Museums-Archives-Historic Sites

Finger Lakes Museum Buys Local School

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The Board of Trustees of the Finger Lakes Museum has voted to purchase the Branchport Elementary School from the Penn Yan Central School District for $200,000 and the deal was closed the same afternoon at the Yates County Clerk’s Office. The school has been vacant for several years due to school district consolidation.

Museum board president John Adamski said, “The original plan was for the Finger Lakes Visitors Association to purchase the school and lease it to the museum on a 5-year interim basis during the startup phase of the project, after which time the museum would move to its new quarters in Keuka Lake State Park. But we have since realized the long term potential of the building and grounds as a research and education center, directly affiliated with the museum. That’s 17,000 square feet that we don’t have to build in Keuka Lake State Park.” The two sites are about a mile apart.

The school was first proposed as a temporary museum headquarters by Keuka Lake site proponents during the search for a location to build the project in 2009. When Keuka Lake State Park—one of 19 sites then in contention—was chosen last April, the school was included in the deal.

Museum personnel occupied the building last summer and fall under an early occupancy agreement with the Town of Jerusalem while the FLVA pursued arrangements to purchase the property from the school district. The museum staff has moved to other quarters for the winter months to avoid heating the entire building for three staff members.

Adamski said, “At first we looked at the school as a temporary office and warehouse for artifacts and collections while the project was being designed and built. But after conducting program definition and market studies, we realized that we could have some initial museum exhibits and programming ready there as early as next summer.” Plans now call for making investments into the school property to upgrade the heating and septic systems and to make the building more energy efficient. Converting the gym into a theater and auditorium is also being considered.

Adamski said that recent partnership discussions with officials at Keuka College confirmed the potential of the school property to become a research and education center, administered by the museum, the college, and other academic partners. “All of these factors contributed to our change in plans”, he said.

After 25 Years, Albany Instiute Director Leaving

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George R. Hearst III, chair of the Board of Trustees of the Albany Institute of History & Art, announced Tuesday that he has accepted the resignation of Christine M. Miles, who has served as the Institute’s executive director since 1986.

Citing a personal decision to explore new challenges, Miles tendered her resignation at an executive session of the board, held following its regular meeting on Monday, January 24.

“It is with mixed emotions that the board has accepted Chris Miles’ resignation as director of the Albany Institute,” Hearst said in making the announcement. “Chris’s contribution to the arts in the Capital District cannot be overstated. Not only has the Albany Institute enriched, educated, and stimulated our region under her expert direction, the arts community as a whole has benefited immeasurably from her skill, dedication, and experience.”

Throughout her tenure, Hearst noted, Miles has guided the Albany Institute, the oldest museum in New York State, through numerous advancements and challenges. Her long-range and strategic planning has brought the museum into its fourth century of service, Hearst said, and, especially in recent years, through some of the most difficult times the arts have ever faced.

“For almost 25 years, her vision has established the Albany Institute as one of New York’s most respected and distinguished institutions,” Hearst said. “We will continue to depend on Chris’s dynamic and insightful stewardship as we prepare to enter a new and exciting phase for the museum.”

Miles says her decision to resign as executive director of the Albany Institute was one of the most difficult she has made in her career.

”Obviously, this is not a decision that is made lightly,” she said. “The Albany Institute has been the center of my professional career for a major portion of my life. And, like so many other museums and arts institutions, it currently faces substantial financial challenges. However, I believe that the foundation we have worked to build here will help sustain this magnificent institution as it continues to meet these challenges. I look forward to assisting the board and staff in this time of transition.”

Prior to joining the Albany Institute in 1986, Miles was director of the Fraunces Tavern Museum in New York City, and also held positions as director, curator, researcher, and project director at such prestigious institutions as the Octagon Museum of the American Architectural Foundation in Washington D.C.- the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City- the Museum of the City of New York- and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City.

During Miles’s term as executive director, in 1994, the Institute commenced a major capital campaign to fund a $20 million renovation project that added new buildings and state-of-the-art collections storage facilities, and substantially enhanced the museum’s educational, administrative, and exhibition spaces. The Institute broke ground on the project in 1998 and was closed from 1999 to 2001, when it reopened its new spaces to the public during a Grand Opening Gala.

Miles was also instrumental in helping the Institute gain a number of major grants and awards, according to museum officials, including a $250,000 New Audiences for the Year 2000 Award from the New York State Council on the Arts- a $500,000 National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Challenge, which enabled the museum to build its first true endowment- a $750,000 NEH Preservation and Access grant to aid in re-cataloging the collection, improving intellectual accessibility, and funding completion of the new collections facility- more than $750,000 raised over four years to fund the recent Hudson River Panorama exhibition, launched in conjunction with the statewide quadricentennial celebration in 2009- and, most recently, a $147,000 Museums for America Grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services to fund a website redevelopment project entitled, Digital Renaissance.

Under her direction, the museum has expanded its outreach to include classrooms and students in 26 states and 42 New York counties. Educational offerings have grown to include home school programs, weekend Art for All programs, Vacation Art Breaks, and summer programs. A wide range of lectures, gallery talks, demonstrations, and performances are held each year, as well as popular community-wide events such as the Institute’s Free Thanksgiving Weekend and annual Museum Gala.

Additional accomplishments include overseeing publication of the Institute’s first book documenting its collections, 200 Years of Collecting (Hudson Hills Press, 1998)- and the mounting of numerous nationally and internationally recognized exhibitions, including Thomas Cole: Drawn to Nature (1993)- Matters of Taste: Food and Drink in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art and Life (2002)- the 350th Anniversary Celebration of the Founding of Albany (2002)- Rodin: A Magnificent Obsession (2005)- Excavating Egypt (2006), and Hudson River Panorama: 400 Years of History, Art, and Culture (2009).

Miles has also served on the boards of numerous civic and arts groups, including WMHT Public Television- the Albany County Convention and Visitors Bureau- the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce, the University at Albany Foundation- and the Albany Local Development Corporation. She is a past president of the Museum Association of New York State and the Gallery Association of New York State.

In 2008, the Albany Roundtable selected Miles to receive its prestigious Good Patroon Award for her commitment to making the museum a broadly accessible cultural and educational resource. Established in 1988, the annual award recognizes outstanding contributions to the community by institutions and individuals. In 1996, she received the Women of Excellence Award from the Albany-Colonie Chamber of Commerce.

“Christine is starting a new chapter in her life,” Hearst said. “We are proud and thankful for the outstanding work she has done to make the Albany Institute of History & Art such a vital and vibrant part of our community, and the board wishes her every success in her future endeavors.”

Hearst said that the Albany Institute Board of Trustees will establish a recruitment committee to begin a national search to replace Miles, who will remain as executive director to oversee the transition during the course of 2011.

Photo: Christine Miles, Executive Director of the Albany Institute of History & Art (R) in conversation at a New York Council for the Humanities Event in 2010. Courtesy NY Council for the Humanities.

Go! Grants Available for Non-Museum Professionals

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Those interested in learning more about how the museum field functions who work in a New York library, community organization, college or other type of non-profit, can apply for a Go! Grant to attend the 2011 Museums in Conversation conference, from April 3rd through 5th in Buffalo, NY.

Offered to encourage cross-discipline learning and cross-organization collaboration, these special Go! Grants provide up to $500 to cover travel and registration costs to the conference. This opportunity is only available for New York professionals working for non-profits outside of the museum field. Applications are due on February 15, 2011. To learn more visit www.museumwise.org.

Adk Museum Acquires Architecure Collection

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The library of the Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake, New York has acquired the archives of a major Adirondack architectural firm that include what museum officials are calling &#8220the most important collection of historic architectural records in the Adirondack Park.&#8221

The Saranac Lake firm began as William L. Coulter, Architect and ended more than a century of notable work as Wareham, DeLair Architects (WDA). Principals in the firm over time included Coulter- his partner, Max H. Westhoff who practiced solo after Coulter’s death- William G. Distin, Coulter’s protege and Westhoff’s partner- Arthur Wareham, Distin’s partner- and Ronald H. Delair, partner since 1970.

The Adirondack Museum received the materials as a donation from Ronald DeLair, the firm’s final principal. According to museum librarian Jerry Pepper, the process to receive the collection began in the late 1970s. Official transfer of custody was completed in the late summer, 2010.

Pepper notes that DeLair took extraordinary care of the collection over time, and that the extensive material is very well organized. The collection is diverse as well as wide-ranging. The index alone is comprised of forty single-spaced pages.

Including thousands of architectural drawings and renderings for camps, residences, businesses, sanitarium, Olympic facilities, municipal buildings and churches, a certificate signed by President Theodore Roosevelt, as well as forty boxes of records and three-dimensional models, the collection documents some of the region’s most important architects.

Coulter was the first resident architect to establish a practice in the Adirondacks. Distin was a pioneer of the Adirondack style of architecture. A sample of his classic designs include “Camp Mossrock” on Upper Saranac Lake, “Camp Wonundra” built for William Rockefeller in 1934, and Eagle Nest, designed for Walter Hochschild in 1938.

Westhoff was a member of the original class at Pratt Institute and introduced a Swiss motif into the firm’s repertoire. Wareham completed design work for the Trudeau Institute and worked on numbers of libraries and municipal buildings. DeLair designed fewer camps than his predecessors, concentrating on public projects.

Wareham DeLair Architects, which celebrated it centennial in 1997, is the fifth oldest firm in continuous practice in New York State.

In addition to capturing the wide spectrum of regional architecture, the collection also illustrates changing tastes and building technology over time, and provides a unique and invaluable insight into the history of the Adirondacks.

Jerry Pepper says that the DeLair material builds on the Adirondack Museum’s already significant collections of architectural records that include drawings by William West Durant, Grosvenor Atterbury, Augustus Shepard, and John Burnham.

Photo: Trudeau Foundation Research Laboratory, Saranac Lake, NY. Distin and Wareham Architects, 1964. Collection of the Adirondack Museum.

State Museum Presents States Great Places Event

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State historic sites and cultural institutions will provide fun hands-on activities and educational artifacts to explore to acquaint visitors with “New York State’s Great Places and Spaces” January 15 at the New York State Museum.

The free event, which is part of the Museum’s January Family Fun Day, will be held from noon to 4 p.m. in several first floor galleries including Adirondack Wilderness, Birds of New York, Native Peoples of New York and South Hall.

Participants include the State Museum, State Library, Schuyler Mansion State Historic Site, Olana State Historic Site, Thomas Cole National Historic Site, Clermont State Historic Site, Shaker Heritage Society, Albany County Historical Society/Ten Broeck Mansion, Historic Cherry Hill, Crailo State Historic Site, Johnson Hall Historic Site, the Underground Railroad History Project, Salem Art Works, the Adirondack Museum, the New York State Military Museum, the Arkell Art Museum, Schoharie Crossing Historic Site, the Empire State Aero Space Museum, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame and the Living History Education Foundation.

Visitors will be able to play the Hudson River Valley Trading Game on a 32-foot long game board, explore objects from Thomas Cole’s studio and add to a community landscape, try landscape drawing, weave on a small loom and view reproduction 1870’s stereographs of the Shaker site. There also will be many hands-on activities, including
opportunities to touch bear fur, try on a cradleboard and learn more about the Haudenosaunee at the State Museum’s Native Peoples cart.

Also, Craig Gravina, a State Museum exhibition designer, will provide a behind-the-scenes tour to discuss the design and installation of the Museum’s Citizen Soldier: New York’s National Guard in the American Century exhibition.

Located on Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open Monday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. Admission is free. Further information can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the Museum website.

New York Council for the Humanities Grant Announcements

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Yesterday, the New York Council for the Humanities published revised grant guidelines and online application forms to its website.

Council funding will continue to support public programs in the humanities including Mini Grants available on a rolling basis, in support of both planning and implementation. New Major Grant requirements and deadlines will be announced in fall 2011, however, we will not be accepting Major Grant applications in 2011. Here is a statement from the Council’s Executive Director.

The Council is also now participating in the Cultural Data Project. Beginning in 2011, as part of the Council’s new online applications, applicants will be required to submit a CDP Funder Report. To generate one for your organization you will first need a Cultural Data Project profile, which requires some time for input and review, but which can be used for other funders as well. Visit the CDP’s New York State website for details.

Beginning in January, the Council will offer webinars introducing their new guidelines and forms. These one-hour online seminars will feature a 30 minute presentation and 30 minute Q&A, so questions are welcome.

You can contact the Council at any time with questions at [email protected] or (212) 233-1131.

Buffalo and Erie Receives Re-Accreditation

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The Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society has announced that it achieved re-accreditation by the American Association of Museums (AAM), the highest national recognition afforded the nation’s museums.

The Buffalo & Erie County Historical Society was initially accredited in 1974, and re-accredited in ’86 and ’99. All accredited museums undergo re-accreditation reviews approximately every 10 years to maintain that status.

Of the nation’s estimated 17,500 museums, 775 are currently accredited. The Historical Society is one of only 63 museums accredited in the state of New York, out of an estimated 900.

AAM’s Accreditation Commission, an independent and autonomous body of museum professionals, then considers the self-study and visiting committee report to determine whether a museum should receive accreditation. While the time to complete the process varies, it generally takes up to three years.

&#8220Accreditation is emblematic of an institution’s commitment to public service and to overall excellence,&#8221 said Ford W. Bell, AAM president. &#8220Attaining accreditation involves taking a hard look at yourself, allowing your peers in the field to do the same, and being judged to be superior in all areas. The people of Buffalo and the Western New York region can take great pride in the fact that their local institution is one of America’s premier museums.&#8221

Adirondack Museum Receives Highest Accreditation

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The Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake, New York has again achieved accreditation from the American Association of Museums (AAM), the highest national recognition for a museum. Accreditation signifies excellence to the museum community, to governments, funders, outside agencies, and to the museum-going public.

For almost forty years the Accreditation Program has served as the field’s primary vehicle for quality assurance, self-regulation, and public accountability, and earns national recognition for a museum for its commitment to excellence in all that it does: governance, collections stewardship, public programs, financial stability, high professional standards, and continued institutional improvement.

Developed and sustained by museum professionals, the Accreditation Program reflects, reinforces, and promotes best practices, institutional ethics, and the highest standards of museum operations.

The Adirondack Museum first received AAM accreditation in 1973, and was reaccredited in 1985 and 1998.

&#8220We are very honored that the Adirondack Museum continues to be recognized for meeting the highest standards of museum practice,&#8221 said Interim Director Michael Lombardi. &#8220The accreditation validates the ongoing work of our staff and points the way towards continued success in the future.&#8221

Of the nation’s estimated 17,500 museums, 775 are currently accredited. The Adirondack Museum joins the Albany Institute of History and Art, The Strong Museum, The Long Island Museum of American Art, History, and Carriages as well as eight other history museums accredited in New York State.

&#8220Accreditation assures the people of the Adirondacks that their museum is among the finest in the nation,&#8221 said Ford W. Bell, president of AAM. &#8220As a result, the citizens can take considerable pride in their institution, for its commitment to excellence and for the value it brings to the community as a whole.&#8221

Accreditation is a rigorous process that examines all aspects of a museum’s operations. To earn accreditation, a museum first must conduct a year of self-study, then undergo a site visit by a team of peer reviewers. AAM’s Accreditation Commission, an independent and autonomous body of museum professionals, review and evaluate the self-study and visiting committee report to determine whether a museum should receive accreditation. While the time to complete the process varies by museum, it generally takes three years.

The Adirondack Museum will open for its 54th season on May 27, 2011. The museum will introduce two new exhibits &#8211 &#8220The Adirondack World of A.F. Tait&#8221 and &#8220Night Vision: The Wildlife Photography of Hobart V. Roberts&#8221 as well as offer a full schedule of programs, special events, and activities for families.

The American Association of Museums has been bringing museums together since 1906, helping to develop standards and best practices, gathering and sharing knowledge, and providing advocacy on issues of concern to the entire museum community. With more than 15,000 individual, 3,000 institutional, and 300 corporate members, AAM is dedicated to ensuring that museums remain a vital part of the American landscape, connecting people with the greatest achievements of the human experience, past, present and future. For more information, visit www.aam-us.org.

A New National Heritage Area Guidebook

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The Hudson River Valley Greenway has unveiled its Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area Heritage Site Guidebook that provides information about 100 “Heritage Sites” in New York’s Hudson River Valley. The presentation was held at the Senate House and Museum in Kingston, one of the venues featured in the guidebook.

The guidebook encourages visitors to explore the resources of the Hudson River Valley and visit local communities that they encounter along the way. In addition to descriptions and full color photographs for each site, contact information is provided in a variety of formats (address, GPS coordinates, website, and phone number) to help visitors reach their destination as easily as possible. Furthermore, sites are identified as being &#8220family friendly,&#8221 &#8220accessible by public transportation,&#8221 or &#8220part of the regional Greenway Trail System&#8221 to facilitate visitation.

Those sites participating in the National Park Service Passport Stamp Program are also identified to provide visitors the opportunity to acquire cancellation stamps at no cost. Visitors can explore the region by topic of interest with Heritage Area theme information included for each Heritage Site such as “Architecture,” “Art, Artists, and the Hudson River School,” and others. Heritage Sites in this guidebook are also organized by proximity to one another for visitors who wish to explore a variety of sites as they travel throughout the valley.

The Heritage Site Guidebook is expected to encourage heritage tourism in the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area. Heritage tourists have been shown to spend more on trips than other types of tourists. By targeting heritage tourists, this guidebook will help grow the $4.7 billion dollar tourism economy in the Hudson River Valley.

The Heritage Site Guidebook features over 100 pages of information about the sites and themes of the region and costs only $9.95 plus shipping and handling. For more information visit: www.hudsonrivervalley.com

A Change of Leadership at the Adirondack Museum

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The Board of Directors of the Adirondack Historical Association announced today that Caroline M. Welsh, the Director of the Adirondack Museum since 2007, has been replaced by Michael Lombardi, the current Director of Finance and Operations. Lombardi is being named Interim Director, and Welsh, who has been with the museum since 1987, will become Senior Art Historian and Director Emerita.

Welsh served the Adirondack Museum for over two decades, first as a Curator and then as Director. Just two months after her ascension to the top spot in February 2007, the museum unveiled its ill-fated and sometimes controversial plan to build a museum extension in Lake Placid. Those plans were later abandoned, and the former Adirondack Church of the Nazarene that had been located on the site was demolished.

This past fall, the museum also closed their Lake Placid storefront operation. &#8220The subsequent and continuing economic downturn have forced a strategic re-thinking of the museum’s plans,&#8221 Adirondack Museum spokesperson Katherine Moore told the press at the time. &#8220It is no longer feasible to operate two retail operations and maintain a growing online sales presence.&#8221 Moore said the museum will concentrate its efforts and financial resources on the Blue Mountain Lake campus.

Welsh’s tenure also saw a number of new initiatives designed to bring the museum into the 21st century including launching a museum online photostream, a campus WiFi system, and offering virtual exhibits. She also oversaw the museum during the acquisition of the Clarence Petty and Richard Lawrence collections, and receipt of a $1.3 million bequest from the estate of the Mr. and Mrs. Horace N. Holbrook of Schenectady.

Today spokesperson Moore said &#8220Ms. Welsh will continue her relationship with the museum with respect to art projects including the upcoming Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait exhibit opening in the summer, 2011, along with producing the catalogue for the exhibit.&#8221 Welsh will also collaborate with the museum on other upcoming projects, she said.

Caroline Welsh is the wife of former Adirondack Museum Curator Peter C. Welsh, once also editor of the Journal of History and director of the New York State Historical Association, who held the primary responsibility for the Adirondack Museum’s logging exhibit. He was also the author of Jacks, Jobbers, and Kings: Logging in the Adirondacks, 1850-1950. Peter Welsh died in February, 2010.

Photo: Photo caption: Caroline M. Welsh, Director of the Adirondack Museum and U.S. Senator Charles Schumer at the Adirondack Museum in August 27.