Adirondack Museum

Adirondack Museum Program in Rochester

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The Adirondack Museum will offer a special presentation in Rochester, NY, &#8220The Adirondack 46er &#8211 the Ultimate Challenge!&#8221 The program will be held Thursday, May 3 from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m., in the Adirondack Lodge at the Midtown Athletic Club.

Learn about becoming a &#822046er&#8221 with Tony Goodwin, guest speaker and author of Ski and Snowshoe Trail in the Adirondacks, and current editor of the Adirondack Mountain Club’s Adirondack Trails High Peak Region. Most recently, Tony wrote the introduction to the 2011 publication, Heaven Up-h’isted-nes: The History of the Adirondack Forty-Sixers and the High Peaks of the Adirondacks.

With Tony, and back by popular demand, is Nancie Battaglia, renowned Lake Placid based photographer and licensed guide. Both have climbed all 46 High Peaks more than just once &#8211 Tony five times.

Tickets are $10 per person and proceeds benefit the Adirondack Museum. For tickets, please call the Midtown Athletic Club directly at (585) 461-2300.

Lawrence Gooley Presenting Robert Garrow Lecture

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The next lecture in the Adirondack Museum’s 2012 Cabin Fever Sunday, &#8220Tracking Robert Garrow&#8221 with author and New York History contributor Lawrence Gooley, will be held on Sunday, April 15, 2012.

In the summer of 1973, serial killer Robert F. Garrow went on a murderous rampage that changed the Adirondack region forever. However, there was much more to Garrow’s story than the murders. From his unfortunate childhood to escapes from the law, the longest manhunt in Adirondack history, and his manipulation of legal, medical and corrections professionals, hear the full story of Garrow’s life from author Lawrence Gooley. Due to graphic content, this program is suitable for adult audiences.

Lawrence P. Gooley is a proponent of the North Country, a lover of books, and a history enthusiast. He operates Bloated Toe Enterprises, an internet-based business that currently includes Bloated Toe Publishing and The North Country Store. Gooley has also organized a North Country Authors group to help raise the profile of area authors and their works. Gooley’s writings have appeared in various magazines and newspapers. He has contributed to other works, including a recent piece in an annual book series, the Franklin County Review, and has provided editing services for several other titles. He has also authored nine books including Terror in the Adirondacks: The True Story of Serial Killer Robert F. Garrow.

This program will be held at the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts at Blue Mountain Lake, and will begin at 1:30 p.m. Cabin Fever Sundays are offered at no charge to museum members or children of elementary school age and younger. The fee for non-members is $5.00. For additional information, please call (518) 352-7311, ext. 128 or visit www.adirondackmuseum.org.

Iroquois Beadwork at the Art of Flowering Talk

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The Adirondack Museum’s fifth 2012 Cabin Fever Sunday series program, &#8220Inventing Fashion: Iroquois Beadwork at the &#8216-Art of Flowering’&#8221 will be held on Sunday, March 18, 2012. The event will be offered free of charge.

In the mid-19th century, New York State officials began to collect Iroquois material culture, intending to preserve remnants of what they saw as a vanishing race. At the same time, Iroquois women were discovering that their beadwork was appealing to the fashionable Victorian women flocking to Niagara Falls and Saratoga Springs on the Grand Tour of America.

This multimedia presentation by Dr. Deborah Holler traces the historic development of Iroquois beadwork and costume, which came to define the public image of &#8220Indian-ness&#8221 around the world. Images are drawn from the collections of the Lewis Henry Morgan and Rochester museums, as well as private collections. These images also illuminate the contributions of the Iroquois to the textile arts, as well as the complex cultural exchange that defined the fashions of 19th century New York State.

Dr. Deborah Holler is a Lecturer and Mentor at Empire State College and teaches in Cultural Studies, Literature and the Arts. Her articles and creative writing have been published in regional and national magazines as well as academic journals. She has presented her lectures at national and international conferences, historical societies, and cultural events throughout New York State and is currently working on projects concerning the life and times of 19th century Seneca Caroline G. Parker Mountpleasant.

This program will be held at the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts at Blue Mountain Lake, and will begin at 1:30 p.m. For additional information, call (518) 352-7311, ext. 128 or visit www.adirondackmuseum.org.

Photo: Pincushion, typical of souvenir made for tourists by Eastern woodland Indians. From the collection of the Adirondack Museum.

John, Margot Ernst Receiving Adk Museum Award

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The Board of Trustees of the Adirondack Museum has announced the selection of John and Margot Ernst as the recipients of the 2012 Harold K. Hochschild Award. The Adirondack Museum will formally present the Ernsts with the award at the annual Gala Benefit on July 28, 2012.

The Harold K. Hochschild Award is dedicated to the memory of the museum’s founder, whose passion for the Adirondacks, its people, and environment inspired the creation of the Adirondack Museum. Since 1990 the museum has presented the award to a wide range of intellectual and community leaders throughout the Adirondack Park, highlighting their contributions to the region’s culture and quality of life.

&#8220On behalf of the Adirondack Museum, I would like to congratulate John and Margot Ernst on receiving this prestigious honor for their commitment and service to the Adirondack region,&#8221 said David M. Kahn, Executive Director of the Adirondack Museum.

John and Margot Ernst split their time between New York City and Elk Lake Lodge, a family owned resort near North Hudson, N.Y., located in the 12,000 acre Elk Lake-Clear Pond private preserve, which National Geographic called &#8220the jewel of the Adirondacks.&#8221 John and Margot are involved in public service through their work with non-profit organizations in New York State and the North Country.

Margot was co-chair of the committee to establish an endowment for the newly created News Bureau at North Country Public Radio. She is on the Board of Directors of the New York State Audubon Society and Secretary of the Board of Directors of the National Audubon Society. She is a member of the Rachel Carson Awards Council, which selects awardees and promotes education and information on the environment. Margot is co-chairman, with John, of the Board of Directors of the George Gustav Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution. She has served on the Board of Trustees of the Adirondack Museum and is a retired curator and Associate Director of the Japan Society Gallery.

In addition, John and Margot have been active for some time in the future of the Adirondacks. In the early 1960s John’s grandfather donated the first conservation easement in New York State on the land surrounding their property on Elk Lake, preserving public access on trails to the Dixes and Panther Gorge and on to Mount Marcy.

John was Treasurer of the New York League of Conservation Voters, is past President of the Adirondack Landowners Association and Treasurer of the Board Directors of the Adirondack Community Trust. John is a former chair and current Director of the Adirondack Council. He is on the Executive Council of North Country Radio, is a board member of the Adirondack Center for Writing, of the Open Space Institute and Adirondack Lakes Survey Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation formed to monitor and document the effects of pollution in the Adirondack waterways. John is also a board member of the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institution.

The Open Space Institute awarded its 2009 Land Conservation Award to John and Margot Ernst for their &#8220outstanding contributions in the fields of land conservation and environmental protection. &#8221 John Ernst received a 2011 Advocate Award from Environmental Advocates of New York.

For tickets to the Adirondack Museum’s Gala Benefit, call (518) 352-7311 ext. 119.

Adks: Howling Wilderness to Vacation Destination

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The Adirondack Museum third 2012 Cabin Fever Sunday series, &#8220Nature: From Howling Wilderness to Vacation Destination&#8221 will be held on Sunday, February 12, 2012. The event will be offered free of charge.

Drawing on landscape painting, photography, traveler’s accounts, and other sources, this presentation by Dr. Charles Mitchell will explore the evolution of American attitudes towards nature. Beginning with perceptions of the American landscape as a howling wilderness, a wasteland to be tamed and transformed, the lecture will trace the social, cultural and economic forces that led to the perception of wild nature as something of value to be experienced and preserved. Key topics and figures along the way include the sublime, romanticism, Henry David Thoreau, Thomas Cole and the Hudson River School, John Muir, Ansel Adams, and the Lorax.

Dr. Charles Mitchell is Associate Professor of American Studies at Elmira College. Mitchell has been on the faculty of Elmira College since 1993. Born in Brooklyn and raised in Lynbrook (on Long Island) he still occasionally refers to everything north of Yonkers as &#8220upstate.&#8221 He teaches a side variety of courses in American cultural history, with specific
interests in environmental history, the history of ideas about nature, and the representation of the landscape in literature and art.

This program will be held at the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts at Blue Mountain Lake, and will begin at 1:30 p.m. For additional information, please call (518) 352-7311, ext. 128 or visit www.adirondackmuseum.org.

Lecture: Famous Murder Case at the Adk Museum

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The first program of the Adirondack Museum’s 2012 Cabin Fever Sunday series, &#8220Chester Gillette: The Adirondacks’ Most Famous Murder Case&#8221 will be held on Sunday, January 15, 2012.

It’s the stuff movies are made of- a secret relationship, a pregnancy and a murder. Over a century after it happened in Big Moose Lake, Herkimer County, the Chester Gillette murder case of 1906 is the murder that will never die. The murder of Grace Brown and the case following was the subject of Theodore Dreiser’s 1925 book An American Tragedy, and the Hollywood movie A Place in the Sun.

The story continues to be told today with a 1999 Opera at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and in a 2011 documentary North Woods Elegy. Author Craig Brandon, considered among the world’s foremost experts on the case, and author of Murder in the Adirondacks, will present and lead a discussion.

Craig Brandon is a national award-winning author of six books of popular history and public affairs and a former award-winning reporter.

Held in the Auditorium, the program will begin at 1:30 p.m. Cabin Fever Sundays are offered at no charge to museum members or children of elementary school age and younger. The fee for non-members is $5.00. The Museum Store and Visitor Center will be open from noon to 4 p.m. For additional information, please call (518) 352-7311, ext. 128 or visit
www.adirondackmuseum.org.

Project to Record Adirondack Memories of Irene

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Burlington College students, under the direction of their instructor, New York History online news magazine editor John Warren, will conduct Oral History interviews to record the Tropical Storm Irene stories of Jay and Keene residents on Saturday, December 3rd, at the Keene Community Center, (8 Church Street, in Keene), between 10 and 4 pm. The public is invited to share their stories- the resulting oral histories will be added to the collections of the Adirondack Museum.

Participants can schedule a time on December 3, or walk-in anytime between 10 am and 4 pm. It will only be necessary to spend about 15-20 mins at the Community Center where participants will be asked a number of questions about their experiences with Irene and will be provided an opportunity to tell the stories they think are important to remember about the events of this past late-summer.

To schedule your participation contact John Warren via e-mail at [email protected] or call (518) 956-3830. The public is invited. Walk-ins are welcome.

Adirondack Museums Recieve $4.8M Gift

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Two Adirondack institutions, devoted to telling the stories of the natural and human history that have formed their remarkable corner of the world, recently received gifts that will enable both to continue their missions for many years to come. The Wild Center/Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks and the Adirondack Museum have announced that they will each receive $2.4 million in the form of bequests from the late Linda K. Vaughan, a long-time seasonal resident of Long Lake as well as member and donor of both museums.

Dr. Vaughan’s love of the Adirondacks and its wilderness developed at a young age when she was a canoeing guide at Silver Lake Camp girl’s camp in the late 50s. The Adirondacks became her favorite place to relax and she returned every year where she became a quiet but consistent supporter of both the Adirondack Museum and The Wild Center.

“Dr. Vaughan’s bequest is a magnificent surprise and the single largest gift that The Wild Center has received from an individual,” said Stephanie Ratcliffe, Executive Director of The Wild Center. “Bequests are a wonderful way to leave a legacy to an organization that the donor believes in, often times allowing for a gift larger than possible during the donor’s lifetime. This is truly a transformative gift that allows both of our museums to plan for the future and assist each of us in continuing to preserve and interpret the significant natural and human histories of the Adirondacks.”

&#8220The gift from Linda Vaughan’s estate came as a wonderful surprise to all of us here at the Adirondack Museum,” said David M. Kahn, Executive Director of the Adirondack Museum. “The years she spent at Silver Lake Camp as a girl inspired Ms. Vaughan’s love for the area. We are truly humbled by her overwhelmingly generous bequest which will allow the museum to continue to preserve the history of a place that was so special to her, and share it with so many others.&#8221 Ms. Vaughan’s bequest to the Adirondack Museum was in honor of Caroline M. Welsh, who served the Adirondack Museum for over two decades, first as a Curator and then as Director.

Originally from Wellesley, Massachusetts, Dr. Vaughan was Professor Emerita of the Department of Physical Education and Athletics at Wellesley College, and was Chair/Athletic Director of the Department from 1973 to 1990. She continued teaching until her retirement in 2000.

Dr. Vaughan graduated from Hathaway Brown School for Girls, in Shaker Heights, Ohio, where she was referred to as “blue-eyed perpetual motion.” Linda then went on to obtain B.S. and M.A. degrees from Russell Sage College, where she received the Aldrich Award for Proficiency in Sports.

After receiving her Master’s Degree in 1962, she went to Wellesley College as an instructor of Physical Education. She received her Ph.D. in Physical Education from Ohio State University. Dr. Vaughan then served as Professor and Director of the Master’s Thesis Program in Physical Education at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts for several years.

Dr. Vaughan returned to Wellesley College in 1973, as Chair/Athletic Director of the Department of Physical Education, Recreation and Athletics. As Chair, she remolded the Wellesley intercollegiate athletics from its club status infancy into a strong and viable program, hiring the first assistant athletic directors, athletic trainers, specialized coaches, and assistant coaches.

Noted for research in the field of sports psychology, Dr. Vaughan authored many papers in the field. Of particular importance was her sabbatical research in women’s exercise physiology done at the Army Research Institute for Environmental Medicine in Natick, Massachusetts. At the time women were just being admitted into the Army as regular soldiers. The studies were important in demonstrating that not only were women able to undergo the same demanding physical training as men but that they didn’t quit when pushed. Dr. Vaughan also authored a book titled Canoeing and Sailing in 1970.

Dr. Vaughan passed away in 2009.

Photo: (l-r) David Kahn, Executive Director of the Adirondack Museum- Caroline Welsh, Director Emeriti and Senior Art Historian at the Adirondack Museum- Kevin Arquit, Chairman of the Adirondack Museum Board- Rebecca Foley, Executrix of Vaughan Estate- Hilary McDonald, Vice Chair of the Adirondack Museum Board- Lynn Birdsong, President of The Wild Center Board- Stephanie Ratcliffe, Executive Director of The Wild Center.

Adirondack Museums Fabric and Fiber Arts Fest

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The Adirondack Museum will hosts its annual Fabric and Fiber Arts Festival on Saturday, September 17, 2011. Fabrics and regional artists are featured at this one day celebration of spinning, weaving, quilting, knitting, knotting and all fiber arts.

There will be textile appraisals by Rabbit Goody in the Visitor
Center from 9:30 a.m. &#8211 12:00 p.m. and a variety of yarn installations, or yarn bombings, displayed throughout the museum campus during the event. Yarnbombing is a type of street art typically found in urban areas.

Regional fiber guilds and artists will &#8220yarn-bomb&#8221 more utilitarian parts of the museum in celebration of the fiber arts, and to showcase how traditional crafts like knitting and crocheting are being applied in new ways in the 21st century. This year’s
event includes a crocheted SUV cover by Jerilia Zempel.

In addition to the yarn-bombing displays, the museum will also feature the Third Annual Great Adirondack Quilt Show on September 17. The show is a special display of quilts inspired by or used in the Adirondacks, and will be open through October 9, 2011.

Demonstrations during the festival include: art quilting with the Adirondack Regional Textile Artists Alliance- bobbin lace-making with Judy Anderson- mixed-media textile arts and quilting with Louisa Woodworth- quilting with Northern Needles- rug hooking with the Country Ruggers- a variety of wool arts with Serendipity Spinners and felt making with Linda Van Alstyn. Linda will offer informal sessions of make your own felt flowers for a $5 fee.

Museum Curator Hallie Bond and guest Rabbit Goody will offer a presentation at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. entitled &#8220Weaving Through History,&#8221 telling the history of the weaving tradition. Presentations will take place in the Auditorium. Visitors will be able to browse and buy from a small group of talented North Country fiber artists at the vendor fair. Enjoy fiddle and guitar music by talented musicians Doug Moody and John Kribs throughout the day.

Hands-on activities include recycled rugs &#8211 help braid strips of blue jeans into a floor rug and placemats for the museum’s Little Log Cabin, or make a coaster for home from recycled tee-shirts. This year’s Fiber Fest will include an afternoon knit-in hosted by Carol Wilson. This will be an opportunity for knitters to work on a project in the company of other knitting enthusiasts, and to exchange tips with other participants about how to tackle tricky techniques. Knitters are highly encouraged to bring finished projects to display, as well as works in progress.

Visit www.adirondackmuseum.org for a list of fiber related workshops that will take place on Sunday, September 18, 2011.

Rustic Furniture Fair at the Adirondack Museum

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The Adirondack Museum at Blue Mountain Lake, New York will host the 24th annual Rustic Furniture Fair on September 10 and 11, 2011. The Fair is a festival of rustic arts featuring handcrafted furniture, furnishings and original Adirondack paintings.

Renowned craftsman from all over the United States will showcase and sell their one-of-a-kind creations. Exhibitors will be on hand to answer questions about their work, or discuss custom made pieces.

The Adirondack Museum’s Rustic Furniture Fair is recognized as the premier event of its kind in the country. This gathering of talented artisans includes both traditional and contemporary styles of furniture design, handcrafted from natural materials. More than fifty-five artisans, including six new craftsmen, will showcase their creations.

Visitors will enjoy music by Intermountain Trio, demonstrations, and great food throughout the day &#8211 including treats from North Country Kettle Corn and Ben & Jerry’s.

An original work of art &#8220Tupper Lake&#8221 (oil on canvas) by Barney Bellinger of Sampson Bog Studio, Mayfield, N.Y. will be sold via silent auction at the Fair. The winner will be announced at 3 p.m. on September 11, 2011. Visit www.adirondackmuseum.org to view the
piece.

Alternative parking will be available Saturday and Sunday on Route 28 in the village of Blue Mountain Lake, at the museum’s Collections Storage and Study Center, a little over a mile from the museum grounds with a free shuttle to and from the museum provided. Rustic Furniture Fair activities and demonstrations are included in the price of regular museum admission. All museum exhibits will be open as well.

Adirondack Life, North Country Public Radio, and Mountain Lake PBS are media
sponsors of the Rustic Furniture Fair.

Join the museum at the Preview Party on Friday, September 9 from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., and socialize with friends and others interested in rustic art and craftsmanship. Shop, and meet the artisans who create these one-of-a-kind pieces. Learn about their techniques, materials, inspiration and the rustic art form. Enjoy festive music with The Barn Cats, delicious hor d’oeuvres, cocktails and early Fall in the Adirondacks. Tickets may be purchased in advance by visiting www.adirondackmuseumstore.com.