Whodunnit at Night at Our Museum?

By Amy Hollister, Cooperstown Graduate Program Student

If you didn’t attend Night at Our Museum last weekend at Fenimore Art Museum, you missed an evening of art, crafts, music, and mystery. Will & Will entertained with musical stylings for the entire family, while the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown Art Association, The Glimmerglass Festival, The Brookwood School, and Cherry Valley Artworks provided art activities.

Will and Will were a highlight of the evening.

The excitement of the night centered on a mystery – just before the concert, a visitor’s purse went missing. Visitors divided into groups and worked with a detective and security to solve the case. And solve it they did! Using clues, young detectives roped off the galleries and scoured the crime scenes – and by crime scenes, we mean paintings. It turns out that at night the paintings come to life, and within the artwork lay the clues to catching the culprit!

Even if you didn’t attend, it’s not too late to solve the mystery. The clues and pictures of the crime scene are posted below. There are many things to consider when looking at art, but there are a few questions that provide a good start to your investigation:
1. “What is going on in this painting?”
2. “What do I see that makes me say that?”
Now it’s time to test your sleuthing skills! We’ve provided the clues and the paintings below.

Feathers at the scene of the crime
When our young detectives checked the purse’s last known location, all they found was bird feathers.

Quilting in the Clark
Two women sitting in the Unfolding Stories: Culture and Tradition in American Quilts exhibition were putting together a friendship quilt and had some conflicting tips. One woman said the purse thief was wearing black, and the other said she was wearing blue. It was hard to get a straight story, though, since they were arguing over quilting styles – and boy, was that a heated argument! We didn’t want our detectives to get caught in the cross-fire of fabric swatches and thread, so we left the gallery pretty quickly.

Young Boys Run Amuck in the Genre Gallery

Detective Henson and young detectives question the Village Post Office Lady and Mrs. McCormick.

In the genre gallery, we overheard Mrs. McCormick grumpily explaining to the Village Post Office Lady about the dangers of young boys. Unfortunately, neither Mrs. McCormick nor the Village Post Office Lady had much to contribute to the investigation. Do you see anything in the painting that could solve the case?

Eliza

Eliza rocks in front of her post-mortem portrait. Can you find any clues in the painting?

Poor Eliza; she’s sad, and we don’t know why. Eliza was rocking in her chair when we got up to the gallery. From her, we learned that the thief was skinny, mean, and had a covered head. But this describes too many people! Investigate the painting to see if you can figure out anything to add to the case – or a clue to Eliza’s melancholy state. Is she upset because she stole the purse?

Those were all the clues the young detectives found. With such little information, it would take outstanding skills to find the thief. But, by vote of applause, the case was solved! The thief came forward. Check the comments section of this post for the answer – but only after you do your best to solve the case. Who do you think took the purse and why?

Visitors voted, by round of applause, on who they thought stole the purse.

A Night at Our Museum was a great success. Next year will bring a new mystery, new clues, and new crime scenes. We hope to see you there!

It's Almost Time!

By Olivia Cothren, Cooperstown Graduate Program student

We’re now just two days away from Night at our Museum at Fenimore Art Museum!

We’ve been hard at work putting together the mystery tour. We’ve chosen our cast, outfitted the actors in costumes from The Farmers’ Museum, and had fun, productive rehearsals. Only one more dress rehearsal and then it’s show time!

One of the many joys of studying at the Cooperstown Graduate Program is getting the chance to participate in all aspects of the local museum programming. Last year, I was delighted to play one of my idols, the Statue of Liberty, in the Night at Our Museum mystery tour. This year, I’ve gotten to work behind the scenes while another crop of my classmates gets to show off their theatrical talents. Night at our Museum is a fun, educational experience for the community as well as for the staff and students involved in the planning and implementation of the event.

Although the mystery tour will be a highlight of the evening, there will be plenty more to do and see on Saturday night. Be sure to take a moment to visit with representatives from local community groups who will be providing fun activities. Sad that your stash of Halloween candy is now a crumpled pile of wrappers? Save the tears—we’ll have plenty of treats on hand to keep the sugar rush going. And don’t even think about missing the evening’s musical act, Cooperstown’s own “Will and Will.” Everyone knows they say “where there’s a will, there’s a way”…but do you know what they say about two Wills? You’ll have to attend to find out!

We hope you’ll join us on Saturday night for this special event. We need as many detectives as possible to help solve the mystery! Did anyone use the clues in this post to figure out which galleries the mystery tour will take you? If you have, congratulations! You’re well on your way to helping us solve the mystery. Now that you know what rooms you’ll see, try to figure out which pieces of art will come to life using these new clues:

• I don’t mind if you call my work wacky, eccentric, or zany…but I think CRAZY might send the wrong message!
• You’ve chosen me as one of your favorite paintings in the museum. Well, my rose and necklace are quite lovely, so I can’t say that I’m surprised…but I never let my emotions show on my face.
• Oh goodness, I feel like I’ve been waiting on this line all day. If we don’t get moving soon, I might just go postal!

See you on Saturday!

Night at Our Museum returns!

By Amanda Cohen, Cooperstown Graduate Program student

There’s a mystery at the Fenimore Art Museum, and we need your help in order to solve it. What is this mystery? It’ll have to remain a secret until Saturday, November 5. From 6:00 to 8:30 PM that night, the Fenimore Art Museum will open its doors to families, budding detectives, art lovers, and visitors of all ages to participate in Night at our Museum. Night at our Museum is an opportunity for families to share art experiences in unique ways. One of the highlights of the evening is a participatory tour of the museum, set around a mystery. Visitors will have the chance to interact with pieces of art come to life, finding clues that will help solve the mystery. The evening will also feature live music, food, and more.

As second-year students at the Cooperstown Graduate Program, a few of my classmates and I have the opportunity to help plan this special event. Our primary task is to make this mystery play happen, taking it from script to the galleries. As I work on this project, I’ve found that it’s a lot like producing a play. We must cast the actors, identify and secure costumes and props, make rehearsal arrangements, block scenes, and conduct rehearsals. Night at our Museum is a great way for us to hone our project management skills and gain valuable experience in implementing educational programs. Also, in working with museum staff on this event, we have the opportunity to collaborate with people outside of our usual cohort of classmates.

What are we up to right now? We’re casting the actors—they’ll be playing the artworks that come to life. We’re also picking out some great costumes, using resources from The Farmers’ Museum and thrift shops so our actors can dress like the characters in the art that they’re portraying. We’re very much looking forward to our first rehearsal.

Even though the subject of our mystery will remain under lock and key until November 5, I thought I’d give you a few hints as to which exhibits will provide the clues, witnesses, and crime scenes. This should give you a chance to sharpen your detective skills before Night at our Museum.

• We might keep you warm in the winter, but if you unfold us, we’ll tell you stories about the past.
• There’s definitely buzz about our art, but you won’t find any bees in our gallery; instead, you’ll find pieces picked by you.
• You’ll find a lot of genres in this room, but our paintings have nothing to do with rock, pop, jazz, or classical music.

A Week in the Life of Our Storage Facility

Doug Kendall, Curator of Collections

Those of you who follow this blog already know that winter is anything but a slow time in the Museum, even though we are closed to the public. The curatorial staff is busy preparing the 2011 exhibitions for the April 1 opening and getting ready to send the Thaw Collection traveling exhibition to its next venue at the Dallas Museum of Art, among other activities.

One might imagine that the storage facility for Fenimore Art Museum and The Farmers’ Museum at least would be peaceful; after all, this is where the vast majority of the artifacts not on exhibition are kept. The very word “storage” suggests a lack of activity.

Exterior, Iroquois Storage Facility, February 2011

The storage facility is located in a former thoroughbred horse stable and from the outside it look relatively unchanged. Perhaps because the storage facility is two miles away from the museum campus, even our staff often thinks this is a quiet backwater.

Nothing could be farther from the truth and this week the building was especially busy.

Because we co-sponsor the Cooperstown Graduate Program in museum studies, students spend a lot of time here examining and writing about objects in the collections. In addition, at least two classes are held at the facility every week during the semester, in a classroom that originally served as the stable’s tack room. Because the graduate program emphasizes hands-on study, we move objects into the classroom for each session. On Tuesday of this week, we set up for Wednesday’s Collections Care class for first-year graduate students. Wednesday morning, conservators C.R. and Sue Jones covered the care of historic photographs and paper objects; after a brief break, I talked about care of ceramics and glass in museum collections.

Ready for Furniture class, February 17, 2011

Caring for Photographs, February 16, 2011

While Assistant Curator of Collections, John Hart, and student assistant Amy Drake switched out those objects for the furniture that would be needed for Thursday’s class, Assistant Professor Will Walker held a session of his American Cultures II seminar in the upstairs collections area Wednesday afternoon. Will’s class examined items in the Museum’s Kopp Collection, which consists of advertising and other popular culture images of Native Americans. Thursday, Associate Professor of Material Culture Cindy Falk and the first-years studied wooden furniture in the classroom.

American Cultures class, February 16, 2011

In addition to all of the academic activity in the building, the storage space in the lower level of the building is also being upgraded. New climate control equipment and better shelving is being installed. So while classes have been meeting upstairs, contractors and the Facilities staff have been busy in the basement. The result will be a much better environment for over 60,000 glass plate negatives stored here (including the Smith & Telfer Photographic Collection) as well as other museum and library collections.

Preparing the basement for new shelving, February 15, 2011

Next week, the graduate students have Winter Break, so it won’t be quite so busy. But I trust you get the idea—museum storage is neither quiet nor boring around here!

Smiling Iron

John Hart, Assistant Curator of Collections

Every once in a while you come across an object in storage and it just makes you scratch your head. Usually it’s due to the fact that it isn’t in the right place, has a numbering issue, or some other issue that you have to figure out. But every now and again, I find an object that makes me scratch my head because it makes me think ‘What the heck!?’

When I was putting something away recently that’s exactly what happened. I’m used to finding objects in the collection that are strange and different; I mean really, we have a two-headed calf and an adult-sized potty chair! But these andirons just made me smile, probably because they were smiling at me.

Andirons, maker unknown, ca. early 1900s, F0035.1954a-b.

We don’t know an awful lot about these objects, though thanks to research done by Cooperstown Graduate Program student Erik Larson* several years ago, we can guess at the history of these whimsical andirons. Erik believed, and I’d say rightfully so, that these andirons were likely products of the early 1900s. Even though they’re cast iron, and constructed using historic methods, it wasn’t until the 1900s that smiley faces were used for advertisements and “the designs of the times mirror the style of these andirons.”

The museum acquired these andirons in 1954 and as Erik stated this eliminates “any reference to the popular “Smiley” fad which was to sweep the world [a decade later].” All I can think of in this reference is that great scene in Forrest Gump when Forrest, on his cross-country run, meets up with the t-shirt salesman who hasn’t done well in business until Forrest wipes his face on the shirt and voila the smiley face is born.

Whatever the history of these andirons turns out to be, one cannot deny the fact that they would be amusing to have in a fireplace, though I imagine with the open eyes and mouth, having a fire behind them could seem a little demonic. Demons aside, I agree with Erik: “The “Smiling Face” andirons are perhaps best viewed as their original maker most likely intended them to be: fun and functional conversation pieces.”

*Larson, Erik. "Untitled," unpublished seminar paper, CGP Methods of Artifact Study, 2002-3.

Trim, Stuff, Wrap, Steam

By: Chris Rossi, Associate Curator of Exhibitions

I'm not sure what it is like in other work places, but I am always amazed at the number of hidden talents my coworkers seem to possess. Empire Waists, Bustles and Lace: A Century of New York Fashion, our soon-to-open fashion exhibition, has brought to the surface the previously untapped skills of my colleagues

I wasn't too surprised when Michelle Murdock, Curator of Exhibitions, revealed herself to be adept at fashioning petticoats out of tulle and wire. And I was pleased when Steve Loughman, our new Preparator didn't even bat an eye at my request for him to trim the base of one of our manikins and then give it hips and a bigger bottom.

What did take me by surprise was the ability of Ginny Reynolds and Brooke Steinhauser, our Cooperstown Graduate Program volunteers, to adeptly stuff 3 corsets into just the right shapes. Now we have 3 curvaceous corsets to demonstrate the different female silhouettes of the 19th century. I am sure this skill can be worked into their resumes ... somehow.
That should have prepared me for John Hart, our Assistant Curator of Collections, demonstrating that he knew exactly how to wrap our civil war general's sash and sword to military perfection. Where did he learn to do that?!
To top it all off Curator Erin Crissman from our sister museum, The Farmers' Museum just happened to mention that she had, once upon a time, spent a long summer vacuuming and steaming costumes. A week later she was hard at it in the gallery, giving tutorials on how to vacuum a costume without sucking up buttons and lace. Then it was on to steaming out the wrinkles from dresses that had spent the last 100 years in someone’s attic and then neatly tucked away in our storage facility.
The results of this sudden revelation of amazing and somewhat obscure talents-a delightful exhibit well trimmed, stuffed, wrapped and steamed-ready for our April 1 opening date. My thanks to my talented colleagues for making it happen!

Return of the Students

By: John Hart, Assistant Curator of Collections
One of my favorite times of year doesn’t involve good weather, a particular season, or even a holiday. For me it’s the return of the students of the Cooperstown Graduate Program. The best part of my job is being able to work with them for the school year, or like this past summer with frequent emails back and forth, and even a phone call or two, from students interning in Alaska.

I myself am a graduate of “The Program” as it’s more often referred to by alumni and staff at NYSHA and The Farmers’ Museum, so it’s nice to still be connected as closely as I am to the faculty, staff, and students. The first years started this past Monday and on Tuesday and I served as the photographer for the class picture. They seem like a fantastic group of students and even though it’ll be November before I probably learn their names, I, along with my colleagues, I am sure, cannot wait to start working on projects with them.

CGP students work hands-on with staff at Fenimore Art Museum, NYSHA, and The Farmers’ Museum on a variety of projects led by the faculty. For example, classes in the past have helped develop furnishing plans for the More House, educational exhibit labels in “America's Rome: Artists in the Eternal City, 1800-1900,” and first years are required to work with a museum outside of Cooperstown as part of their first year project, sort of a baptism by fire, but rewarding nonetheless.

After two years, and the completion of a thesis, students graduate with a Masters Degree in History Museum Studies. That doesn’t mean that graduates all work in historic houses or art museums, or even at living history sites. Some start out working for other non-profits outside of the museum field, gathering valuable experience for when they do return to a museum setting. Others start their own business repairing furniture (a skill that I wish I could develop more in my own repairs), or become consultants. The sky’s the limit, really. And believe me, students change their mind about possible tracks almost weekly as they progress through the classes.

Let the fun (and of course learning) begin!!

Need More Folk Art?

By: Paul D'Ambrosio PhD, Vice President and Chief Curator
Although I have been a contributor to the main Fenimore Art Museum blog for the past few months, it has always been in the back of my mind to devote an entire blog to a subject that has been my passion and my specialty for more than 25 years: American folk art. Recently, I decided to start a blog just for my graduate course in American folk art for the Cooperstown Graduate Program in Museum Studies. This seemed like a good way to foster communication among the students but also to share some of the interesting stories and experiences gleaned from 27 years of working with our renowned collection of American folk art.

Once I had this focus, the floodgates opened up. I immediately wrote down a list of about 50 blog posts that could be done without even doing research. And the stories were, shall we say, often quite colorful: folk masterpieces uncovered in the walls of a Marblehead, Massachusetts home; arcane allusions to Amazon warriors in a painting of a mermaid; portraits done by an artist while he was on the run from the law; and much more.

It occurred to me quite quickly that this blog might have broader interest than just the graduate students. And so my new blog, http://folkartcooperstown.blogspot.com/, was born. Please take a minute to check it out. You’ll get a new perspective on some artworks and artists you thought you knew, learn a lot of new things you hadn’t heard before, and gain a new appreciation of the creativity of ordinary men and women across the country. You might even have some great folk art stories to share. Either way, this blog will open your eyes to the art that is all around us.

Cooperstown Students open WPA Exhibit

By: Ansel Laurio, Cooperstown Graduate Program, Class of 2009

Exhibit panels have been printed and final preparations are well underway for the upcoming exhibition at the New York State Historical Association’s Research Library – Doubleday and the WPA: National Relief for a National Pastime – chronicaling Doubleday Field’s rise from sandlot to icon during the early part of the twentieth century. Many are aware of the legend of baseball’s invention by Abner Doubleday on the location of the famous field in 1839. Few know, however, how the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal agency formed during the Great Depression, helped to create the Doubleday Field which we know and enjoy today.
This wintry view from a nearby rooftop shows the skeletal grandstand under construction. WPA projects such as Doubleday Field’s improvements brought hope to people weathering the bleak economy. Winter 1938/1939.

Working along with my fellow Cooperstown Graduate Program classmates, Ashley Domm, Erin Andrews, and Nicholas Wood, we have created an exhibit that explores the transformation of Doubleday Field by the WPA for baseball’s centennial season in 1939. The subsequent celebration was an expression of hope and pride for a community dealing with hard economic times. The research we have done for this exhibit uncovered never before exhibited photographs from the Smith and Telfer Collection, as well as blueprints and broadsides from the NYSHA Research Library. We were fortunate to be able to work closely with and receive loaned objects from The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

Crowds gathering in Cooperstown during baseball’s centennial season, 1939.

The exhibit will be open to the public on May 15th, and we hope that you will all stop by to check it out! The Research Library is open Monday through Friday, 10:00am-5:00pm.

Top: Doubleday Field Construction, 1939. NYSHA collection, PH 15,287.

Bottom: Opening Day, Doubleday Field, 1939. Smith and Telfer Collection 5-12198.