Susan Fenimore Cooper

Fenimore Art Museum Presents a Virtual Talk: Susan Fenimore Cooper’s Reckoning with Native American Dispossession

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Date: November 16, 2023
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Virtual program
Organizer: Fenimore Art Museum
Email address: INFO@FENIMOREART.ORG
Phone: 607-547-1400
Register
Fenimore Art Museum

Join noted scholar Rochelle L. Johnson for a lecture exploring Susan Fenimore Cooper and her understanding of Native American culture.

Live Zoom Talk with Q&A:
Susan Fenimore Cooper's Reckoning with Native American Dispossession
Thursday, November 16, 2023 • 7:00-8:00 PM EST
Free • Registration is required, visit FenimoreArt.org or Eventbrite.com

Cooperstown, New York— Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown presents Susan Fenimore Cooper's Reckoning with Native American Dispossession—a live, virtual lecture with researcher and professor Rochelle L. Johnson. The presentation describes Cooper’s growing understanding of the Native American peoples of the region she called home. Through Cooper’s natural history writing, her essays, and her letters, we realize the fullness of her concern about her young nation’s wresting of lands from Native peoples. This program features a live Q&A session and takes place on Thursday, November 16, from 7:00–8:00 p.m.via Zoom. Registration is required.

To register, visit FenimoreArt.org or go directly to Eventbrite.com. A link to the lecture will be provided to all registrants 24 hours prior to the start of the program via the email address used during registration.  All participants will need Zoom installed on their computer or mobile device to join. There is no charge for this event, but if you value this type of program, please consider a donation of $15 or more to assist Fenimore in continuing to provide you with interesting content in the future.

About Rochelle L. Johnson
Rochelle L. Johnson is a leading scholar of Susan Fenimore Cooper and, with her co-editor, has made Cooper’s environmental writings available to today’s readers. The current president of the Thoreau Society and a past president of the Association for the Study of Literature and Environment, her work has been supported by grants from several organizations, including the National Endowment for the Humanities. She is professor of American literature and environmental humanities, and director of the honors program, at the College of Idaho. Her lecture is from a book in progress. Learn more at: https://www.rochelleljohnson.com.

About Fenimore Art Museum
Fenimore Art Museum, located on the shores of Otsego Lake—James Fenimore Cooper’s “Glimmerglass”—in historic Cooperstown, New York, features a wide-ranging collection of American art including folk art; important American 18th- and 19th-century landscape, genre, and portrait paintings; more than 125,000 historic photographs representing the technical developments made in photography and providing extensive visual documentation of the region’s unique history; and the renowned Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art comprised of nearly 900 art objects representative of a broad geographic range of North American Indian cultures, from the Northwest Coast, Eastern Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, Great Lakes, and Prairie regions. Visit FenimoreArt.org. 

Children’s Workshop at the Fenimore Art Museum

Children’s Storybook Workshop Inspired By Frog and Toad Author Arnold Lobel at Fenimore

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Start date: November 11, 2023
End date: November 12, 2023
Time: 1:00 pm
Location: Fenimore Art Museum, 5798 State Highway 80 (P.O.BOX 800) Cooperstown, NY 13326
Organizer: Fenimore Art Museum
Email address: INFO@FENIMOREART.ORG
Phone: 607-547-1400
Register
Fenimore Art Museum | October

Storytelling & Illustration: A Children's Book Workshop for Kids ages 9-14

Saturday and Sunday, November 11-12, 1-4pm
Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY
$75 Museum Members / $90 non-members
Registration required. Tickets available on Eventbrite.com

Cooperstown, New York — Children ages 9-14 are invited to participate in a storytelling and illustration workshop at Fenimore Art Museum—inspired by the artwork of Frog and Toad creator Arnold Lobel. Participants will be encouraged to let their imaginations run free as they learn how to combine illustration and writing to take one of their ideas and create their own storybook. The workshop takes place on Saturday and Sunday, November 11-12, from 1:00-4:00 p.m. each day. Registration is required: $75 Museum Members / $90 non-members. Information and registration is available at www.fenimoreart.org or www.eventbrite.com.

The workshop includes a special tour with Manager of Arts Education Kevin Gray, who will lead participants through the exhibition, Frog and Toad & Other Friends: The World of Arnold Lobel, showing how the award-winning illustrator and author assembled his stories and created early drafts. These original drawings and book layouts include notes and suggestions from Lobel’s editors, providing great insight to the book-writing process. Participants will write story drafts, pair them with drawings they have made, and will finish by learning to make a hand-bound book containing their story.

Fenimore Art Museum is located at 5798 State Route 80, less than one mile from the center of Cooperstown. For more information visit FenimoreArt.org.

About the Exhibition


Frog and Toad & Other Friends: The World of Arnold Lobel (through December 31, 2023) celebrates the art of Arnold Lobel (1933–1987), author and illustrator of some of the most beloved children’s books produced since the late 1960s. Included among these are his Frog and Toad series (1971–79), Mouse Soup (1977), and Fables (1980), which was awarded the prestigious Caldecott Medal. Creating a magical world animated by a talking frog, a toad, an owl, mice, kangaroos, and other colorful creatures, Lobel subtly reflects upon human foibles in his charmingly rendered stories and illustrations. The exhibition features over one hundred original illustrations and works on paper highlighting Lobel’s detailed illustration technique and warm, funny tales of love and friendship, mostly among animal friends.

Museum Hours
Through December 31: 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday (closed Mondays, Thanksgiving, and Christmas). Museum admission is free for visitors 19 and under. Find more information at FenimoreArt.org.

About Fenimore Art Museum
Fenimore Art Museum, located on the shores of Otsego Lake—James Fenimore Cooper’s “Glimmerglass”—in historic Cooperstown, New York, features a wide-ranging collection of American art including folk art; important American 18th- and 19th-century landscape, genre, and portrait paintings; more than 125,000 historic photographs representing the technical developments made in photography and providing extensive visual documentation of the region’s unique history; and the renowned Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art comprised of nearly 900 art objects representative of a broad geographic range of North American Indian cultures, from the Northwest Coast, Eastern Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, Great Lakes, and Prairie regions. Visit FenimoreArt.org. 

Art in the Dark Tours at the Fenimore Museum

October Art in the Dark Tours at the Fenimore Art Museum

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Start date: October 18, 2023
End date: October 19, 2023
Time: 6:30 pm
Location: Fenimore Art Museum, 5798 State Highway 80 (P.O.BOX 800) Cooperstown, NY 13326
Organizer: Fenimore Art Museum
Email address: INFO@FENIMOREART.ORG
Phone: 607-547-1400
More Info
Fenimore Art Museum | October

Art in the Dark Tours
October 18, 19, 25, 26 at 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. 
Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY

Tickets: $13.50 Members, $16.00 Non-Members. Reservations required.

Cooperstown, New York — See Fenimore Art Museum’s collections in a way never experienced before–in the dark–with Art in the Dark tours. Join museum guides as they lead you through the galleries of American folk art and fine art by lantern light, stopping along the way to share some of the mysterious, melancholy, and untold stories within the artworks. Discover hidden secrets within the paintings with the help of a special ultraviolet light.

The 45-minute tours are offered twice per night. Tours take place on Wednesday and Thursday evenings: October 18, 19, 25, 26 at 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. Reservations are required. Tickets: $13.50 Members, $16.00 Non-Members. To purchase tickets, visit FenimoreArt.org or go directly to Eventbrite.com.

About Fenimore Art Museum
Fenimore Art Museum, located on the shores of Otsego Lake—James Fenimore Cooper’s “Glimmerglass”—in historic Cooperstown, New York, features a wide-ranging collection of American art including folk art; important American 18th- and 19th-century landscape, genre, and portrait paintings; more than 125,000 historic photographs representing the technical developments made in photography and providing extensive visual documentation of the region’s unique history; and the renowned Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art comprised of nearly 900 art objects representative of a broad geographic range of North American Indian cultures, from the Northwest Coast, Eastern Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, Great Lakes, and Prairie regions. Visit FenimoreArt.org. 

Chris Thomas and Friends - Dancers 2023

Celebrate Native America at the Fenimore Art Museum

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Date: August 19, 2023
Time: 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Location: Fenimore Art Museum, 5798 State Highway 80 (P.O.BOX 800) Cooperstown, NY 13326
Organizer: Fenimore Art Museum
Email address: INFO@FENIMOREART.ORG
Phone: 607-547-1400
Fenimore Art Museum | Otsego County

Free, family-friendly event on Saturday, August 19, from 2-5pm

Includes a Haudenosaunee history presentation and a performance of traditional social dance.

Celebrate Native America
Haudenosaunee History and Traditional Social Dance
Saturday, August 19 • 2:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Lucy B. Hamilton Amphitheater – behind Fenimore Art Museum
Free admission to event (regular museum admission applies if visiting Fenimore Art Museum)

Cooperstown, New York — Experience a special presentation of Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) history and performances of traditional social dance on Saturday, August 19from 2:00-5:00 p.m. in the Lucy B. Hamilton Amphitheater behind Fenimore Art Museum. Start with a tour of Otsego: A Meeting Place at 2:00 p.m.

Darren Bonaparte
Darren Bonaparte

The presentation begins at 3:00 p.m. as noted Mohawk scholar Darren Bonaparte shares recreated wampum belts and provides insight into the important agreements memorialized by them.  At 4:00 p.m., Chris Thomas and Friends (Onondaga) leads an energetic, participatory series of traditional social dances. Crafters will also be present to sell their works from 2:00-5:00 p.m. This family-friendly event is free and will take place behind the museum overlooking Otsego Lake. Regular museum admission applies if entering Fenimore Art Museum.

SCHEDULE:

  • 2:00 p.m.: Tour of Otsego: A Meeting Place

  • 3:00 p.m.: Presentation of Haudenosaunee history using recreated wampum by Darren Bonaparte (Mohawk)

  • 4:00 p.m.: Traditional Haudenosaunee social dance by Chris Thomas and Friends (Onondaga)

  • Crafters will be onsite from 2:00-5:00 p.m.

About Fenimore Art Museum

Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, NY

Fenimore Art Museum, located on the shores of Otsego Lake—James Fenimore Cooper’s “Glimmerglass”—in historic Cooperstown, New York, features a wide-ranging collection of American art including folk art; important American 18th- and 19th-century landscape, genre, and portrait paintings; more than 125,000 historic photographs representing the technical developments made in photography and providing extensive visual documentation of the region’s unique history; and the renowned Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art comprised of nearly 900 art objects representative of a broad geographic range of North American Indian cultures, from the Northwest Coast, Eastern Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, Great Lakes, and Prairie regions. Visit FenimoreArt.org.

MUSEUM HOURS: Open April 1–December 31, 2023. Spring hours (April 1–May 26): 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday (closed Mondays). Summer hours begin May 27: open daily 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Museum admission is free for visitors 19 and under. Find more information at FenimoreArt.org.

Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NYFenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, NY. Photo Courtesy of the Fenimore Art Museum.

Museums’ Research Library to Offer Free Books and Periodicals

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Start date: August 14, 2023
End date: August 18, 2023
All-day event
Location: Fenimore Art Museum, 5798 State Highway 80 (P.O.BOX 800) Cooperstown, NY 13326
Organizer: Fenimore Art Museum
Email address: INFO@FENIMOREART.ORG
Phone: 607-547-1400
Farmers Museum | Fenimore Art Museum | Otsego County

Free Surplus Books and Periodicals
August 14-18 • 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Fenimore Art Museum and The Farmers’ Museum Research Library
5798 State Hwy 80 • Cooperstown, NY

Cooperstown, New York — The Fenimore Art Museum and The Farmers’ Museum Research Library will offer a selection of surplus books and periodicals—free to the public. All items will be accessible August 14-18, from 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. each day in front of the Research Library located next to Fenimore Art Museum. There is no charge or limit, individuals may take as many items as they wish while supplies last, on a first come, first served basis. Interested parties must supply their own bags or boxes. See a list of periodicals available and find more information at FenimoreArt.org/books.

The books and periodicals offered do not include titles pertaining to New York State, agriculture, or subjects related to the individual missions of the museums. All items have previously been offered to institutional repositories and professional booksellers.

The Research Library is located at 5798 State Hwy 80, next to Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown. If you have any questions, please contact the Research Library at (607) 547-1473 or email h.shear@fenimoreart.org.

About Fenimore Art Museum


Fenimore Art Museum, located on the shores of Otsego Lake—James Fenimore Cooper’s “Glimmerglass”—in historic Cooperstown, New York, features a wide-ranging collection of American art including folk art; important American 18th- and 19th-century landscape, genre, and portrait paintings; more than 125,000 historic photographs representing the technical developments made in photography and providing extensive visual documentation of the region’s unique history; and the renowned Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art comprised of nearly 900 art objects representative of a broad geographic range of North American Indian cultures, from the Northwest Coast, Eastern Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, Great Lakes, and Prairie regions.FenimoreArt.org. 

About Fenimore Art Museum

Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, NY

Fenimore Art Museum, located on the shores of Otsego Lake—James Fenimore Cooper’s “Glimmerglass”—in historic Cooperstown, New York, features a wide-ranging collection of American art including folk art; important American 18th- and 19th-century landscape, genre, and portrait paintings; more than 125,000 historic photographs representing the technical developments made in photography and providing extensive visual documentation of the region’s unique history; and the renowned Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art comprised of nearly 900 art objects representative of a broad geographic range of North American Indian cultures, from the Northwest Coast, Eastern Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, Great Lakes, and Prairie regions. Visit FenimoreArt.org.

MUSEUM HOURS: Open April 1–December 31, 2023. Spring hours (April 1–May 26): 10:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday (closed Mondays). Summer hours begin May 27: open daily 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. Museum admission is free for visitors 19 and under. Find more information at FenimoreArt.org.

About The Farmers’ Museum

As one of the oldest rural life museums in the country, The Farmers’ Museum in Cooperstown, New York, provides visitors with a unique opportunity to experience 19th-century rural and village life first-hand through authentic demonstrations and interpretative exhibits. The museum, founded in 1943, comprises a Colonial Revival stone barn listed on the National Register for Historic Places, a recreated historic village circa 1845, the Empire State Carousel, and a working farmstead. Through its 19th-century village and farm, the museum preserves important examples of upstate New York architecture, early agricultural tools and equipment, and heritage livestock. The Farmers’ Museum’s outstanding collection of more than 23,000 items encompasses significant historic objects ranging from butter molds to carriages, and hand planes to plows. The museum also presents a broad range of interactive educational programs for school groups, families, and adults that explore and preserve the rich agricultural history of the region. FarmersMuseum.org

Guided Tours of Otsego: A Meeting Place

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Start date: September 28, 2023
End date: September 30, 2023
All-day event
Location: Fenimore Art Museum, 5798 State Highway 80 (P.O.BOX 800) Cooperstown, NY 13326
Organizer: Fenimore Art Museum
Email address: INFO@FENIMOREART.ORG
Phone: 607-547-1400
Fenimore Art Museum | Otsego County

Fenimore Art Museum Offers Guided Tours of Its Haudenosaunee Interpretive Area – Otsego: A Meeting Place 

Guided Tours of Otsego: A Meeting Place

Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. 
July 6, 7, 8, 20, 21, 22 / August 3, 4, 17, 18, 19 / September 28, 29, 30
Tours are included with paid museum admission.

Cooperstown, New York —Visit Fenimore Art Museum this summer for a guided tour of its Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) interpretive area Otsego: A Meeting Place. The calm, deep waters of Otsego Lake were for many years a meeting place for Natives traveling the Susquehanna and Mohawk Rivers. Tour the Otsego Lake shoreline with a museum educator to learn about the early inhabitants of these waters.  Explore the museum’s immersive, reproduction Mohawk Bark House and original Seneca Log House to gain insight into the changing Central New York landscape and an appreciation for the lasting legacy of the Haudenosaunee. Tours last approximately 45 minutes and are included with paid museum admission. Find more information at FenimoreArtMuseum.org.

About Fenimore Art Museum

Fenimore Art Museum, located on the shores of Otsego Lake—James Fenimore Cooper’s “Glimmerglass”—in historic Cooperstown, New York, features a wide-ranging collection of American art including folk art; important American 18th- and 19th-century landscape, genre, and portrait paintings; more than 125,000 historic photographs representing the technical developments made in photography and providing extensive visual documentation of the region’s unique history; and the renowned Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art comprised of nearly 900 art objects representative of a broad geographic range of North American Indian cultures, from the Northwest Coast, Eastern Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, Great Lakes, and Prairie regions. Visit FenimoreArt.org.

Guided Tours of Otsego: A Meeting Place

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Start date: August 17, 2023
End date: August 19, 2023
All-day event
Location: Fenimore Art Museum, 5798 State Highway 80 (P.O.BOX 800) Cooperstown, NY 13326
Organizer: Fenimore Art Museum
Email address: INFO@FENIMOREART.ORG
Phone: 607-547-1400
Fenimore Art Museum | Otsego County

Fenimore Art Museum Offers Guided Tours of Its Haudenosaunee Interpretive Area – Otsego: A Meeting Place 

Guided Tours of Otsego: A Meeting Place

Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. 
July 6, 7, 8, 20, 21, 22 / August 3, 4, 17, 18, 19 / September 28, 29, 30
Tours are included with paid museum admission.

Cooperstown, New York —Visit Fenimore Art Museum this summer for a guided tour of its Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) interpretive area Otsego: A Meeting Place. The calm, deep waters of Otsego Lake were for many years a meeting place for Natives traveling the Susquehanna and Mohawk Rivers. Tour the Otsego Lake shoreline with a museum educator to learn about the early inhabitants of these waters.  Explore the museum’s immersive, reproduction Mohawk Bark House and original Seneca Log House to gain insight into the changing Central New York landscape and an appreciation for the lasting legacy of the Haudenosaunee. Tours last approximately 45 minutes and are included with paid museum admission. Find more information at FenimoreArtMuseum.org.

About Fenimore Art Museum

Fenimore Art Museum, located on the shores of Otsego Lake—James Fenimore Cooper’s “Glimmerglass”—in historic Cooperstown, New York, features a wide-ranging collection of American art including folk art; important American 18th- and 19th-century landscape, genre, and portrait paintings; more than 125,000 historic photographs representing the technical developments made in photography and providing extensive visual documentation of the region’s unique history; and the renowned Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art comprised of nearly 900 art objects representative of a broad geographic range of North American Indian cultures, from the Northwest Coast, Eastern Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, Great Lakes, and Prairie regions. Visit FenimoreArt.org.

Guided Tours of Otsego: A Meeting Place

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Start date: August 3, 2023
End date: August 4, 2023
All-day event
Location: Fenimore Art Museum, 5798 State Highway 80 (P.O.BOX 800) Cooperstown, NY 13326
Organizer: Fenimore Art Museum
Email address: INFO@FENIMOREART.ORG
Phone: 607-547-1400
Fenimore Art Museum | Otsego County

Fenimore Art Museum Offers Guided Tours of Its Haudenosaunee Interpretive Area – Otsego: A Meeting Place 

Guided Tours of Otsego: A Meeting Place

Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. 
July 6, 7, 8, 20, 21, 22 / August 3, 4, 17, 18, 19 / September 28, 29, 30
Tours are included with paid museum admission.

Cooperstown, New York —Visit Fenimore Art Museum this summer for a guided tour of its Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) interpretive area Otsego: A Meeting Place. The calm, deep waters of Otsego Lake were for many years a meeting place for Natives traveling the Susquehanna and Mohawk Rivers. Tour the Otsego Lake shoreline with a museum educator to learn about the early inhabitants of these waters.  Explore the museum’s immersive, reproduction Mohawk Bark House and original Seneca Log House to gain insight into the changing Central New York landscape and an appreciation for the lasting legacy of the Haudenosaunee. Tours last approximately 45 minutes and are included with paid museum admission. Find more information at FenimoreArtMuseum.org.

About Fenimore Art Museum

Fenimore Art Museum, located on the shores of Otsego Lake—James Fenimore Cooper’s “Glimmerglass”—in historic Cooperstown, New York, features a wide-ranging collection of American art including folk art; important American 18th- and 19th-century landscape, genre, and portrait paintings; more than 125,000 historic photographs representing the technical developments made in photography and providing extensive visual documentation of the region’s unique history; and the renowned Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art comprised of nearly 900 art objects representative of a broad geographic range of North American Indian cultures, from the Northwest Coast, Eastern Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, Great Lakes, and Prairie regions. Visit FenimoreArt.org.

Guided Tours of Otsego: A Meeting Place

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Start date: July 6, 2023
End date: July 8, 2023
All-day event
Location: Fenimore Art Museum, 5798 State Highway 80 (P.O.BOX 800) Cooperstown, NY 13326
Organizer: Fenimore Art Museum
Email address: INFO@FENIMOREART.ORG
Phone: 607-547-1400
Fenimore Art Museum | Otsego County

Fenimore Art Museum Offers Guided Tours of Its Haudenosaunee Interpretive Area – Otsego: A Meeting Place 

Guided Tours of Otsego: A Meeting Place

Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. 
July 6, 7, 8, 20, 21, 22 / August 3, 4, 17, 18, 19 / September 28, 29, 30
Tours are included with paid museum admission.

Cooperstown, New York —Visit Fenimore Art Museum this summer for a guided tour of its Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) interpretive area Otsego: A Meeting Place. The calm, deep waters of Otsego Lake were for many years a meeting place for Natives traveling the Susquehanna and Mohawk Rivers. Tour the Otsego Lake shoreline with a museum educator to learn about the early inhabitants of these waters.  Explore the museum’s immersive, reproduction Mohawk Bark House and original Seneca Log House to gain insight into the changing Central New York landscape and an appreciation for the lasting legacy of the Haudenosaunee. Tours last approximately 45 minutes and are included with paid museum admission. Find more information at FenimoreArtMuseum.org.

About Fenimore Art Museum

Fenimore Art Museum, located on the shores of Otsego Lake—James Fenimore Cooper’s “Glimmerglass”—in historic Cooperstown, New York, features a wide-ranging collection of American art including folk art; important American 18th- and 19th-century landscape, genre, and portrait paintings; more than 125,000 historic photographs representing the technical developments made in photography and providing extensive visual documentation of the region’s unique history; and the renowned Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art comprised of nearly 900 art objects representative of a broad geographic range of North American Indian cultures, from the Northwest Coast, Eastern Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, Great Lakes, and Prairie regions. Visit FenimoreArt.org.

Fenimore Art Museum Presents Live Zoom Lecture on the Legacy of Early 19th-century African-American potter Thomas W. Commeraw

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Date: July 5, 2023
All-day event
Location: Fenimore Art Museum, 5798 State Highway 80 (P.O.BOX 800) Cooperstown, NY 13326
Organizer: Fenimore Art Museum
Email address: INFO@FENIMOREART.ORG
Phone: 607-547-1400
Fenimore Art Museum | Otsego County

Lecture tells the story of one of the most important early 19th-century African-American craftsmen, Thomas W. Commeraw–an abolitionist and activist in post-Revolutionary New York

Lecture celebrates the museum’s current exhibition, Crafting Freedom: The Life and Legacy of Free Black Potter Thomas W. Commeraw, on view through September 24.

Live Zoom Lecture: 
The Life & Legacy of Thomas W. Commeraw - with author Brandt Zipp 
Wednesday, July 5 • 7:00 p.m.
Registration is free, with a suggested donation of $10.

Cooperstown, New York —On July 5 at 7:00 p.m., Fenimore Art Museum hosts a special live Zoom presentation by author Brandt Zipp, discussing the life and work of early 19th-century African-American potter Thomas W. Commeraw (c. 1772–1823). Registrationis free, with a suggested donation of $10.

Through an illuminating tour of period documents and numerous examples of stoneware produced from the late 1790s through 1819, this live Zoom presentation tells the story of one of the most important early African-American craftsmen, Thomas W. Commeraw–an abolitionist, activist and, ultimately, hopeful founder of a new African republic. This lecture celebrates the museum’s current exhibition, Crafting Freedom: The Life and Legacy of Free Black Potter Thomas W. Commeraw, on view through September 24.

Brandt Zipp is the author of Commeraw’s Stoneware: The Life and Work of the First African-American Pottery Owner, the culmination of nearly two decades of researching Thomas W. Commeraw. It was Brandt’s own serendipitous discovery of Commeraw’s heritage in 2003 that brought this story to the modern world. Brandt is a founding partner of Crocker Farm, Inc., a research-focused auction house specializing in historic American utilitarian ceramics.

Registration for this Zoom lecture is free, with a suggested donation of $10. Find more information and register here.

Register

About Fenimore Art Museum

Fenimore Art Museum, located on the shores of Otsego Lake—James Fenimore Cooper’s “Glimmerglass”—in historic Cooperstown, New York, features a wide-ranging collection of American art including folk art; important American 18th- and 19th-century landscape, genre, and portrait paintings; more than 125,000 historic photographs representing the technical developments made in photography and providing extensive visual documentation of the region’s unique history; and the renowned Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art comprised of nearly 900 art objects representative of a broad geographic range of North American Indian cultures, from the Northwest Coast, Eastern Woodlands, Plains, Southwest, Great Lakes, and Prairie regions. Visit FenimoreArt.org.

Thomas W. Commeraw (active ca. 1797–1819), Jar, 1797–1819. New-York Historical Society, Purchased from Elie Nadelman, 1937.822

Attributed to Thomas W. Commeraw (active ca. 1797–1819), Oyster jars made for Daniel Johnson and George White, ca. 1800-05. Collection of Christopher Pickerell

Thomas W. Commeraw (active ca. 1797–1819), Jar, ca. 1800–19. New-York Historical Society, Gift of Samuel V. Hoffman, 1927.84

Thomas W. Commeraw (active ca. 1797–1819), Jug, ca. 1800–19. Collection of Joseph P. Gromacki

Thomas W. Commeraw (active ca. 1797–1819), Jar, ca. 1797-1800. Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, New York. Gift of J. Holman Swinney. N0070.1989. Photograph by Richard Walker

Thomas W. Commeraw (active ca. 1797–1819), Jug, 1797–1819. New-York Historical Society, Purchased from Elie Nadelman, 1937.820