the museum at the creamery the skaneateles ... museum at the creamery the purpose of the skaneateles...
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The Museum at The Creamery
The purpose of the Skaneateles Historical Society is to conduct and encourage historical research and to collect, preserve, and exhibit historical material in connection with the Town of Skaneateles.
THE SKANEATELES HISTORICAL SOCIETYNEWSLETTER
May-June 2012 Vol. 27, No. 3 Laurie Winship, Editor
“This memoir affords the Honorable Charles P. Avery, first elected judge of Tioga County, New York, his deserved place on the shelves of history. Judge Avery was highly respected, admired for his wisdom and dedication, and honored by both his peers and the general public. As the preeminent historian of Tioga County he was the first to record Indian and Pioneer history in New York's Southern Tier. In a surprise move he left his home in New York for Flint, Michigan as a lawyer on the historic Saginaw Treaty land case, where he remained for sixteen years before his life took a fatal turn that brought him home for his final days. The book includes photographs not seen in print such as a 1786 Indian Lease of Owego, an 1808 pencil sketch of Owego, and the full portrait of the Indian Maiden Sa-sa-na Loft and her family.” (Barnes & Noble Overview)
MAY PROGRAM
Yours Truly, C.P. Avery
Our May 22 program will feature Bob White in an unusual presentation honoring Judge Charles P. Avery, the first elected judge of Tioga County and the subject of White’s biography of Avery titled Yours Truly, C.P. Avery. White’s book will be available for sale at a discounted price with proceeds going to the Skaneateles Historical Society.
Bob White has worked as a meteorologist and for Xerox, is an ordained Presbyterian minister, lived in England for nearly 10 years, enjoys English country dancing after being an ice dancer with his wife, is a published writer of fiction and nonfiction works, and now lives near the Susquehanna River where in his retirement he continues to write, works at a dispute resolution center, and leads worship as a supply minister.
Please join us at 7:30 on Tuesday, May 22, to meet this fascinating man and learn about Judge Avery.
Margaret R. Chase
October 31, 1931 - April 7, 2012
A dedicated volunteer and Board member
SHS NEWSLETTER! PAGE2
The Skaneateles Historical Society 28 Hannum St. Skaneateles, NY 13152 315-685-1360www.skaneateleshistoricalsociety.org
CREAMERY HOURS, MAY - JUNEFriday, 1-4 p.m.Saturday, 1-4 p.m.Special hours: Sunday, May 20, 1-4 p.m. Sunday, June 3, 1-4 p.m.Or by appointment
Special Exhibits
NYS Heritage Weekend, May 19 & 20
Museum Association of New York, May 31-June 6
See p. 4 for details on our special exhibit featuring the Glen Haven Water Cure oil painting and two quilts by Luthera Rogers
Converse.
JUNE PROGRAMA Fresh Look at Roosevelt Hall
On Tuesday, June 26, at 7:30 p.m., after a short annual meeting, Kihm Winship will share ten (or more) stories about Roosevelt Hall that haven’t yet made the history books – touching upon owners you’ve never heard of, surprising visitors, furnishings from unlikely sources, four-footed residents, dark and stormy nights, letters penned in vitriol, rarely seen family photographs, two beheadings, the landmark mansion’s many architects, and the property’s evolution over 200 years.
Don’t miss this fascinating look at one of the iconic landmarks of Skaneateles!
Kenneth Wooster would like our members to be aware that the Population Schedules from the 1940 federal census for the five enumeration districts covering the Village and Town of Skaneateles can be easily reached through a link from the Historical Society's website. Most who have tried to access this data directly from the official government site have found it very difficult to do so. These files can also be found on his personal site athttp://skaneateles.org/1940Census
SHS NEWSLETTER! PAGE3
The Skaneateles Historical Society 28 Hannum St. Skaneateles, NY 13152 315-685-1360 www.skaneateleshistoricalsociety.org
Volunteers are needed!We need someone to cut the grass on the Kelley St. side of the Creamery building. It is a small space, and eventually we plan to convert it to ground cover so there will be no need to mow. But in the meantime we want it to look neat and tidy.
The gift shop continues to need volunteers for our weekend hours, Saturdays and Sundays, 1-4 p.m.
There are also miscellaneous jobs that come up from time to time--for example, we need help during the day to prepare our newsletters for mailing every other month.
If you are able to help with any of these jobs, please call 685-1360. We are a community museum, and we do rely on community members to keep us up and running!
Proposed Bylaw Changes
The Nominating Committee is presenting a recommendation to amend the bylaws of the Skaneateles Historical Society to increase the number of Board members from six to ten elected directors, in addition to five officers. We need more help as the museum expands.
This is the official notice that the membership will be asked to vote on this bylaw change at the May 22 program meeting. If passed by a 2/3 majority, elections will take place at the June monthly program meeting.
From the Gift Shop
Please remember The Creamery Gift Shop when you want a special Skaneateles-themed gift during this spring and summer season. We have items that are made exclusively for us and made in America. Your dues and the profit from the gift shop are the primary source of revenue for our day-to-day operations. Stop in and see what’s new.
One new item will be tickets for ducks! The Skaneateles Chamber Foundation, Laker Limo and the Skaneateles YMCA and Community Center are co-sponsoring the first annual Skaneateles Duck Dash on Saturday, July 21, the final day of the Merchant’s Curbstone Festival. Up to 6,000 rubber ducks will be released into the Skaneateles Lake outlet behind the Old Stone Mill. The first dozen or more ducks to cross the finish line, located just before the bridge at Kelley St., will receive a prize. The Gift Shop will be selling tickets for ducks from June 4 to July 15: tickets are $5 each, and we will receive $2.50 for each ticket sold. What a fun and easy way to support the SHS! Be sure to buy your tickets here.
SHS NEWSLETTER! PAGE4
The Skaneateles Historical Society 28 Hannum St. Skaneateles, NY 13152 315-685-1360 www.skaneateleshistoricalsociety.org
Luthera Lucy Rogers Converse (1820–1902) was a painter and quilter from Jefferson County, N.Y., who lived in the villages of Ellisburg and Woodville. “From an early age, Luthera demonstrated both artistic and literary talents,” said her great-great-great niece Deborah Rogers Hamilton. “She appears to be self-taught, though her works display a mastery of color and technique that transcend the caliber of folk art.” Converse also was a weaver and an accomplished quilter. But in 1853, Luthera was “gone, far gone” with consumption, and with all other hopes exhausted, came to the Glen Haven Water Cure on the shores of Skaneateles Lake. She stayed for eight weeks, and then followed the Water Cure plan at home.
“In just a year from the time I left you I pronounced myself cured,” she wrote in an open letter to the doctor who had treated her. She wrote that she had painted and papered the family’s new home – boiling the oil and grinding the pigment for the paint – and cared for her family and 10 cows besides.
She came again to Glen Haven in 1858, and the editor of The Letter Box, the journal of the water cure, reported, “She is the lady who painted the large view of the Glen which has hung in the dining room for the last four years.”
Her painting, “The Glen Haven Water Cure,” is a 29-inch by 49-inch oil on canvas depicting the Glen Haven Water Cure.
Converse continued to put her artistic talents to practical use. In 1859, she wrote to The Letter Box to say she was earning a dollar a day by painting and papering parlors, and graining front doors and staircases.
In 1875, at the age of 55, she moved from New York to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to live with the family of a relative, Justus Rogers. She took several canvases and quilts with her; her family believes that many others, especially portraits and landscapes, may have been left behind or given away.
Luthera Converse died in Grand Rapids in 1902, at the age of 82.
But her painting of Glen Haven was rediscovered in 1972 in the attic of a family farmhouse in Grand Rapids. In October 2007, after Deborah Rogers Hamilton and her sister, Melanie Rogers, had inherited the painting, they brought it to West Lake Conservators in Skaneateles.
“We immediately recognized the subject’s exceedingly rare historic importance,” said Susan Blakney, chief conservator. “Our excitement increased as we studied the artist’s amazing attention to details, depicting a forgotten life and times in the 19th century.”
Thanks to the generosity of descendants Deborah Hamilton and Melanie Rogers, this unique painting will be on display at the Skaneateles Historical Society’s Museum at The Creamery for a special exhibit from May 19-June 6. There will also be two of Luthera’s quilts on display: a pieced “Sunburst” quilt, and a whitework trapunto “Lord’s Prayer” quilt that has never before been displayed. Please be sure to see this wonderful exhibit while it is here.
Luthera Rogers Converse--Special Exhibitby Kihm Winship
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The Skaneateles Historical Society 28 Hannum St. Skaneateles, NY 13152 315-685-1360 www.skaneateleshistoricalsociety.org
YOUR MEMBERSHIP DUES FOR 2012 ARE NOW DUE!
If you haven’t already renewed, please send in your dues for 2012.Make check payable to The Skaneateles Historical Society, c/o David Bates, 5623 Mack Road, Skaneateles, NY 13152.THANK YOU!---------------------------------------------Clip & return---------------------------------------------------------------------
NAME(S)__________________________________________________________________________ADDRESS__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
email address______________________________________________________ Please print clearly. Emails are only used for notifying members about upcoming programs and other events.MEMBERSHIP $___________________SMALL JOBS FUND$_______________ (Helps pay for work volunteers cannot do)----------------------------------------------Clip & return--------------------------------------------------------------------
MEMBERSHIP LEVELS:
Individual $15.00 Sponsor $250.00Friend $50.00 Benefactor $500.00Patron $100.00 Life $1,000.00
BOARD MEMBERS: President, Karlene Miller; V-P, David Bates; Secretary, Mona Smalley; Corresponding Secretary, Karen Lengyel; Treasurer, Betsy Foote; Town Historian, Beth Battle; Village Historian, Pat Blackler; Members-at-large, Robert Green, John Havemeyer, David Miller, Barbara Patrick, Susan Spalding, Bent ThomsenMUSEUM DIRECTOR: Laurie Winship
Our pavers are in place! But as you can see, there are still many blank ones that need to be filled in. Place your order now by filling in a form at the Museum at The Creamery or online.
In other expansion news, our matching grant proposal for the interactive lake model has been submitted to the CNY Community Foundation. We should hear later in June whether the grant has been approved. Donations are still needed to match the grant; make checks payable to the SHS and note it is for the interactive lake model.Photo courtesy of Bent Thomsen
FROM:
THE SKANEATELES HISTORICAL
SOCIETY
28 Hannum St
Skaneateles, NY 13152
MAY-JUNE NEWSLETTER
May-June 2012 Vol.27, no.3
NON-PROFIT ORG.U.S. Postage
PAIDSKANEATELES, NY
Permit No. 66
Special thanks to...
Our volunteer gardeners, especially David Colgrove and Mary Mahagan this month.