Tales from the Exhibition Script

By Emma Porter, Curatorial Intern

There is a first time for everything, and I have loved every “first” during my time here at Fenimore Art Museum. As I conclude my internship at the Fenimore, I reflect on all that I have learned and what I will now "do" with my newly gained experience. I am fortunate enough to have been given this opportunity and to have worked with such outstanding professionals who greatly improve our society everyday. My mentor, Michelle Murdock works with profound intention and articulation. She inspired me to do the same with my projects and collaborations.

Bye Bye House! (I mean the Fenimore Art Museum) I will miss you!

For my concluding project I am working on the exhibition script for a 2012 exhibition featuring Kevin Gray's modern tintypes. Corresponding with Gray and sharing materials and ideas is exciting, and a true treasure, to say the least.

Kevin Gray, Devils Den (2)

Studying Gray’s work, what he has to say about it, and reading his graduate school thesis has been the ground work for constructing the exhibition script. Researching and writing about themes that correlate with Gray's artwork will deepen the viewers’ experience of the work. The sub-themes, if you will, surrounding Gray’s modern tintypes are: Civil War photography/photographers, the place of Gettysburg, the history of the panorama, and contemporary artists who use and reinterpret antiquated photographic techniques. I have learned how to organize and edit ideas into a coherent message that is both informative and appealing. As the Fenimore aims to produce more and more shows based on contemporary art, it becomes an even more dynamic institution and important contributor to our culture.

I will be returning as much as possible to the Fenimore to see the exhibitions and to catch up with the people I have met and learned from. I cannot thank Michelle enough for letting an undergraduate art history student intern at such a prestigious institution. She took much of her time and energy to teach and mentor; I am eternally grateful. A big thank you to Christine Rossi, Stephen Loughman, Eva Fognell, and Caitlin Miosek and others! Parting is such sweet sorrow. But it is comforting to know that there are people like these who make the world more beautiful each day.

The John Kidder Civil War Collection

John Hart, Assistant Curator of Collections

Just before Thanksgiving of 2010, I had the good fortune to meet a descendant of the Civil War soldier, John Kidder, who mustered into service at the rank of Captain, and mustered out as a Lt. Colonel. The donor was bringing letters and other documents to the NYSHA Research Library to be considered as a gift. Because of the connection between Kidder and the 121st Regiment of the New York State Volunteers, a regiment I have been actively researching for well over two years now, I was interested in seeing the papers.

Much to my surprise, the donor brought something else - well, several things actually. In an old gift box were seven ribbons and a sash, all concerning Kidder’s post-war activities related to the encampments, remembrance days or dedications. These were all in absolutely fantastic condition; as you can see below, this particular one was probably still as bright as the day Kidder received it.

Ribbon, ca. 1892, Artist unknown, Silk, W: 2.5” x L: 10”, N0001.2011(06)

Combined with other objects in the collection that relate to the 121st, such as the swords of the Campbell brothers and the papers of Sam Kelley in the NYSHA Library, the ribbons and papers that have been donated the museum are amazingly valuable because we can now begin to understand more of the regiment during and after the Civil War.

Raising, Conserving & Preserving the Past

John Hart, Assistant Curator of Collections

Underwater archeology has always been interesting to me and even though I don’t live anywhere near a body of water that has underwater shipwrecks, I’m still fascinated. When Dr. Robert Ballard discovered the RMS Titanic in 1985 I was barely two years old, but as soon as I was old enough to understand what an important discovery he’d made, I was hooked on shipwrecks.

However, this blog isn’t about Dr. Ballard or the Titanic (but this one was, in a way); it’s about the USS Monitor, the first ironclad ship in the US Navy during the Civil War. The Monitor, with its famous central gun turret, was lost on December 31, 1862 in rough seas, only a few months after its most famous battle at Hampton Roads. Sixteen men were lost when she sank.

While searching for something else entirely (which is often the case when I find interesting objects around here) I discovered a partial model of the Monitor and her Hampton Roads foe, the CSS Virginia (formerly the USS Merrimac, which is probably another blog in it’s own right). Below are pictures of the model, and since it’s only a cross-section, you can see it’s pretty detailed. Also below is an image of the famous turret and the two eleven-inch guns that made this ship a formidable presence on the water. The Monitor Center at The Mariner’s Museum in Newport News, Virginia, has a wonderful site dedicated to the efforts being made to conserve the turret, the two eleven-inch guns, and its engine, which were raised by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association and the US Navy between 2001 and 2002. The chemistry behind the conservation process is complicated, but fascinating all the same. Most recently, the tank of chemicals holding the engine was emptied and conservators began hammering away (ever-so-carefully, I promise) at the sediment that had accumulated during its 139 years underwater. You can see part of that process here.

USS Monitor (Cross-section model, above. Detail, below), Wood, metal and wax, H 11.25” x W 20.75” x D 13”, N0100.1973 New York State Historical Association/Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY, N0100.1973

Thanks to the efforts of The Mariner’s Museum, a dedicated team of conservators, and I’m sure hundreds of others, an amazing part of the history of the United States Navy is being preserved for the future. And that’s what museums do, preserve the past for the future.

Early Photography, Meet 21st Century Technology

By John Hart, Assistant Curator of Collections

It seems like not a day goes by that I’m not working on something that involves a camera. When you have upwards of 150,000 objects to manage, it’s no wonder that when you work with something, you photograph it, upload the image into the collections database and add a few details about the object here and there. The image saves the next person time and acts as a record of the object's condition when the photograph was taken. But what about photographs themselves? What more can they tell us about a particular time period? The short answer is plenty, if you know what you’re looking at. Many historians will tell you that photographs provide a wealth of knowledge and always tell a story.

The first photographs are nothing like today’s photographs, and they involved far more time and patience than a simple point-and-shoot camera of today. Imagine sitting in front of a camera for several minutes while trying to hold a pose so as not to alter the final image.

The first form of commercially available photography developed around 1839 and was called a daguerreotype, after the inventor of the process, Louis Daguerre. The photograph above is a great example of an early daguerreotype (ca. 1850) and if you look closely at her ears, neck and her index finger, you can see that this image was embellished with a bit of gold to enhance the jewelry. This embellishment, common on daguerreotypes, is echoed in the image below, as well.

The embellishments didn’t stop there. Many daguerreotypes, and later tintypes and ambrotypes, were hand tinted to emulate a color image. Cheeks could be made rosy red, a Civil War soldier’s pants could be tinted blue, and the list goes on.

Since most of the processes for early photography are easily identified, researchers, curators, and historians can easily find a date range for an image. The best example I found for this is in the image below.

It’s probably hard to see, but at the base of this image, on the metal framework, there are two crossed cannons, one with a mark of “76” and the other of “61.” It seems likely these refer to 1776 and 1861, the start of the American Revolution and the beginning of the United States Civil War. At the top and bottom are the Union shield, American flags and “Union” arched over the image. This image therefore likely dates somewhere between 1861 and 1865 (give or take a few months). It may have been carried by a Union soldier to remind him of his children back home, but that’s just a guess. Because of its date, and from evidence on the image itself, this is a tintype, a photographic process that began around 1855 and was popular up until the 1930s.

Unfortunately we don’t know too much about the individuals in these images, but the photographs provide a wealth of knowledge, from dress, to jewelry, to national events.
Even today photography is used to document events and everyday life, but like the images of the 19th and early 20th centuries, they are so much more.

Images, from top to bottom:

Daguerreotype, ca. 1850, Photographer unknown. New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, NY. N0087.1945(01)
Daguerreotype, ca. 1850, Photographer unknown. New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, NY. N0149.1976(01)
Tintype, ca. 1861-1865, Photographer unknown. New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, NY. N0266.1976(07)

On the March from Cooperstown to Virginia

By: Chris Rossi, Associate Curator of Exhibitions

Research for an exhibit often starts long before the exhibit is slated to open. The curatorial staff pours over books, websites, meets with scholars and watches videos to get ourselves up to speed on our upcoming topics. The dazzle of the objects to be displayed is always augmented by enlightening facts that surface along the way.

With the 250th anniversary of the Civil War approaching we are diving head first into all things related to the conflict. In 2012 Fenimore Art Museum will mount an exhibition drawn from historian Sal Cilella’s book Upton’s Regulars, The 121st New York Infantry in the Civil War.

Eastern Theater of War 1861-1865

Courtesy of the National Parks Service

The 121st were Cooperstown’s hometown regiment. Drawn from the surrounding area the landowners, businessman, students and farm boys of Otsego and Herkimer Counties made their way to Virginia and were put under the leadership of Colonel Emory Upton. It is easy to be wowed by the battles the 121st engaged in and the hardships they endured, but I am awed at how far these guys had to sojourn just to be part of the fray.

Route from Cooperstown to Fredericksburg

Courtesy of Google Maps

Traveling from Cooperstown to Washington, D.C. and points south by public transport in 2010 can be a bit of a challenge. In 1862 it was considerably more difficult. Upton’s men traveled over 400 miles just to reach the fighting. Google Maps tells me that it would take 7 hours and 13 minutes to drive, and at least 5 days and 7 hours to walk that distance today. The 121st marched, traveled by train and by wagon to make their way south. This in an age when many men never left the confines of their village or county, let alone down to the nation’s capital and beyond. Once onsite the 121st faced 3 years of marching, camping and fighting, ending in another monumental trek back north to home and family in the Cooperstown area.

121st Battles and Casualties

From: New York in the War of the Rebellion, 3rd ed. Frederick Phisterer

Albany: J. B. Lyon Company, 1912

A Face to a Name

By John Hart, Assistant Curator of Collections

A while ago I wrote about Brevet Brigadier General T. Ellery Lord and the collections of objects at the museum that he once owned. Well, as luck would have it, one of his distant relatives – actually the daughter of the donor who gave us Lord’s swords – contacted us recently and sent along a copy of the Deed of Gift from 1988. I was shocked when I looked at it and saw not just the three swords, but a daguerreotype listed on the form. I had looked at this form before in our files and can’t believe I missed the photo! Needless to say it took some digging and detective work, but I found the image in storage and it’s absolutely fantastic.

[Captain] T. Ellery Lord (1841-1886), Daguerreotype, Artist Unknown. ca. March 21, 1863- June 1, 1865.

N0030.1988. New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, New York.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear that we have the frock coat pictured in the daguerreotype. I examined Lord’s two frocks that we have and both show evidence of having shoulder boards but never were equipped with the catch and latch for epaulettes. The coats are correct for the rank of Captain, but they are certainly not the one he’s wearing in our image. We do have the epaulettes though, so we are still able to interpret the differences in uniforms. Sadly, too, we don’t have the shoulder boards for the rank of Captain.

Frock Coat, Maker unknown, Wool and brass. N0262.1941.

New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, NY

Frock Coat, Maker unknown, Wool and brass. N0263.1941.

New York State Historical Association, Cooperstown, NY

The collection of T. Ellery Lord’s objects is still one of the most comprehensive of its kind at the New York State Historical Association, and it certainly provides a wonderful look into the life, ranks, and promotions he received.

President Abraham Lincoln's Autopsy

By: Michelle L. Murdock, Curator of Exhibitions

Even 17 years into my museum career, artifacts can still send shivers down my spine. Today’s post is about two documents that do just that every time I see them.

Today is the 145th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s death. The New York State Historical Association Research Library houses two autopsies of Lincoln, one by Surgeon Joseph Janvier Woodward and another by a Dr. R.K. Stone. (These are, more accurately, reports written shortly before the President died.) You can also see the tools the doctors used here. Most amazingly, Dr. Woodward’s autopsy is also smeared with the President’s blood. The transcripts are below.
Dr. Woodward’s report:

Autopsy of President Abraham Lincoln


April 15, 1865. 12 o’clock am


Eyelids and surrounding parts of the face greatly ecchymosed. Eyes somewhat protuberant from effusion of blood into the orbit. There was a gunshot wound of the head around which the skull was greatly thickened by hemorrhage into its tissue. The ball had entered through the occipital bone about an inch to the left of the median line and just above the lateral sinus which it opened; it then penetrated the dura mater, passed through the posterior lobe of the cerebrum, entered the left lateral ventricle and lodged in the white matter of the cerebrum just above the interior portion of the corpus strictum where it was found. The wound in the occipital bone was quite smooth and spherical in shape and beveled off from without inwards so that the opening of the tuble was larger than that through the external tubal. A fragment of the ball was found in the orifice through the bone. The track of the ball was full of clotted blood and contained several small fragments of bone. The brain around the track was pultaceus and livid from capillary hemorrhage into its substance. The ventricles of the brain were full of clotted blood. A thick clot beneath the dura mater coats the whole upper surface of the right lobe of the cerebrum. There was a smaller clot under the dura mater of the left side. But little blood was found at the base of the brain. Both the orbital plates of the frontal bone were fractured and the fragments pushed up towards the brain. The dura mater over these fractures was uninjured. The orbits gorged with blood…




Dr. Stone’s report:

Notes autopsy of Pres. Lincoln (Side 4)


Made Apr. 14th/65/Friday


Shot. 1 inch left median line traversing left lateral sinus upper edge, through occipital bone toward edge of lateral sinus. Thru occipital bone, touched ledge of lateral sinus, struck posterior lobe traversing it in a horizontal place (passing forwards inclining to the right.) In orifice of wound a scale blood 2 ½ in. in track, pieces of bone – 2 pieces of bone about 4 inches in advance in track of ball . Entered the left ventricle behind, followed the course of ventricle accurately, inching upwards and inwards, ploughing thru the upper part of thalamus nervorum opticorum, other 2 lodged in cerebral matter just above the corpus stratum of the left side. The brain track of ball was in a bubbly disintegrated state.


Both ventricles filled with blood. Whole brain engorged and bloody prints. More matter than wounds. On reviewing, the dura mater was displaced with a large coagulation of blood - lying upon the right hemisphere of the brain. Reviewing the dura mater, no wound in which was found, we found the orbital plates of both sides, the seat of comminuted fracture, the fragments being forced from within, outward. The orbit oculum palpitated membrane and cavity was filled with blood. Origin of which we didn’t seek. The right had been notably protruded, later sank back after death. Ecchymoses of the left eye 1st and right eye 2nd


Great oedema of sinus and a little blood extravasated about shot wound, clean cut as if by a punch. 2 feet off orbital plates, very thin.

Look for these incredible artifacts, as well as a document signed by Lincoln and his cabinet, in an upcoming Civil War exhibition planned for 2012 at Fenimore Art Museum.