The Yager Museum of Arts and Culture at Hartwick College will open a new exhibit that explores Oneonta and the people who have lived there during the past two centuries, according to a news release from the college.
The exhibit will open with a reception at 5 p.m. Thursday, April 17. It features artifacts and graphics from the collections of the Yager, as well as the Paul F. Cooper Jr. Hartwick College Archives and the Greater Oneonta Historical Society.
Museum Coordinator Douglas Kendall said “Discovering Our Place: Working, Learning, and Playing Within These Hills” was developed by Hartwick museum studies students as part of a creative exhibits course. “They decided to focus on the way Oneontans — both long-time residents and college students spending a few years here — have experienced this place through work, learning and play,” he said.
A focal point of the exhibit is a portrait of Otto Clark McCrum of Oneonta, painted by John Pardoe in the mid-19th century. The painting, part of the Greater Oneonta Historical Society collections, “shows a young boy standing before a verdant landscape of hills and valleys, with a steam train in the background,” the release stated. McCrum’s portrait was created before the railroad reached Oneonta “but foreshadows the importance of railroads to the prosperity of the community from the late 19th century through the mid-20th century,” according to the release. The “Working” section of the exhibit includes historical and artistic images, as well as artifacts of the railroads in Oneonta.
Interactive activities play a part in “Discovering Our Place.” The exhibit includes images of “The Wall” at the corner of Center and West streets, where community members have memorialized political opinions, sporting triumphs, college events and marriage proposals during the past half-century. In addition, a miniature version of “The Wall” is included in the exhibit and the museum encourages visitors to add their own messages. The exhibit also includes an online component, discoveringourplaceoneontany.org, which invites visitors to add their own pictures, photos and videos to the digital exhibit.
The Yager Museum’s galleries will also be open during the reception, according to the release. Visitors can explore the museum’s current exhibits, including “No Child’s Play’: Impressionist Paintings by Anna Richards Brewster”; “With that Shadow Over Them: Constructing Catskill Reservoirs, Remembering Home”; “Sculptures in Silver: America’s Standing Liberty Quarters, 1916-1931”; and “Masterpieces of European and American Art: the Hartwick College Art Treasure Room.” The museum’s traveling exhibit, ‘Black Lives at Hartwick, Then and Now,” will also be on display.
The museum’s regular hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. when the college is in session. The museum is closed on Sundays, Mondays, college holidays and when the college is not in session. Admission is free. More information is available through the museum’s Facebook page and webpage, by calling 607-431-4480 or emailing Kendall at kendalld@hartwick.edu.