Highlights of the 2024 Season

 

We were delighted to offer a multitude of programs and events in 2024. A new exhibition, The Buzz About Pollinators was unveiled in the Main Barn. As climate change continues to effect New York State’s agriculture, local pollinators, and life cycles, “Buzz” asks the question, how can we ensure that New York will continue to have apples to eat, cider to enjoy, and honey and maple syrup for pancakes? Large, colorful graphics and educational interactives engaged Fenimore Farm’s youngest and older visitors alike. This exhibit was created in collaboration with guest curator Caroline Welshand and designer Stephanie McClintick. Beyond daily programs, the spring featured the annual Heritage Plant Sale, summer saw the return of the beloved Templeton Players presenting period farces and storytelling in the Village Green, and the fall offered popular activities including Things that Go Bump in the Night Ghost Tours, and the second annual Glimmer Nights.

 

Fenimore Farm Collection Highlights & Acquisitions

2024 COLLECTION ACQUISITIONS

61 assorted photographs for Plowline. Plowline: Images of Rural New York.  A Project of Fenimore Farm supported by the Gipson Family. Museum Purchase.

International Stock Food broadside. Collection of Fenimore Farm. Museum Purchase.

Shakers’ Dried Green Sweet Corn and Dunlap’s Seeds broadsides. Collection of Fenimore Farm. Museum Purchase.

10 photographs and glass plate negatives taken by Brown Bros. Plowline: Images of Rural New York.  A Project of Fenimore Farm supported by the Gipson Family. Museum Purchase.

Real photo postcard of students at the State School of Agriculture in Alfred, NY. Plowline: Images of Rural New York.  A Project of Fenimore Farm supported by the Gipson Family. Museum Purchase.

A collection of reproduction stoneware and redware, made by donor in the 1970s-1980s. Collection of Fenimore Farm. Gift of Eileen Murphy.

 

DEACCESSIONS

Any Documentary Collection object considered for deaccession must meet at least one of the following criteria set forth by the New York State Board of Regents Rule 3.276:

• The object is inconsistent with the mission of the responsible institution as set forth in that institution’s mission statement and scope of collections.
• The object has failed to retain its identity.
• The object is redundant.
• The item’s conservation or preservation needs are beyond the responsible institution’s capacity to provide.
• The object is deaccessioned to accomplish refinement of collections.
• It has been established that the item is inauthentic.
• The responsible institution is repatriating the object or returning it to its original owner.
• The responsible institution is returning the object to its donor or the donor’s heirs or assigns to fulfill donor restrictions relating to the item which the institution is no longer able to meet.
• The object presents a hazard to other people or collection objects.
• The item has been lost or stolen and has not been recovered.

Stone pestle. Gift of H. J. Melden.

Wall pocket. Gift of Mrs. Edgar Klock.

Splint basket. Gift of Stephen C. Clark.

Bench. Gift of Stephen C. Clark.

Doctor’s saddlebag. Gift of Stephen C. Clark.

Burl bowl. Gift of Sybil Browne.

Splint basket. Gift of Marjorie Plunkett.

Pincushion. Gift of Jennie Young.

Splint basket. Museum purchase.

Drying rack. Museum purchase.

Splint basket. Gift of Mrs. F. F. Brandt.

Pincushion. Gift of Mrs. Carleton Van Horne.

Beaded bag. Gift of Vianna Dornburgh.

Etagère, ca. 1800. Museum purchase.

Windsor chair, 1800-1820. Museum purchase.

Library table, 1925-1835. Museum purchase.

Dining table, 1800-1825. Museum purchase.

Set of six dining chairs, ca. 1835. Museum purchase.

Curtains with loops, 1950-2000. Gift of Jane Forbes Clark.

Twelve chairs, 1880-1920. Gift of Jane Forbes Clark.

Cornices, some with valances, 1950-2000. Gift of Jane Forbes Clark.

End table. Gift of Jane Forbes Clark.

Electric lamp. Gift of Jane Forbes Clark.

Piano, 1830-1845. Gift of Francis Bowman.

Book Rack. Gift of Donald St. John.

Tea box. Gift of Fayette Allen.

Roulette wheel, ca. 1920. Gift of Bill Michaels.

Barrel with cover, 18^th century. Gift of Mrs. Lawrence J. Ullman.

Pine hutch table. Gift of Mrs. Lawrence J. Ullman.

Cupboard, 1750-1825. Gift of Mrs. Lawrence J. Ullman.

“Log cabin” folding bed. Gift of Vernon Hale.

Shaving horse, mid-19^th century. Gift of Elmer G. Butler.

Chair. Gift of Luther Gage.

Settee made by William O. Haskell and Sons, Boston. Gift of LeRoy Peaslee.

Headrest. Gift of Ada Yates Harris.

Broken green glass bottle. Gift of Ada Yates Harris.

Windsor chair, 1750-1800. Gift of A. J. Elliot.

Iron fence, late 19^th-early 20^th century. Gift of Dr. Alan McEwan.

New Hampshire mill desk. Museum purchase.

Wooden tea box. Gift of Ben Robelin.

Clark’s Spool Cotton advertisement. Gift of Ben Robelin.

Blanket chest. Gift of Devere Card.

Hutch table. Gift of Devere Card.

Barber’s chair. Gift of Firman Decker.

Trundle bed. Gift of Bernard Carr.

Bed, 1820-1840. Gift of Lewis N. Wiggins.

Cherry sideboard, 1830-1840. Gift of Grace Williams.

Settle table. Gift of John S. Williams.

Table, ca. 1860. Gift of Middlefield Historical Society.

Broom holder. Gift of Percy W. Gould.

Pail with cover. Gift of Harold Davidson.

Barrel. Gift of Kenneth and Ruby Coye.

Barrel. Gift of William Card.

Field bed (Sheraton bedstead). Gift of Mrs. Dorothy Campbell.

Sawbuck base table. Museum purchase.

Workbench. Gift of Mrs. Dora Jones and Mrs. M. D. Ambler.

“Presidents of the United States” and “Pictorial View of the World”, ca. 1846. Gift of Rebecca Shenck Clark.

Pill machine. Gift of J. Mortimer DuBois.

Photograph of “Dr. Drake”. Gift of Marion J. Randall.

Pair of brass candlesticks. Previously unaccessioned.

Sap bucket. Previously unaccessioned.

Waffle iron. Previously unaccessioned.

Sadiron. Previously unaccessioned.

Kettle. Previously unaccessioned.

Mixing bowl. Previously unaccessioned.

 

Plowline Highlights

In 2024, three accessions were purchased for the Plowline Collection. Two of these have bolstered our images of women in agriculture, with two photographs and eight glass plate negatives of the 1910-1912 SUNY Women’s Agriculture School in Farmingdale, Long Island, as well as one real photo postcard depicting a 1911 N.Y State School of Agriculture, Alfred, N.Y. “Class in Domestic Science”.  The third purchase included 92 images of farming families, farmsteads, farming equipment, agricultural buildings and businesses from 1870-1945: one glass plate, one tintype, five stereographs, one hand colored large photographic image, 28 photographic prints; including three Northern Survey photographs that bring our holdings of this company’s images to twenty, and 56 real photo postcards including an album of 35 depicting the Goodyear Lake area.

There is currently 3,647 images from the Plowline collection on the Fenimore Art Museum Collections website available to search and view, with more to be uploaded as the database migration is continued.

 

2024 Annual Fundraiser Review

2023 Gala Sponsors

$5,000

 

$2,000

 

$750

2024 Education and Regional History Center Campaign Donations:

Up to $250

Mr. and Mrs. William Goertemoeller

Ms. Ruth E. Hotaling

Ms. Linda Metzger

Prof. William Ryall

Mr. and Mrs. Nicholas Taro

Mr. Donald Weimer