Fenimore Art Museum

Fenimore Art Museum was founded in 1899 as the New York State Historical Association.{{Cite journal |title=CONSTITUTION |journal=Constitution and By-Laws, New York State Historical Association, with Proceedings of the Second Annual Meeting |date=1901 |volume=1 |pages=9–12 |jstor=42889019}} In 1925–1926, industrialist Horace Moses built a replica of the Thomas Hancock House in Boston in Ticonderoga, New York to serve as the home of the New York State Historical Association.

In 1939, Stephen Carlton Clark, an art collector interested in history, who also served on the board of the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum, invited NYSHA to move to Fenimore House, the mansion of his late brother Edward Severin Clark on land that was part of James Fenimore Cooper's former farm just outside Cooperstown. For some years, the association operated headquarters in both Ticonderoga and Cooperstown. Eventually, operations were consolidated in Cooperstown. Hancock House became the home of the Ticonderoga Historical Society, while NYSHA retained ownership of the building and some furnishings.

In the mid-1990s, a new wing was added to Fenimore House for the Eugene and Clare Thaw Collection of American Indian Art. Fenimore House was subsequently renamed Fenimore Art Museum.

Having operated under a dba as Fenimore Art Museum since the 1990s, and in an effort to better describe its wide-ranging activities, the organization applied to amend its charter and change its corporate name in 2017.{{Cite press release |title=Fenimore Art Museum Amends Charter |url=http://www.fenimoreartmuseum.org/about_us/press_room/press_releases/fenimore_art_museum_amends_charter |url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170506015316/http://www.fenimoreartmuseum.org/about_us/press_room/press_releases/fenimore_art_museum_amends_charter |archivedate=2017-05-06 |publisher=Fenimore Art Museum |date=2017-05-06 |access-date=2017-12-28}} As such, the New York State Board of Regents approved the updated charter on March 10, 2017, formally changing the organization's name from New York State Historical Association to Fenimore Art Museum.{{Cite web |title=NYS Board of Regents March 2017 meeting - charter applications |url=https://www.regents.nysed.gov/common/regents/files/317bra1reveised.pdf |publisher=New York State Department of Education |date=2017-03-10 |access-date=2017-12-28}}

File:Robert Fulton, 1806, London, England, painted by Benjamin West, American, 1738-1820 Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, N.Y. N0218.1961.jpg by Benjamin West, 1806]]

The fine art and folk art collections were largely assembled by Stephen C. Clark and include works by Gilbert Stuart, Thomas Cole, William Sidney Mount, Benjamin West, Grandma Moses, Ralph Fasanella, and Lavern Kelley.{{Cite web|url=https://www.fenimoreartmuseum.org/collections/american-fine-art|title=Fenimore Art Museum Collections - American Fine Art|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=Fenimore Art Museum|access-date=2017-12-28}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.fenimoreartmuseum.org/collections/american-folk-art-2|title=Fenimore Art Museum Collections - American Folk Art|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=Fenimore Art Museum|access-date=2017-12-28}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.albany.org/listing/fenimore-art-museum/938/|title=Fenimore Art Museum|website=www.albany.org|language=en-us|access-date=2017-12-28}}

Clare and Eugene Thaw donated their collection of indigenous American art to the Fenimore Art Museum in 1991.{{Cite web|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/press/exhibitions/2017/thaw-collection|title=American Indian Art from the Fenimore Art Museum: The Thaw Collection {{!}} The Metropolitan Museum of Art|website=www.metmuseum.org|access-date=2017-12-28}} Items are continually added to the collection, which currently comprises more than 850 objects.{{Cite web|url=https://www.fenimoreartmuseum.org/collections/thaw-collection-american-indian-art|title=Thaw Collection of American Indian Art|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=Fenimore Art Museum|access-date=2017-12-28}}

Fenimore Art Museum's photography collections feature a number of Cooperstown artists, the most well-known being the Smith & Telfer Collection.{{Cite web|url=https://www.fenimoreartmuseum.org/collections/photography|title=Fenimore Art Museum - Photography Collections|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=Fenimore Art Museum|access-date=2017-12-28}} A portion of the firm's 60,000 piece archive has been digitized and is available online.{{Cite web|url=http://collections.fenimoreartmuseum.org/|title=Fenimore Art Museum Collections Online|last=|first=|date=|website=|publisher=Fenimore Art Museum|access-date=2017-12-28}}

In 1968, a separate building was built to consolidate the library collections of both New York State Historical Association (as it was known at the time) and The Farmers' Museum. The Research Library supplements the missions and collections of both organizations by supporting research in local history, 19th century trades and agriculture, as well as art and material culture of Otsego County and surrounding areas of New York State. Records of the John More Association are held in this collection.{{cite web |title=John More Association records, 1827-1999. |url=https://n94057.eos-intl.net/N94057/OPAC/Details/Record.aspx?IndexCode=-1&TaskCode=1390251&HitCount=226&CollectionCode=2&SortDirection=Descending&CurrentPage=1&CurrentLinkCode=MN94057%7c4366122%7c1%7c13358152&SelectionType=0&SearchType=1&BibCode=MN94057%7c4366122%7c1%7c13358152 |website=Fenimore Art Museum & The Farmers' Museum Pathfinder |publisher=Fenimore Art Museum |access-date=9 April 2025}}

Since 2015 the museum has hosted outdoor theatrical productions in the Lucy B. Hamilton Amphitheater, located on the grounds overlooking Otsego Lake.{{Cite web|url=http://www.allotsego.com/otsego-lakeside-setting-makes-macbeth-exceptionally-evocative/|title=Otsego Lakeside Setting Makes Macbeth ‘Exceptionally Evocative’|last=|first=|date=|website=www.allotsego.com|publisher=|access-date=2015-09-18}}

• {{Official website|www.fenimoreartmuseum.org}}
• [http://n94057.eos-intl.net/N94057/OPAC/Index.aspx Pathfinder - Fenimore Art Museum & The Farmers' Museum Research Library Catalog]
• [http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/163765-1 "Writings of James Fenimore Cooper", broadcast from the Fenimore Art Museum] from C-SPAN's American Writers

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Category:1899 establishments in New York (state)

Category:Art museums and galleries established in 1899

Category:Folk art museums and galleries in New York (state)

Category:Historical society museums in New York (state)

Category:Museums in Otsego County, New York

Category:Native American museums in New York (state)

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Category:Research libraries in the United States