Museum treasures.

By: John Buchinger, Associate Director of Education

Museums have their treasures. The Louvre has the Mona Lisa, The Albany Institute of History and Art has their mummy, The Fenimore Art Museum has Eel Spearing, but The Farmers’ Museum has Mary Margaret Kuhn. While I am not 100% sure of her provenance, Mary Margaret has been delighting visitors and educating children and adults in various departments of the New York State Historical Association and The Farmers’ Museum for over a decade. Currently she is the Site Supervisor for the Empire State Carousel. I think of her as kind of an ambassador for the entire state as she interprets the beautiful carved animals, murals of historical events from the state, and the various ephemera that make up this magical ride/exhibition.
The other thing she does is host birthday parties. How she is able to take a couple hundred dollars and put on a party that seemingly has a budget of a gala event is a mystery. But it isn’t the balloons and custom cakes that make the events so special. It is her enthusiasm and joy in providing great family memories for our visitors. Recently my daughter, Willa, had her 4th at the Carousel and perhaps the highlight was when Mary played leap frog with the kids. Low budget but high returns on fun and memories!
The carousel rides were custom with birthday wishes on the intercom and squeals of delight as the children took multiple spins on the carousel. The rides were wrapped up with a rousing rendition of The Birthday Song on the Mighty Military Band Organ. Willa got to push the big red button that starts the organ and her eyes got ever wider as the animals and figures leapt to life to wish her a happy one on her special day.

Mary cut huge slices from perhaps the most delicious cake I have eaten in recent memory, courtesy of the kitchen of Margie Landers, as kids watched the ribbons and paper fly. Mary Margaret was there through it all, facilitating the fun and taking the worry out of the party for Mom and Dad.

The Farmers’ Museum is home to The Cardiff Giant, heritage breed animals, beautiful examples of 19th century objects and architecture but it is home to people’s memories too. Field trips in elementary schools, Candlelight Evenings, weddings in the church and birthdays on the lawn all are part of what people remember about The Farmers’ Museum. And along with these events is a great staff that helps create those memories. Thanks, Mary!

Secret Life of Objects: Two-Headed Calf

By: Erin Crissman, Curator

There are some objects in The Farmers’ Museum Collection that I find very curious. As a curator, my curiosity is often not about the object itself, but about how the object came to the museum and when. As with most organizations, The Farmers’ Museum has a few periods in its history that have a specific set of characteristics. In the 1990s, TFM acquired furniture and decorative arts for new domestic spaces (More House) and re-furnishing of old spaces (Bump Tavern, Lippit House). In the 1940s and 1950s, the staff collected and re-constructed most of the buildings at the Museum. This early period is probably my favorite. The staff collected objects that weren’t very old (about 50 years or less) and even had a staff person who scoured trashcans and dumpsters for castoffs. These are still some of the Museum’s best pieces today. When I first came across the two-headed calf, I thought that it had surely been acquired in the 1940s. That was the era that brought us the Cardiff Giant, after all. I was surprised to learn that it was donated in 1979 – much later than I had originally thought. It has a wonderful story behind it as well. The calf was born in 1875 on M. John Eysaman’s farm near Little Falls, NY. It only lived for a few moments. Mr. Eysaman took the calf to a local taxidermist for preservation and had a glass case constructed to house it. His intention was to exhibit the calf, probably at local fairs. This curious animal is part of a fascination with grotesque themes in the late 19th century. It may have had both scientific and sensationalist value to Eysaman and whoever came to see it.

The calf was given to TFM in 1979 by Mr. Eysaman’s great granddaughter, Anne Eysaman Schuyler. She said that the calf had "always been a conversation piece" in her home. I would think so!

Here’s a photo of the calf in the Kirby Free Library in Salisbury Center, NY, taken in April of 1979, just a few months before coming to The Farmer’s Museum’s collection.

For a few years, the two headed calf was part of the Museum of Curiosities exhibit at The Farmers’ Museum – along with the Cardiff Giant, of course!

Harvesting Root Vegetables

By: Gwen Miner, Supervisor of Domestic ArtsAbout a week ago we harvested what did grow in the Kitchen Garden at the Lippitt Farmhouse. The majority of the vegetables we grow are root crops such as potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips and rutabaga. Along with the root crops, cabbage, onions, beans and peas were also grown and stored for the long winter months.

Root crops were the primary vegetable foodstuffs grown for much of the 19th century due to the available technology for the long term preservation of foodstuffs. A permanent method of freezing was not available and home canning did not become a common method of food preservation until the latter part of the 19th century. What couldn’t be put down in the cellar was “put up,” hung up to dry. All you would have needed was the correct environment and the “know how” for the successful storage of most of the vegetables grown in the 19th century.

Harvesting this year was easy. I hate to say it, but it only took a few hours to bring all the vegetables in. It was not a good growing year. The vegetable yield this year was only a fraction of what we normally grow in a good year. The vegetables overall were in good condition but in size they were small to the occasional large.

We pull our root crops out of the garden and cut off the tops, leaving two inches or so of stem. The roots are then laid out to dry for a few days in the wood shed or on the barn floor to toughen up the skin and remove any clinging soil before taking them to the cellar.

After they’ve dried, the vegetables are then sorted according to size. Why, you might ask? Small vegetables do not have keeping qualities that the large do. The rule is, use the small and damaged vegetables first because they do not keep. As the saying goes, “one bad apple spoils the whole bunch.” Once sorted, they are carried to the cellar and stored in bins for use during the winter.

For more on “cellaring” or winter storage, check out my next blog post.

Lights, Camera, Carousel!

By: Erin Crissman, Curator

For the last two weeks, Richard Walker has been photographing the Empire State Carousel for a new book due out Memorial Day Weekend, 2010. This new publication will offer information about the carousel's 23 hand-carved animals and additional fun bits of info about the other colorful components of our amazing mobile museum. Did you know that virtually every part of the carousel is carved or decorated? Portrait panels of famous New Yorkers, folklore panels, historical murals and quilted banners all help to enhance the ways in which the Empire State Carousel tells our state's story. The book will also share some stories from head carver and carousel project organizer, Gerry Holzman.

I'm looking forward to this book! I notice something new each time I visit the carousel. (Of course, I'm partial to those visits being lunchtime rides with visiting family and friends; just one of the many perks of my job!) Like most visitors, I would love something to reference that will tell me more about this amazing, and largest, object in The Farmers' Museum Collection. Stay tuned for more!

Winter Work for Historic Clothing Staff

By: Kajsa Sabatke, Interpretive Projects CoordinatorAs our 2009 season draws to a close, one of the first tasks for our historic clothing staff is to collect and inventory the historic clothing from our interpreters. Kitty gathers all the clothing from the staff, checks for items in need of repair or replacement, updates her inventory list, and then stores the clothing for another winter. (She would like to remind those interpreters reading this to return their clothing now that it’s November.) Dorothy, our adept seamstress, repairs the clothes and sews new items when the old ones have worn out. Some of our interpreters – like our blacksmith – are harder on their clothing than others, in part because of the more physical tasks related to their jobs.

By the time we prepare to begin the season in the spring, the clothing will be ready for another year of wear. This is not a small task with the large numbers of interpreters on our staff – thanks, ladies, for all your hard work keeping us in historically appropriate and well-mended clothes!

2009 Season Wrap-Up

By: Kajsa Sabatke, Interpretive Projects Coordinator

It’s hard to believe, but October – and our 2009 season – are both coming to a close. The museum’s last day of the regular season is Saturday, October 31. Stop in this week for a visit with our staff and animals! The museum won’t completely shut down, though. You can visit us on any of our holiday events: Thanksgiving at The Farmers’ Museum, Lantern Tours on December 5, Candlelight Evening on December 20, or our end-of-season craft workshops and Food for Thought programs. The Farmers’ Museum store will also remain open through the end of December on Tuesdays through Sundays, and the Fenimore Art Museum will also remain open through December 31.

Our staff also stays busy through the winter season. We’ll be writing more about our winter projects as the days grow shorter and the snow begins to fall.