit a proposal. Share how your museum is changing, or has changed, the ways in which it approaches issues of access and identity to support your mission, in 10 PowerPoint slides in 10 minutes. [Read more…] about NYS Museums Conference Call for Proposals

Tour Cooperstown’s Historic Hyde Hall Estate

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Hyde HallA tour Cooperstown’s Historic Hyde Hall Estate, including lunch on the banks of Otsego Lake has been set for Wednesday, August 8th, 2018.

The private tour will grant participants exclusive access to the historically significant neoclassic country mansion and cover the numerous phases of construction, beginning in 1817. [Read more…] about Tour Cooperstown’s Historic Hyde Hall Estate

NYSHA Defunct: New York State Historical Association Is No More

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The Hancock House in TiconderogaAfter nearly 120 years, the New York State Historical Association (NYSHA) is no more.  On March 13,  2017, the State Board of Regents approved NYSHA’s request to amend its charter to change its name to Fenimore Art Museum, revise its corporate purposes, designate the Commissioner of Education as agent for corporation service; and update the organization’s IRS dissolution language (pdf link).

The move follows years of debate over the role of the organization as a statewide advocate for the New York State History Community, a troubled history of publishing the State’s history journal New York History, and questions about NYSHA’s support for the long-standing annual spring meeting of the State’s historians, the Conference on New York State History. [Read more…] about NYSHA Defunct: New York State Historical Association Is No More

Farmers’ Museum Conference Celebrates Agriculture

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Farmers Museum Agriculture Conference“A Celebration of Our Agricultural Community”, a conference on food and farming at The Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown, will inform and inspire farmers and the public, unifying and driving the agricultural economy in Central New York. The conference takes place Saturday, November 15 from 9:00 am-5:00 pm and is free to the public.

The conference’s keynote speaker is Richard Ball, Commissioner of the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Addressing the topic of food systems will be Jason Evans, Assistant Professor of Agriculture, SUNY Cobleskill. Doug Thompson of G&T Farm will speak on the impact farming has on our communities and economies, as well as pasture management. [Read more…] about Farmers’ Museum Conference Celebrates Agriculture

Otsego Lake Life Focus Of Fenimore Museum Event

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Lake OtsegoHear experiences and memories of Otsego Lake from oral histories of local residents during “Food for Thought” Wednesday, October 22 at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown.

William Walker, Associate Professor of History at SUNY Oneonta, will play excerpts and lead a discussion on the importance of the lake, how it has changed. [Read more…] about Otsego Lake Life Focus Of Fenimore Museum Event

Holloween Event At The Farmers’ Museum

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bump_night_slide“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

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Mohawk Valley ConferenceThe 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

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29_NA_105The 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

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Nature_Cropsey_page_webThe 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

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seward bookWalter 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