Secret Lives of Objects: The Main Barn

By: Erin Richardson, Curator
The Farmers' Museum's Main Barn was built in 1918.  The endeavor was funded by Edward Severin Clark, and was intended to be  a model dairy farm.  It was called the Cow Palace by Cooperstonians during its construction.

In working on the new online collection project, I scanned the Star Line supply catalog from 1919. Star Line produced barn plans, kits and milking parlor equipment and furnishings.  The catalog is extensive.  Imagine my surprise when I opened to a page featuring Edward Clark's barn.  A whole section of the catalog features details about farms using Star Line equipment.

Here's a photo of our barn from the catalog:

Here's the Main Barn from Plowline: Images of Rural New York. The photograph was taken by Dante Tranquille in 1952:

Here's the Main Barn today:

Within the Star Line Catalog,  I discovered that The Farmers' Museum has a sister stone barn that is now a museum. Cooperstonians had no idea what they were talking about when they called Clarks' barn a cow palace.  THIS is a cow palace. 

The Anna Dean Farm website describes Barn No. 3:  O. C. Barber used Star Line Equipment on the Anna Dean Farm exclusively. This photo of Barn No 3 taken looking north west shows this mammoth barn just after construction. This photo was the pride of the Star Line Equipment catalog, and this catalog lists the barn as costing over $1,000,000.

Barber's barn is now part of the Barberton Historical Society in Barberton, Ohio (located in Barberton County, of course!)

If you would like to browse through the whole Star Line catalog (click the small .pdf file link at the top) and see other impressive barns, you can visit the Online Collection.

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!

Secret Life of Objects: Duffy Stagecoach

By: Erin Crissman, Curator

This is one of a series of posts about the "other life" many objects had before they arrived at The Farmers' Museum.

If you participated in this week's Facebook Poll, the following may look familiar to you.

On which of the following occasions would you don a fake beard and top hat?

Halloween

President's Day

A visit to Ford's Theater

The last ride of Duffy's Tally-Ho Stagecoach

They are part of my every-day attire

If you were inspired by the first choice - you win!

In September 1953, between 14 and 16 men piled (and I do mean piled) atop Duffy's Tally-Ho Stagecoach for its official last ride. The ride began at Todd's General Store, inside The Farmers' Museum where the stage picked up "actual mail." Then, the coach left the museum grounds and travelled into Cooperstown, where it delivered the mail to the Post Office. After a long dinner at the Tunicliff Inn, the stage was officially gifted to The Farmers' Museum by owner George Duffy. Afterwards, the coach travelled back to The Farmers' Museum filled with local children who had piled in while the coach was parked outside the Inn during dinner.

Stagecoach in front of the Dr. Jackson's Office at The Farmers' Museum.

Since then, the stage has remained parked inside The Farmers Museum's main barn. I was surprised when museum friend (and daughter of one of the coaches' last riders) brought in this photograph and news articles chronicling this event. I had no idea that it went out of service with such fanfare!

In use in a local parade in the 1930s.

Although we call this vehicle Duffy's Tally-Ho Stagecoach, it was only referred to by that moniker for the last few decades of its service. The stagecoach was built about 1870 by Abbot, Downing and Company of Concord, New Hampshire. After its first trip from the factory to Cooperstown, it remained in Otsego County. Captain Abaithar H. Watkins, the original owner, inherited a mail-delivery contract from his father. Watkins began driving stagecoaches at age 14 and eventually owned portions of several transportation businesses throughout New York State.

The Duffys purchased the vehicle in 1908 and used it in a variety of parades in Fort Plain, NY, and in other locations around the county, for the next 45 years. Mr. Duffy invited a number of gentlemen to participate in the last ride events, and since he through the coach had been made in the 1820s, he required that they wear "Civil War Era" attire. The Abe Lincoln get-ups don't seem as out of place now that I know it was a requirement of all participants!

Delivering "actual mail" to the Cooperstown Post Office.